My Life in Paris: Three Inspirational French Women to Brighten Dark Times

Theadora looks to three great female trailblazers of the past for inspiration…

Whenever I brood about the state of the world, I search for tales of courage and bravery in old newspapers. Because I believe that we live fast-grooving, overlapping Proustian bubbles of present and past, this not only inspires me but motivates me to share the fierce indomitable spirit of those that came before. Or at least try, one word at a time.

Sharing is caring

Take Marguerite Durand. From my favourite bench in the Jardin des Tuileries, I can almost hear the roar of 6,000 suffragettes stirred by their champion, who stands before them rousing the crowd with her radical demands: Equal pay! Gender equality! It’s 1914, and war is in the air. For once, Durand isn’t padding her message with one-act plays and celebrity cameos. Till now the former stage actress (and founder of the feminist daily, La Fronde) has preferred making waves with a softer touch: theatre lectures, postcard campaigns, and photo-ops with her tame lion (ironically named Tiger). But today she implores her followers to toss caution to the wind. “Do you see the lion?” she says. “That lion will live among us and become accustomed to our manners, which are good! There is no job too big for women to tackle! A woman could easily fill the office of President of France!” she cries, urging her fellow frondeuses to take action. Her lion was more than just a bizarre indulgence. Besides advocating improved conditions for women, Durand also focused on pets. Not only did they deserve better treatment, but they also deserved a better end than getting dumped in the Seine or a trash bin, or having their ashes scattered in some fountain at the Jardin du Luxembourg. By founding the Cimetière des Chiens et Autres Animaux Domestiques, Durand established one of the first pet graveyards anywhere. Some 40,000 pets are buried there.

A story I often tell

Along Rue Lepic in Abbesses-Montmartre, another activist and publicity maven organised a ‘fight for the right to vote’ campaign. According to one 1935 report, Louise Weiss had staged a “straw vote on the woman’s suffrage issue outside of schools and city halls, where men were voting for men in solemn masculinity. As ballot boxes, hatboxes were being appropriately used. “But the police would not allow these unofficial ballot boxes,… and one by one they were put out of action. Weiss refused to surrender. With a table, hatbox, and surrounded by a joyous crowd, she continued to urge electors to vote for votes for women.” It didn’t take long for the police to appear, and the moment they seized her hatbox, “the face powder went into action”. As soon as she blew, other women followed suit, Clouds of talcum settled on the officers’ uniforms. Arrests were made but so were headlines and legends. By the end of the day, 16,000 votes were cast, with men also participating by casting half the ‘hatbox’ ballots. Times had begun to change. Thanks to the efforts of Weiss and countless others like her, French women eventually achieved the vote in 1945.

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A tale of tenacity

I can’t go without mentioning my third favourite squeaky wheel: Marie Marvingt. In 1908, she attempted to register for the Tour de France, “Impossible,” the officials told her. After all, she was a lady. But Marvingt persisted, defiantly cycling each stage incognito and becoming the première femme to complete the gruelling two-week competition. Always ahead of the curve, Marvingt was also a balloonist, mountaineer and aviator. At 80, she learned to fly a helicopter. To celebrate her 86th birthday, she biked 280km from Paris to Nancy.

Heroes don’t always wear capes. Sometimes they rock the world with lions, tigers, bikes and powder puffs instead. As I stand gazing out on this field of heartfelt gestures, surrounded by all these stone testaments to courageous fur-faced feats, I wonder, where is my own pluck? But Marguerite Durand began here. And so, too, will I. Inspired by Marguerite and the many others that followed her, I will find my voice.

Theadora Brack has lived in Paris since 2003 and is the author of the peopleplacesandbling.com blog.

From France Today Magazine