Maria Deraismes
Encyclopedia
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
author and major pioneering force for women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
.
Biography
Born in Paris, Maria Deraismes grew up in PontoisePontoise
Pontoise is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris, in the "new town" of Cergy-Pontoise.-Administration:...
in the city's northwest outskirts. From a prosperous middle class family, she was well educated and raised in a literary environment that led to her authoring several literary works but soon developed a reputation as a very capable communicator. She became active in promoting women's rights and, in 1866, joined the Société de la revendication des droits de la femme, a feminist organization advancing the cause of education for women. In 1869, she founded L'Association pour le droit des femmes with Leon Richer.
Following the ouster of Napoleon III, she understood the new politics of the day meant a more moderate
Moderate
In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical. In recent years, political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword....
approach under the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
in order for feminism to survive and not be marginalized by the new breed of male power brokers emerging at the time. Deraismes' work brought her recognition in Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and an influence upon American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Elizabeth Cady Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early woman's movement...
who met her in Paris in 1882.
Maria Deraismes was initiated into Freemasonry on January 14, 1882, when it was still rare for a woman to be admitted into that Fraternity. She joined "Les Libres Penseurs" Lodge, of Pecq , a small village to the west of Paris. A year later, she and Georges Martin organized a Masonic lodge
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
that allow both men and women as members. Out of this co-masonic Lodge came the birth of the Grande Loge Symbolique Ecossaise "Le Droit Humain", which grew into the International Order of Co-Freemasonry "Le Droit Humain".
With other support of Suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
s such as Hubertine Auclert
Hubertine Auclert
Hubertine Auclert was a leading French feminist and a campaigner for women's suffrage.Born in the Allier département in the Auvergne area of France into a middle-class family, Hubertine Auclert's father died when she was thirteen years old and her mother sent her to live and study in a Roman...
, Maria Deraismes worked to achieve political emancipation for women, standing as a symbolic candidate in the elections of 1885.
On her death in 1894, Maria Deraismes was interred in the Montmartre Cemetery
Montmartre Cemetery
Montmartre Cemetery is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France.-History:Cemeteries had been banned from Paris since the shutting down of the Cimetière des Innocents in 1786, as they presented health hazards...
. Her complete writings were published in 1895 and much information on her work can be found at the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand
Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand
The Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand is a specialized public library run by the municipal library system of the French city of Paris. Created from a massive collection started in 1897 by journalist and activist Marguerite Durand, the Library opened in 1931 at 79 rue Nationale in Paris. It holds a...
in Paris.
To honor her memory, a street in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
was named for her, and a statue was erected in a small park. The town square in St. Nazaire was also named in her honor.