Suzanne Voilquin
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Suzanne Monnier Voilquin (1801 – December 1876 or January 1877) was a French feminist, journalist,
midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...
, traveler and author, best known as editor of '' Tribune des femmes'' ( French Wikipedia Article), the first working-class feminist periodical, and her memoirs, ''Souvenirs d’une fille du peuple: ou, La saint-simonienne en Égypt''.


Biography


Early life

Suzanne Voilquin (''née'' Monnier) was born in Paris in 1801 to a working-class family. She received some convent education, and spent most of her youth nursing her dying mother, raising her little sister and working as an embroiderer.


Marriage and Saint-Simonism

Suzanne met and married Eugène Voilquin, an architect in 1825. The couple became supporters of
Saint-Simonism Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...
, a
Utopian Socialist Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often de ...
movement that adhered to the philosophy of
Comte de Saint-Simon Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (17 October 1760 – 19 May 1825), often referred to as Henri de Saint-Simon (), was a French political, economic and socialist theorist and businessman whose thought had a substantial influence on p ...
. Its leaders included
Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin Barthélemy, or Barthélémy is a French name, a cognate of Bartholomew. Notable people with this name include: Given name * Barthélemy (explorer), French youth who accompanied the explorer de La Salle in 1687 * Barthélémy Bisengimana, Con ...
and Saint-Amand Bazard. Suzanne Voilquin was particularly attracted to the Movement's call to women and workers, “the poorest and most numerous class.” The Saint-Simonian's popularity and their belief in the liberation of women brought the group into trouble with the French authorities. After a spectacular trial, Enfantin,
Charles Duveyrier Charles Duveyrier (12 April 1803 – 10 November 1866) was a French playwright and Saint-Simonianism ideologist, born on April 12, 1803 in Paris, where he died on November 10, 1866. Biography A son of Honoré-Nicolas-Marie Duveyrier and half- ...
and
Michel Chevalier Michel Chevalier (; 13 January 1806 – 18 November 1879) was a French engineer, statesman, economist and free market liberal. Biography Born in Limoges, Haute-Vienne, Chevalier studied at the ''École Polytechnique'', obtaining an engineerin ...
were jailed in 1832 and the movement dispersed. Suzanne, in the meantime, granted Eugène an unofficial “Saint-Simonian” divorce, since divorce was illegal in France. She gave him her blessing and he left for Louisiana.


''Tribune des femmes''

From 1832-1834, Suzanne wrote for and edited '' The Tribune des femmes'', the first known working-class, feminist journal (Its editors rejected the use of last names, as subordinating the women to either their fathers or their husbands). Suzanne and the other writers, including Marie-Reine Guindorf and Désirée Gay (Jeanne Desirée Véret Gay) stressed the need for women's rights to divorce, education and work. Suzanne, in particular, emphasized the need for the protection of mothers. In 1834 Suzanne also published ''Ma loi d’Avenir'' by fellow Saint-Simonian Claire Démar after she and her lover, Perret Desessarts, killed themselves. With Enfantin's release from jail in 1834, Suzanne accepted the Saint-Simonian call to spread the word of the movement throughout the world. She announced in April, 1834 that she would join other Saint-Simonian women such as Clorinde Roge and travel to Egypt to work with the French medical doctors, scientists and engineers, including
Ferdinand de Lesseps Ferdinand Marie, Comte de Lesseps (; 19 November 1805 – 7 December 1894) was a French diplomat and later developer of the Suez Canal, which in 1869 joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas, substantially reducing sailing distances and times ...
. Suzanne pledged herself to a “Life of Active Propaganda,” whereby she would support herself in an effort to show other women that they too could be independent.


Travels and a life of “Active Propaganda”

Work was scarce in Egypt where many people were quarantined due to the plague. Suzanne began assisting a French doctor who taught her medicine in exchange for her tutoring his Egyptian children. She studied
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
and learned medicine in his clinic and the
harems Harem (Persian: حرمسرا ''haramsarā'', ar, حَرِيمٌ ''ḥarīm'', "a sacred inviolable place; harem; female members of the family") refers to domestic spaces that are reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A har ...
, often wearing Arab male clothing. Suzanne got the plague, and, although she survived, many of her friends, including the doctor and his family succumbed. After the plans for a woman's hospital fell through, Suzanne returned to France. In France, Suzanne became certified as a midwife, studied homeopathy, and continued to work on behalf of women, with an unsuccessful attempt to form a Maternal Association to Aid Young Mothers in 1838. Work was again scarce, and, needing to support herself, her ailing father and her brother who was a
political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although n ...
, Suzanne left for Russia in 1839. Life was difficult for her in
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, where she found little employment, and the winter's cold affected her health. She returned to France in 1846. Women's rights again surfaced with the French Revolution of 1848. Suzanne joined other feminists and Saint-Simonian women including
Eugénie Niboyet Eugénie Mouchon-Niboyet (September 10, 1796 – January 6, 1883) was a French author, journalist and early feminist. She is best known for founding '' La Voix des Femmes'' (''The Women's Voice''), the first feminist daily newspaper in France. Sh ...
,
Pauline Roland Pauline Roland (1805, Falaise, Calvados – 15 December 1852) was a French feminist and socialist. Upon her mother's insistence, Roland received a good education and was introduced to the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, ...
,
Jeanne Deroin Jeanne Deroin (31 December 1805 – 2 April 1894) was a French socialist feminist. She spent the latter half of her life in exile in London, where she continued her organising activities. Early life Born in Paris, Deroin became a seamstress. In ...
, Desirée Gay and
Elisa Lemonnier The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) (, ) is a commonly used analytical biochemistry assay, first described by Eva Engvall and Peter Perlmann in 1971. The assay uses a solid-phase type of enzyme immunoassay (EIA) to detect the presence ...
to organize on behalf of women's employment and education issues and to write for ''
La Voix des Femmes ''La Voix des Femmes'' may refer to: * La Voix des Femmes (France, 1848), feminist periodical * La Voix des femmes (France, 1917), feminist periodical {{dab ...
''. Suzanne organized
wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...
s and founded a Society of United Midwives. With the failure of the Republic, lack of funding, and hostile government action, Suzanne once again left France—this time to Louisiana in 1848.Moses, p. 127-149. There is little historical record of Suzanne Voilquin's activities in New Orleans. She joined her sister there, who died in 1849. Suzanne returned to France in 1860. She published her memoirs ''Souvenirs d’une fille du people: ou la Saint-simonienne en Égypt'' in 1866. Suzanne Voilquin died in Paris in December 1876 or January 1877.


Writings

* ''Mémoires d’une saints-simonienne en Russie (1839-1846)''. Edited by Maïté Albistur and Daniel Armogathe. Paris: Éditions des femmes, 1977. * ''Souvenirs d’une fille du peuple ou Saint-simonienne en Égypte''. Paris: Chez E. Sauzet, 1866. * ''Souvenirs d’une fille du peuple ou Saint-simonienne en Égypte''. Introduction by Lydia Elhadad. Paris: François Maspero, 1978. * ''Tribune des femmes'' (Paris), 1832-1834, contributor and editor.


Bibliography

* Manuel, Frank, ''The Prophets of Paris''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1962. * Moses, Claire Goldberg, ''French Feminism in the 19th Century''. New York: State University of New York, 1984. * Moses, Claire Goldberg and Rabine, Leslie Wahl, ''Feminism, Socialism and French Romanticism''. Indiana University Press, 1993. * Ragan, John David, “French Women Travellers in Egypt: A Discourse Marginal to Orientalism?” in Starkey, Paul and Starkey, Janet, Travellers in Egypt. London: Tauris Parke, 2001.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voilquin, Suzanne French feminists French non-fiction writers 1801 births 1870s deaths Saint-Simonists Working-class feminism 19th-century French women writers 19th-century French women politicians French socialists Socialist feminists