Marie Nancy Suzanne "Suzy" Bidault (née Borel; 18 October 1904 – 8 November 1995) was the first French woman to become a diplomat when she was employed as an

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

at the

Quai d'Orsay The Quai d'Orsay ( , ) is a quay in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is part of the left bank of the Seine opposite the Place de la Concorde. It becomes the Quai Anatole-France east of the Palais Bourbon, and the Quai Branly west of the ...

on 1 July 1930 after passing the entrance examination to the French Foreign Ministry. After serving there for 15 years, she married the French foreign minister

Georges Bidault Georges-Augustin Bidault (; 5 October 189927 January 1983) was a French politician. During World War II, he was active in the French Resistance. After the war, he served as foreign minister and premier on several occasions. He apparently joined ...

Early life and education

Borel was born in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department. The Commune of Toulon h ...

on 18 October 1904, the daughter of Élie Borel, a graduate of the

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

and a colonel assigned to the French colonies, and Louise Fontan, whose father Jules Fontan was a celebrated navy physician. Her childhood, spent in France, Senegal, Madagascar and Vietnam, included a secondary education in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

, Toulon,

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

and

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. After obtaining her

baccalauréat The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...

in 1922, she first studied philosophy graduating in 1927. She went on to study Chinese at the École des langues orientale and at the

École des Sciences Politiques Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

. In February 1928, her mother sent her a newspaper cutting from ''

Le Temps ' (, ) is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. The paper was launched in 1998, formed out of the merger of two other newspapers, and (the former being a merger of two other papers), ...

'' announcing a decree permitting women to take the competitive examination for entry into the diplomatic service. She had always dreamt of becoming a diplomat but it had been a career open to men only. Her first attempt at the examination was not successful but after the director of Sciences Po, René Saydoux, allowed her to participate in a special preparatory course, she succeeded in passing the examination the following year, becoming the first woman to enter France's diplomatic service.

Career

On entering the Foreign Ministry, Borel was informed that she would not be able to work in the many departments which were still reserved for men and was asked to sign a document confirming her understanding that she would only be permitted to work in the Paris offices of the minister. Even there, the only areas open to her would be the press, the department overseeing French participation in the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, and that regulating French works abroad, the one to which she was finally assigned. She remained there until 1944, latterly in

Vichy Vichy (, ; ) is a city in the central French department of Allier. Located on the Allier river, it is a major spa and resort town and during World War II was the capital of Vichy France. As of 2021, Vichy has a population of 25,789. Known f ...

. In her own words, "It was a sort of depository dealing with sports, the press and associations as well as with French charities abroad." During the German occupation, Borel distinguished herself as a resistance worker. In May 1944, the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

tried to arrest her, forcing her into hiding. When the war was over,

, the new foreign minister, invited her to work for him, promising her a post in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. But it never materialized as they married in January 1946. After working independently in the diplomatic service for 15 years, she entered the traditional career of a diplomat's wife, accompanying him on trips abroad, at receptions and on election campaigns. In 1952, she took up part-time employment at the ''Office français de protection des réfugiés et apatrides'' (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons). Suzanne Borel died in Paris on 8 November 1995, aged 91. She had been honoured with the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

Croix de Guerre The (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World ...

Médaille de la Résistance The Resistance Medal (, ) was a decoration bestowed by the French Committee of National Liberation, based in the United Kingdom, during World War II. It was established by a decree of General Charles de Gaulle on 9 February 1943 "to recognize the ...

and the

Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, alongside the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by decision of the president of the United States to "any person recommended to the President ...

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borel, Suzanne 1904 births 1995 deaths People from Toulon Sciences Po alumni 20th-century French diplomats Civil servants from Paris Female resistance members of World War II French Resistance members French writers French women writers Recipients of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France) Recipients of the Medal of Freedom Recipients of the Resistance Medal French women diplomats French women in World War II 20th-century French women