Maria Deraismes
Maria Deraismes (born August 17, 1828 in Paris ; † February 6, 1894 there ) was a French writer , democratic humanist and suffragette . Together with Georges Martin she was the founder of the Droit Humain .
Life
Maria Deraismes was born in Paris and grew up there in the northwest suburb of Pontoise . Coming from a successful middle-class family, she was well educated and grew up in literary circles. She has written several literary works and made a name for herself as a talented speaker .
After the Franco-Prussian War , she campaigned for democracy, the republic and women's rights , and in 1866 she joined the Société de la revendication des droits de la femme , a women's organization with the aim of promoting education for women. In 1869 she founded L'Association pour le droit des femmes with Léon Richer (1824–1911) . Together with him she organized the first international congress on women's rights, the Congrès international du droit des femmes , in Paris in 1878.
After the expropriation by Napoléon III. under the Third Republic she was forced to adopt a more moderate daily policy so that the women's movement could survive. With the support of radical women's rights activists like Hubertine Auclert , she campaigned for women's suffrage and was a “symbolic candidate” in the elections of 1885. Maria Deraismes died in 1894 and was buried in the Montmartre cemetery.
Freemasonry and Le Droit Humain
The Grand Orient de France Masonic Grand Lodge invited her to a lecture on women's equality. Nevertheless, they continued to refuse to accept women in the boxes.
Maria Deraismes belonged to the free thinkers ("Libres Penseurs") and organized the first anti-clerical congress with them in 1881. The men's box Les Libres Penseurs by Le Pecq became independent from the Grande Loge Symbolique Ecossaise de France and made the extraordinary decision to accept women as members in the future. On January 14, 1882 , they initiated Maria Deraismes; thus she was the first woman to be accepted into Freemasonry. After violent protests, however, this led to the closure of the lodge.
Her work brought her great prestige in Great Britain and gave her influence on the American activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton , whom she met later that year after her breakthrough in Freemasonry.
In Paris, the Senator and “Conseiller Général” Georges Martin was also convinced that women should play a bigger role in society. For this reason, he fought alongside her for more than ten years in vain for her access to Freemasonry. So they decided to found the first lodge in the world to accept both men and women as members. On March 14, 1893, 16 women were initiated. On April 4, 1893, she founded the first mixed-sex grand lodge Ordre Maçonique Mixte International " Le Droit Humain " . Annie Besant heard about Droit Humain from Francesca Arundale in London in 1902 . In Paris she was accepted into the first three degrees and was primarily responsible for the first box in Great Britain of the Droit Humain in London. This grand lodge established lodges all over the world in the following years.
Commemoration
In her memory, a street in Paris was named after her and a statue was erected in a small park. A district in St. Nazaire was also named after her in her honor.
Fonts
Her complete records were published in 1895 and much information about her work can be found in the Marguerite Durand library in Paris.
literature
- Christine Bard : Les Filles de Marianne: Histoire des féminismes. 1914-1940 . Paris: Fayard, 1995
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Deraismes, Maria |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French writer, democratic humanist and women's rights activist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17th August 1828 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 6, 1894 |
| Place of death | Paris |