Femmes solidaires (French pronunciation: [fam sɔlidɛʁ], "Women in solidarity") is a French feminist organisation in France, founded during the Second World War under the name Union des femmes françaises (UFF). The movement works for the defense and advancement of women's rights, gender equality, the liberal movement and international solidarity.
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Underground origins
The origins of Femmes solidaires date to 1941, in the grass roots women's committees of the French Resistance, created by Danielle Casanova. These women's committees gradually took shape at local levels, then at the regional and inter-regional level. They were regrouped within the Union des femmes françaises in the zone occupée and the Union des femmes de France in the zone libre. Following the arrest of Danielle Casanova and Marcelle Barjonet, the leaders in the northern zone were Josette Dumeix, then Maria Rabaté with Simone Bertrand taking the lead in the southern zone libre.
The UFF was consolidated around 1943 within the communist resistance movement during the occupation of France by Nazi Germany. This organisation took a long time to establish itself, mainly due to arrests of its members by the Nazis or by the French Vichy regime.
In April 1944, the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans asked the UFF for help with its auxiliary services, requesting their members act as intelligence or liaison officers or as quartermasters. A steering committee composed of Yvonne Dumont, Françoise Leclercq, Irène Joliot-Curie, and Eugénie Cotton met on June 11 to evaluate the proposal. The UFF became a nationwide movement, which then applied to the National Council of the Resistance for recognition.
Formalisation after liberation
Before liberation, all of the individual committees had been unified by the French Communist Party (PCF) under the name of Union des femmes françaises pour la Zone nord (the Union of French Women for the northern Zone) and the Union des femmes françaises pour la Zone nord et d'Union des femmes de France de la Zone sud (Union of French Women for the southern Zone).
After liberation, they merged and were formally registered under the name "Union des femmes françaises", becoming one of the main organisations of the PCF, and became official at a congress on 21 December 1944.
Post-war
After the Liberation and during the Cold War years, Femmes solidaires was a "Communist mass-movement organisation" led by Jeannette Vermeersch and Claudine Chomat. Their magazine Femmes françaises was a key communication tool during that era.
Principles and objectives
Femmes solidaires is a national feminist movement of popular education made up of more than 190 local associations, established throughout France and its overseas departments.
The organisation's founding values are based on secularism, social diversity (:fr:mixité sociale), equal rights for women, peace, and freedom. It currently has almost 30,000 members and publishes the monthly Clara Magazine. Its social objectives were to combat all forms of discrimination and domination, particularly in the fields of employment rights, equality between men and women in the workplace, parity, and the fight against violence against women.
Femmes solidaires has special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. The association is also involved in international solidarity campaigns and works with numerous feminist organisations in different countries around the world.