France
In February 1924, the French Legislature proposed a Family Suffrage Bill which sought to grant the head of household (the man) an extra vote for each minor child. Women only benefited from this bill if they were widowed. Under the guise of equal suffrage, this bill simply upheld the status quo that decreed voting as an activity only for men. On March 14, 1924, a rally for the Women’s Municipal Suffrage Bill was held in the French Chamber of Deputies. This rally succeeded in the passage of a resolution to be discussed on March 17. However, on March 17, anti-suffragists insisted on focusing on a bill that aimed to regulate the price of sugar beets. This shelved the suffrage bill for at least another year. By December 1925, suffragists in France continued to fight for the right to vote.
Based off the feminist-focused lectures of Madamoiselle Brunschwerg, three additional chapters of the French Union for Woman Suffrage were founded in the southern regions of France. Due to her efforts, the Federation Feminine du Midi was organized at Marseilles on February 3, 1924. The Federal Feminine du Midi featured societies and chapters located within eleven departments in Southern France. The secretary of this organization was Mademoisells Jullien Beddouck of Marseilles. The Mayor of Merseilles met with delegates from the Feminine du Midi the same day Congress of the Socialist Party accepted a resolution which confirmed their focus on suffrage equality and decreed their opposition to the Family Suffrage Bill.
In regard to labor, French women retained some of their positions in the workplace despite their education being considered more of a “religious training with a side focus on reading and writing.” Employment open to women included letter carriers, streetcar conductors, messengers, and such positions in railways and in Government service. However, most of these positions were low-paying and underappreciated. Women continued to receive significantly less pay than men who held the same position.
