Hubertine Auclert
Resistance & Human Rights • Historical Archive • 🇫🇷 France • 10 views

Hubertine Auclert 🇫🇷

Marie Anne Hubertine Auclert (Known as "The French Suffragette / Mother of the Word 'Feminisme'")
Journalist, Suffragette Leader, Publisher of La Citoyenne, Feminist Pioneer
Born 10 April 1848 🇫🇷 Saint-Priest-en-Murat, Allier, France
Passed Away 4 April 1914 Paris, France
Lifespan 65 years old
10 views
Notice / Correction
"Je ne vote pas, je ne paie pas. (I do not vote, I do not pay.) / La femme a des devoirs, elle doit avoir des droits. Elle paie des impôts, elle doit voter."

Archival Overview

French feminist pioneer and journalist who popularized the word 'feminism', founded the journal La Citoyenne, and waged militant campaigns of tax resistance and civil disobedience for women's voting rights.

Biographical Record

Hubertine Auclert (1848 – 1914) was a pioneer of the French women's suffrage movement. Inspired by Victor Hugo and Léon Richer, Auclert was among the first to realize that without political voting rights, women would never achieve economic or civil equality under the Napoleonic Code.

In 1876, she founded the society Le Droit des Femmes (later Le Suffrage des Femmes). In 1880, she launched a famous tax strike, arguing: 'I do not vote; I do not pay. I am not a citizen; I am a subject.' In 1881, she launched the militant newspaper La Citoyenne, where she introduced the term 'féminisme' into public political discourse. Auclert organized daring protests, overturning ballot boxes during municipal elections and demanding that the French Republic live up to its promises of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité for both sexes.

Key Life Milestones

February 1880

The Great Feminist Tax Strike

Refused to pay her municipal and state taxes, proclaiming: 'I do not vote, therefore I do not pay.'

13 February 1881

Founding of La Citoyenne

Launched the influential suffragette newspaper La Citoyenne, popularizing the term 'feminism' in the French press.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Paris, France
GPS: 48.8614, 2.3958
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