Marie Popelin

Marie Popelin was born on September 16, 1846, in Schaerbeek, Brussels. Working alongside Isabelle Gatti de Gamond in advancing secular education for young women, Popelin entered the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) at age thirty-seven, graduating with distinction in 1888 as Belgium's first female Doctor of Laws.

When the Brussels Court of Appeal and Court of Cassation barred her from taking the lawyer's oath solely because of her sex, the famous 'Popelin Affair' sparked outrage and galvanized the Belgian women's movement. In 1892, Popelin founded the Ligue belge du droit des femmes and later established the National Council of Belgian Women in 1905, demanding universal suffrage and equal labor rights.