Edmée de La Rochefoucauld

Edmée de La Rochefoucauld (1896-1991) was a French activist for women’s voting rights and a writer, sometimes using the pseudonym Gilbert Mauge.

Early life Edmée Frisch de Fels was born in Paris, France on April 28, 1895, the daughter of Edmund, Comte de Fels, director of the Revue de Paris, and Comtesse de Fels, née Jeanne Lebaudy, who was a founder of the Union Nationale pour le Vote des Femmes (UNVF). On December 27, 1917 she married Jean, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, heir to La Rochefoucauld ducal title.

Career De La Rochefoucauld was a Catholic leader in French women’s efforts to win the right to vote. She became an officer in the UNVF in 1927 and became its president in 1930.

For more than 60 years she was also a central figure in French world of letters, publishing her first book Fonction de X in 1926.

Awards and honours She was a commander of the French Legion of Honor.

Publications Nombres (1926) Faust et Marguerites (1927) La Vie humaine (1928) Spanish Women (1938) La Femme et ses droits (1939) Les Moralistes de l'intelligence (1945) La Vie commode aux peuples (1947) Vus d'un autre monde (1950) Plus loin que Bételgeuse (1952) Choix de poèmes (1955) Menton (1962) La Nature et l'esprit (1965) Femmes dramaturges (1968) Courts Métrages (1970) Spectateurs (1972) L'Acquiescement (1978) Courts Métrages II (1980) Flashes (3 vols., 1982–89)