Ernest Legouvé and the Doctrine of "Equality in Difference" for Women: A Case Study of Male Feminism in Nineteenth-Century French Thought

From Difāʿ Al-Nisāʾ to Masʾalat Al-Nisāʾ in Greater Syria: Readers and Writers Debate Women and Their Rights, 1858–1900

“…An earlier report about dress reform at the Chicago World's Fair was reprinted from Kawkab Amrika (Star of America). 76 Perhaps more important, Legouvé does not reject the important role of religion in family life, in particular in the lives of women and children. The later report (also reprinted from Kawkab Amrika) concerns a group of suffragists who wore "the Bloomer costume" in public in Topeka.…”

Separate but Equal: Durkheim's Response to the Woman Question*

“…1, February 1994:23-36 O1994 by the University of Texas Press, P.O. Box 7819, Austin, TX 78713-7819 differences as the product of biological and cultural forces, although feminists objected to the unequal treatment of women on the basis of these differences (Offen 1986). Claire Moses (1984) notes that feminists transformed the Romantic attitude toward women from its misogynist origins in Rousseau to a conception that idealized womanhood and at the same time differentiated women from men.…”

“…Claire Moses (1984) notes that feminists transformed the Romantic attitude toward women from its misogynist origins in Rousseau to a conception that idealized womanhood and at the same time differentiated women from men. Feminists strategically incorporated the notion of gender difference into their arguments for extending the rights of citizenry to women; women should be allowed to make their own unique contribution to the nation (Offen 1987). For Durkheim and feminists of his day, gender relations were predicated on a socially differentiated vision of male/female role complementarity.…”

“…In nineteenth century France, the family was viewed as the cornerstone of society (Offen 1987) and the "nerve centre of all collective discipline" (Durkheim 1963, p. 101). Durkheim's views on monogamy, divorce, and the partriarchal family reveal his underlying concern with building a secular morality.…”

“…The "woman question" was debated in France for centuries, but in the nineteenth century the establishment of the Third Republic, the declining birth rates, and the increased participation of women in the labor force intensified debates over women's roles in the public and private spheres. The woman question became an integral part of the sociopolitical discourse among socialists, republicans, and monarchists, all of whom were struggling to win the minds and hearts of women (Offen 1987). Contrary to Edward Tiryakian's (1981) claim that Durkheim "in good typical Victorian male chauvinistic fashion did not have to take as problematic the relations between the sexes" (p. 1026), Durkheim's work is clearly influenced by his passionate involvement in national affairs (Coser 1977), including the debate over the woman question (Kandal 1988).…”