Abstract
Over the past two-and-a-half decades the May 1968 events in France have continued to provoke commentaries from political observers and actors, historians and scholars of French society and culture. It was not surprising that the events’ tenth and twentieth anniversaries were marked by various conferences and debates, TV and radio programmes and publications which reviewed and (re)interpreted what had taken place.
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Notes
Pierre Viansson-Ponté, L’histoire de la Républigue Gaullienne: le temps des orphelins. Tome II (Paris: Fayard, 1972), p. 392.
Cited by Elaine Marks and Isabelle de Courtivron, New French Feminisms (Brighton: Harvester Press, 1981), p. 111.
There are exceptions and one of the most enduring images of 68 must be that of a young woman protester carried shoulder-high, brandishing a banner at the mass demonstration of 13 May in Paris. This image has been used in several documentaries. See, for example, Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman, ‘Paroles de mai’, Génération (série télévisée) (Paris: Vision Seuil, 1988).
See poster (one of the rare ones to depict the female form) entitled ‘La beauté est dans la rue’ in Marc Rohan, Paris 68. Graffiti, Posters, Newspapers and Poems of the Events of May 1968 (London: Impact, 1988), p. 125.
While this unreal scene lampoons trade union officials, for many women it illustrated some very real experiences. See Dominique Meunier and Nancy Huston, ‘Le mai des saints malgré lui (scenario-agenda)’, Histoires d’Elles, avril/mai 1978, p. 11.
See Gisèle Charzat, Les françaises sont-elles des citoyennes? Paris: Denoël, 1972, p. 175.
See Paula Jacques, ‘Que sont devenues les filles de mai 68?’ F. Magazine, mai 1978, p. 46.
See Maria-Antoinietta Macciochi, De la France (Paris: Seuil, 1977), p. 421.
Nadja Ringart cited by Hervé Hamon and Patrick Rotman, ‘Des femmes enfin’ Génération, tome 2 (Paris: Seuil, 1988), p. 198.
See Patrick Ravignant, L’Odéon est ouverte (Paris: Stock, 1968), pp. 198–202.
Alain Ayache, Les citations de la révolution de mai (Paris: Pauvert, 1968), p. 106.
This section contains only a very brief summary of the challenge posed by feminists in the seventies as several works devote considerable space to this subject. The following are particularly recommended: Claire Duchen, Feminism in France: from May 68 to Mitterrand (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986);
Anne de Pisan et Anne Tristan, Histoires du MLF (Paris: Calmann-Levy, 1977);
Monique Rémy, Histoire des mouvements de femmes: de l’utopie à l’intégration (Paris: Editions Harmattan, 1990).
Monique Rémy, Histoire des mouvements de Femmes (Paris: Editions Harmattan, 1990), p. 148.
Samra-Martine Bonvoisin and Michèle Maignien, La presse féminine (Paris: PUF, 1986), p. 36.
K. Wadia., 1991. Women’s Magazines: Coming to Terms with Feminism post May 68. French Cultural Studies. Vol 6 261–74.
See Margaret Maruani, Les syndicats à l’épreuve du féminisme (Paris: Syros, 1979)
and Jeannette Laot, Stratégie pour les femmes (Paris: Stock, 1977).
Georges Marchais speaking at the Palais des Congrès in Paris, on 4 December 1977. Cited in Gisèle Halimi, Le Programme Commun des femmes (Paris: Grasset et Fasquelle, 1978), p. 40.
For a detailed account of women’s rights legislation in France see: Dorothy MacBride-Stetson, Women’s Rights in France (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1987).
Yvette Roudy, ‘Un ministère pas comme les autres. Un projet, une stratégie pour les femmes’, Le féminisme et ses enjeux. Vingt-sept femmes parlent (collective authorship) (Paris: Centre Fédera FEN-Edilig, 1988), p. 467.
INSEE, Données Sociales, no. 101, 1973, p. 17.
In 1968, 44.6 per cent of women aged 25–54 worked. By 1975 this figure had increased to 53.1 per cent. INSEE, Economie et Statistique, no. 171–2, 1984, p. 14.
Cited in Pascal Lainé, La femme et ses images (Paris: Editions Stock, 1974), p. 184.
Véronique Soulé, ‘F. Magazine, une percée réussie dans la presse féminine française’. Presse-Actualité, no. 131, november 1978, p. 16.
This profile of the ‘new woman’ is taken from Benoîte Groult, Les nouvelles femmes (Paris: Editions Magazine, 1979), pp. 187–241. This profile is based upon a survey carried out by F Mazarine in April 1978 of the responses of 2060 women. According to the survey, 93 per cent of the women questioned belonged to occupational categories which may be covered by the term middle-class (employées — 26 per cent, cadres moyens — 24 per cent, cadres supérieurs — 5 per cent, professions libérales — 4 per cent, enseignantes — 22 per cent, services médicaux et sociaux — 10 per cent, commerçantes/artisanes — 2 per cent). Only 5 per cent of ‘new women’ were working-class (ouvrières spécialisées, personnel de service, manoeuvres) — 2 per cent, ouvrières qualifiées, contremaîtres, agents de maîtrise — 3 per cent); 69 per cent were married; 30 per cent had passed the baccalauréat while 43 per cent had completed some form of Higher Education; 57 per cent worked full-time while 8 per cent worked part-time; 35 per cent lived in the Paris region and another 24 per cent lived in large towns and cities.
Françoise Giroud, ‘La révolution est accomplie’. Le Nouvel Observateur, no. 1361, 6–12 décembre 1990, pp. 6–13.
Martine Lévy, ‘France: vers un équilibre dynamique avec les hommes’. Femmes d’Europe, no. 70, 1992, p. 34.
Marie-Claude Nectoux, ‘Femmes violentes, femmes violentées …’ Après-Demain, no. 316–17, juillet—septembre 1989, p. 16.
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© 1993 Khursheed Wadia
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Reader, K.A., Wadia, K. (1993). Women and the Events of May 1968. In: The May 1968 Events in France. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-22702-0_6
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