Fédération Française des Sociétés Féministes

The Fédération Française des Sociétés Féministes (French Federation of Feminist Societies) was a short-lived French organization founded in 1891.

The Federation was announced in November 1891.Eugénie Potonié-Pierre brought together eight feminist groups in Paris into the Fédération Française des Societés Feministes (French Federation of Feminist Societies). The Union Universelle des Femmes joined the Federation. The Société de l'allaitement maternel, which encouraged breast feeding, also joined. The Fédération française des sociétés féministes was created to deal with the divergences in opinion and approach between different feminist groups. This was the first time the adjective "feminist" had been used in the name of a group. It started to be used by the press in its radical sense. The humanists who belonged to the organization felt that it was in the common interest of both sexes for men to be involved in the movement, in contrast to others who felt the movement was purely the concern of women.

Aline Valette joined the committee that organized the first congress in May 1892, and represented a short-lived union of seamstresses at the congress. The congress in 13–15 May 1892 was well-attended, with both social feminists, mainstream feminists and socialists. The congress did not succeed in developing practical proposals or a coherent policy. The congress was well-covered in the press. The daily paper Le Temps published articles on it from 14–17 May. The Federation's main task was defined as preparing a Cahier des doléances féminines (List of feminist grievances). Potonie-Pierre resigned as secretary on 17 June 1892 due to a dispute over her authority and was replaced by Valette.

Valette founded the weekly tabloid L'Harmonie sociale which first appeared on 15 October 1892 as a means of making contact with working women to understand their concerns. The masthead had the socialist message: "The emancipation of women is in emancipated labor". However, the contributors to the journal, who included Eliska Vincent, Marie Bonnevial and Marya Chéliga-Loevy, were more interested in feminism than socialism. The journal serialized August Bebel's Woman under socialism and published various texts and resolutions of socialist congresses, although it was not always accurate and was far from Marxist. A sentimental novel by Chéliga-Loevy was serialized in the journal. It told the story of an innocent young girl who suffered various misfortunes and in the end embraced socialism.