Madeleine Pelletier

Madeleine Pelletier
Madeleine Pelletier dressed like a man to distance herself from femininity, a concept that she saw as a sign of the oppression of women
Born	Anne Pelletier 18 May 1874 Paris, France
Died	29 December 1939(1939-12-29) (aged 65) Perray-Vaucluse asylum near Paris
Nationality	French
Fields	Physician, psychiatrist
Alma mater	University of Paris Faculty of Medicine
Known for	Women's rights

Madeleine Pelletier (18 May 1874 – 29 December 1939) was a French physician, psychiatrist, first-wave feminist, and socialist activist.

Pelletier originally trained as an anthropologist studying the relationship between skull size and intelligence after Paul Broca with Charles Letourneau and Léonce Manouvrier. When she left anthropology she attacked the concept of skull size as a determinant of intelligence distinguishing the sexes. Following her break with anthropology Pelletier went on to become a psychiatrist. In 1906, she was the first French woman to sit the examination to become a psychiatrist. She was also the first woman to work as an intern in state asylums.

Outside her professional life, Pelletier was a committed activist. As a teenager, Pelletier attended feminist and anarchist groups. By 1900, Pelletier was actively involved in feminism and socialist activism. In 1906, she became secretary of La Solidarité des femmes (Women’s Solidarity), and established the organization as one of the most radical feminist organizations at the time. In 1908 she represented the group at the Hyde Park demonstrations for women’s suffrage. She published La suffragiste.

During this period, in 1905, she also helped to found the unified French Socialist Party (as the Section française de l'Internationale ouvrière), sat on its national council until World War I, and represented the party at most international socialist congresses before the War. She worked for the Red Cross during the War, treating the injured from both sides.