National Council of French Women
| French: Conseil National des femmes françaises | |
Logo of the organization
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| Abbreviation | CNFF |
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| Formation | 1901 |
| Legal status | Active |
| Purpose | Support women's rights |
| Headquarters | 228 Boulevard Raspail - 75014 Paris, France |
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Official language
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French |
| Affiliations | International Council of Women (ICW) |
| Website | www |
The National Council of French Women (French: Conseil National des femmes françaises, CNFF) is a society formed in 1901 to promote women's rights. The first members were mainly prosperous women who believed in using non-violent means to obtain rights by presenting the justice of the cause. Issues in the first half century included the right to vote, legal equality between husband and wife, paternal child support, social support for children, equal employment opportunity, equal pay for equal work and acquisition of citizenship on marriage. The National Council of French Women is affiliated with the International Council of Women (ICW). Now the oldest of French feminist organizations, it continues to work for causes related to the rights of women.
The dignified and respectable Eliska Vincent (1841–1914) founded the feminist group "Equality of Asnières" in 1888, which engaged in a moderate form of activism for women's suffrage that drew support from bourgeois women. She succeeded Hubertine Auclert (1848–1914) as the generally recognized leader of the suffrage movement in Paris when Auclert moved to Algeria in 1888.
During the 1900 World Exposition in Paris there were several women's congresses and meetings. Feminists differed on subjects such as the responsibility of fathers for illegitimate children, where paternal recognition would give a child the right to bear their father's name and to inherit from him, but would also in some cases give the father the right of custody. At one of the conferences Maria Pognon, who would be one of the founders of the CNFF, argued against paternity suits and for a national maternity fund to support unwed mothers and their children. Her proposal was rejected by the majority of attendees.
The 1900 meetings included the philanthropic and educational Congress of Women's Works and Institutions (Congrès des Œuvres et Institutions Féminines) and the Congress on the Status and Rights of Women (Congrès de la Condition et des Droits de la Femme) which called for full gender equality. The two groups decided to combine to form the CNFF, defined as a federation of associations with the purpose of improving the condition of women in education, economics, society, philanthropy and politics. By this time Eliska Vincent had lost her enthusiasm for Equality, and resigned when it joined the National Council of French Women.
The CNFF was formally launched on 18 April 1901. The initial committee was headed by Isabelle Bogelot. It included Sarah Monod (1836–1912), Avril de Sainte-Croix (1855–1939) and Julie Siegfried (1848–1922) from the Congress of Women's Works and Institutions, and Marie Bonnevial, Madame Wiggishoff and Maria Pognon from the Congress on the Status and Rights of Women. Although Maria Pognon was concerned that Sarah Monod was for many the "standard-bearer of Protestantism," the choice of the majority was for Sarah Monod to be president due to her high moral and intellectual character.
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