Joan of Arc's daughters: Catholic women and politics in France, 1896--1918.

Abstract

This dissertation examines the discourses and practices of several Catholic women's organizations at the turn of the twentieth century to trace the development of nationalist political ideology and Catholic women's involvement in politics. Ultimately, it explores the connections between gender identity, religious sentiment, and political ideology. In the first years of the twentieth century, as the church-state conflict became the most important political question of the day in France, Catholic women began to reconceptualize their relationship to the political sphere. The first chapter examines the debate about the relationship between Catholicism and French feminism and focuses on Marie Maugaret's organization, <italic> Feminisme chretien</italic>, as the most significant, as well as most radical, attempt to reconcile the two. Chapter two outlines the ways in which Catholic women's associations articulated nationalist visions of France. Catholic women's organizations <italic>Feminisme chretien </italic>, the <italic>Union nationaliste des femmes francaises</italic> and the <italic>Association patriotique du devoir des femmes francaises </italic> and the journals they published were spaces where nationalist women articulated their particular vision of the nation and defined women's roles within it. Using a combative rhetoric, these women presented themselves as defenders of a Catholic France endangered by Jews and Freemasons. Chapter three examines how Catholic women used Joan of Arc as a role model; as Joan of Arc had saved France and Catholicism in a period of great danger, these women believed they could protect the true France. The fourth chapter focuses on <italic>Ligue patriotique des francaises</italic> from its inception in 1902 through the First World War. While this organization repeatedly denied that it was involved in politics, its activities of gathering funds for electoral candidates and even campaigning for them brought women into the political sphere and began to acclimate Catholic women to political activity. Overall, this dissertation outlines the reconceptualization of the idea of the political by Catholic women. By broadening and redefining the meaning of politics, Catholic women were able to claim a place in French politics for themselves.