FEMINIST MOVEMENTS IN BELGIUM AND FRANCE, 1830-1914 - A COMPARATIVE APPROACH

During the second half of the 19th century, women emancipation movemen ts showed a similar evolution in France and Belgium. After the first m anifestations of utopian socialism which spread amongst the popular cl asses in France but remained limited to a very small group of people i n Belgium, the movement focused its attention on education in Belgium, a compulsory transition to form the selected few needed for its futur e organisation. The first structured feminist groups, which appeared b etween 1880 and 1900, enrolled in a social and ideological sphere simi lar in both countries and pursued the same target, the reform of the C ivil Code. Between French and Belgian women, the bounds are numerous a nd continuous, strengthened by the international inclination of this f irst form of feminism. On the contrary, the feminist groups created am ong the different political parties showed very strong national featur es, explained by their integration in the national political fight.