Gabrielle Duchêne (26 February 1870 – 3 August 1954) was a French feminist and pacifist who was active in the French section of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Early years
Gabrielle Duchêne was born into a bourgeois family in Paris on 26 February 1870. Although she became a socialist, she was a wealthy woman. She became interested in politics with the Dreyfus affair, and then became involved in philanthropic work. In 1908 she co-founded Entr’aide (Mutual Aid), a cooperative for the makers of lingerie and fashion items. In the following years she fought against exploitation of home workers in the garment industry, for higher wages and improved working conditions, for establishing a law defining minimum wages (which was enacted on 10 July 1915), for equal pay and for the promotion of syndicalism through education of the workers.
Duchêne was a member of the council of the Chemiserie-Lingerie union, and from 1913 to 1915 she was president of the labor section of the National Council of French Women (CNFF: Conseil National des femmes françaises). She founded the French Office of Home Labor (OFTD: Office français du Travail à domicile) in 1913. She also founded the French Office for Women's Interests (OFIF: Office français des intérêts féminins). Duchêne tried to reconcile radical unionist feminists with politically moderate bourgeois feminists, and promoted collaboration between the two groups.
World War I
During World War I (1914–18) Duchêne founded and became Assistant Secretary of the Inter-Union Committee for Action Against Exploitation of Women (CIACEF: Comité intersyndical d’action contre l’exploitation de la femme). From the start of the war she was one of the small minority of pacifists who refused to accept the Union sacrée, an agreement by the left wing not to strike or take other action that could hinder the war effort. In 1915 Duchêne ceased union activism to devote her efforts to the pacifist cause, but retained her interest in the economic liberation of women. That year she was invited to the Hague Congress, where she met pacifists from many countries and where the idea emerged of creating an international league of women for pacifism and liberty. She was President of the French section of the International Committee of Women for Permanent Peace (Comité international des femmes pour la paix permanente) founded in 1915.
Duchene continued to agitate for peace throughout the war, without regard for her reputation or the risk of prosecution. The Comité d'Action Suffragiste (CAS) was created in December 1917, directed by Jeanne Mélin, Marthe Bigot and Gabrielle Duchêne. The CAS organized meetings to which they tried to attract workers, for example by showing films. As well as agitating for women's suffrage, the CAS wanted to organize a referendum to end the fighting.
Later years
The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF, Ligue internationale des femmes pour la paix et la liberté) was founded in 1919. Duchêne created the French section of the WILPF and directed it until her death in 1954. As she acknowledged, the Women's International League members were "women of the privileged classes". Until World War II (1939–45) Duchene was deeply involved in the WILPF, both in France and internationally.
Duchêne was not given a passport to attend the peace conference in Zurich in 1919, but she and fifteen working women sent a letter to the congress that offered to "women of other nations good wishes and assurance that we are ready to work with them more ardently than ever to prepare the 'peace of tomorrow. She was among the WILPF delegates at the Versailles Peace Conference. After participating in the campaign to aid Russia between 1920 and 1923, she became increasingly sympathetic to the Russians. Following this she was associated with organizations such as the League against Imperialism and Colonial Oppression, and the Society of Friends of the USSR. Duchêne's pacifist beliefs were gradually influenced by the Russian experience, and have been called "tinged pacifism".