Editing Paris Commune (section)

=== Feminist initiatives ===
[[File:Louise Michel2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Louise Michel]], anarchist and famed "Red Virgin of Montmartre", became an important part of the legend of the Commune.]]

Women played an important role in both the initiation and the governance of the Commune, though women could not vote in the Commune elections and there were no elected women members of the Commune itself.{{sfn|Milza|2009a|pp=109–113}} Their participation included building barricades and caring for wounded fighters.<ref name=":0" /> [[Joséphine Marchais]], a washer woman, picked up a gun during the battles of 22-23 May and said, "You cowardly crew! Go and Fight! If I'm killed it will be because I've done some killing first!" She was arrested as an incendiary, but there is no documentation that she was a {{lang|fr|[[pétroleuse]]}} (female arsonist). She worked as a {{lang|fr|[[vivandière]]}} with the {{lang|fr|[[Forlorn hope|Enfants perdus]]}}. While carrying back the laundry she was given by the guardsmen, she carried away the body of her lover, Jean Guy, who was a butcher's apprentice.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Merriman |first=John |title=Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune of 1871 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2014 |isbn=9780465020171 |location=New Haven and London |pages=81}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Perny |first=Paul |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5447194n |title=Deux mois de prison sous la Commune; suivi de détails authentiques sur l'assassinat de Mgr l'archevêque de Paris (3e éd.) / par Paul Perny,... |date=1871 |access-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411100658/http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5447194n |archive-date=11 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> There were reports in various newspapers of female arsonists, but evidence remains weak. The ''Paris Journal'' reported that soldiers arrested 13 women who allegedly threw petrol into houses. There were rumours that {{lang|fr|pétroleuses}} were paid 10 francs per house. While it was clear that communard arsonists burned the [[Tuileries Palace]], the Hotel de Ville and other landmarks, the reports of women participating were exaggerated at the time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Merriman |first=John |url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-465-02017-1 |title=Nonfiction Book Review: Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune by John Merriman |date= 2014 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-02017-1 |pages=156–157 |access-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315192926/http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-465-02017-1 |archive-date=15 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Some women organised a [[feminism in France|feminist movement]], following earlier attempts in 1789 and 1848. Thus, [[Nathalie Lemel]], a socialist bookbinder, and [[Élisabeth Dmitrieff]], a young Russian exile and member of the Russian section of the First International, created the [[Union des femmes pour la défense de Paris et les soins aux blessés|Women's Union for the Defence of Paris and Care of the Wounded]] on 11 April 1871. The feminist writer [[André Léo]], a friend of [[Paule Minck]], was also active in the Women's Union. Believing that the situation of women could only be improved through a global struggle against capitalism, the association demanded [[gender equality|gender]] and [[equal pay for women|wage equality]], the right of divorce for women, the right to secular education, and professional education for girls. They also demanded suppression of the distinction between married women and concubines, and between legitimate and illegitimate children. They advocated the [[prostitution law|abolition of prostitution]] (obtaining the closing of the [[Prostitution in France|maisons de tolérance]], or legal brothels). The Women's Union also participated in several municipal commissions and organised cooperative workshops.<ref>[https://www.humanite.fr/journal/2005-03-19/2005-03-19-458756 Women and the Commune], in {{lang|fr|[[L'Humanité]]}}, 19 March 2005 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312190133/http://www.humanite.fr/journal/2005-03-19/2005-03-19-458756 |date=12 March 2007 }}</ref> Along with [[Eugène Varlin]], Nathalie Lemel created the cooperative restaurant {{lang|fr|La Marmite}}, which served free food for indigents, and then fought during the Bloody Week on the barricades.<ref name="Bodinaux">François Bodinaux, Dominique Plasman, Michèle Ribourdouille. "''[http://www.femmesprevoyantes.be/NR/rdonlyres/E9B8FF14-B989-404F-A844-DB71B8D98326/0/PETROLEUSESDEFVERSIONFPS.doc On les disait 'pétroleuses'...]''" {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326175450/http://www.femmesprevoyantes.be/NR/rdonlyres/E9B8FF14-B989-404F-A844-DB71B8D98326/0/PETROLEUSESDEFVERSIONFPS.doc |date=26 March 2009 }}</ref>

Paule Minck opened a free school in the Church of [[Saint Pierre de Montmartre]] and ran the {{lang|fr|Club de la Victoire}} in the [[Church of Saint-Sulpice]] on the [[Rive Gauche|Left Bank]].<ref name=Bodinaux/> The Russian [[Anne Jaclard]], who declined to marry [[Dostoyevsky]] and finally became the wife of Blanquist activist [[Victor Jaclard]], founded the newspaper {{lang|fr|La Sociale}} with André Léo. She was also a member of the {{lang|fr|[[Comité de vigilance de Montmartre]]}}, along with [[Louise Michel]] and Paule Minck, as well as of the Russian section of the First International. [[Victorine Brocher]], close to the IWA activists, and founder of a cooperative bakery in 1867, also fought during the Commune and the Bloody Week.<ref name=Bodinaux/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eichner |first=Carolyn |title=The Paris Commune: A Brief History |publisher=[[Rutgers University Press]] |year=2022 |location=Camden}}</ref> [[Louise Michel]], the famed "Red Virgin of Montmartre" (see photo), who would later be deported to [[New Caledonia]], was one of those who symbolised the active participation of a small number of women in the insurrectionary events. A women's battalion of the National Guard defended the [[Place Blanche]] during the repression.