In 2014, the French Confederation of Sisters of Love, a women’s non-governmental organization serving women, studied 63,500 streets in 111 French municipalities outside Correz. In general, only 2% bear the names of female characters; And from 33% of the streets reserved for personalities only 6%.
Saintes, pilots, scientists, politicians … Women are underrepresented. “It amounts to, as in the Pantheon, to politely endorse the idea that women’s achievement of great things is an exception,” angered Christine Dagen, the League’s president at the time. What about Correz?
Public methods are mainly “male”.
In a similar study in Brave, Jean-Michel Valladie makes the same remark: “Which chauvinists are these Prevoids, are we inclined to say?!”, The historian notes, in a chapter devoted to the representation of women through street names in Brave, taken from his book. Discover the memorial of the streets of Brive.
In Brave, out of the thousands of urban roads currently named, there are about thirty roads that relate to women, or 3.20% exactly.
Slightly higher than estimated by Soroptimst, but shamefully low, especially since women have very little access to boulevards, roads, or squares. “However, the situation looks less bad than anywhere else …” Jean-Michel Valaddi quotes 0.6% for Marseille, 1.11% for Lyon and 1.20% for Clermont-Ferrand.
For the 30 or so women in the spotlight in Brave, “there are no heroines in the history of France.” But we find little-known local figures such as Blanche Silva, a pianist born in 1884, Ursole Sigral Vernac (1798-1879) who donated her wealth to create an orphanage by Koenig or Marcel Tenner (1870-1948) who championed abortion in 1905. Most famous: Marquise de Sévigné, Colette, George Sand, Joséphine Baker, Lucie Aubrac, Aviator Maryse Bastié … Finally, “the others share their offspring with their husbands: Faures, Peyre, Chirac Saule …”
The same situation is in Tolle where, because there are fewer roads, there are fewer women in the spotlight, with barely ten women, including actress Marie Laurent, poet Louisa Pauline, and George Sand … in Aussell, where the percentage of votes cast is She cites less big figures, women can be counted on the fingers of one hand, notably Louise Michel or Marie Troubadi.
The legacy of history is disputed by elected officials
Elected officials explain this major imbalance between men and women through the legacy of history.
“We depended a lot on World War II to baptize the streets. Locally, the resistance men were great. The same applies to officials and doctors elected in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s.”
Jack Fessier (Deputy Mayor of Brave)
But in municipalities, today, “we prefer women,” says Bernard Coombs. Everything is shaped by opportunities. We look closely at what we want to call it, because it wouldn’t be very good to give only women names at a standstill. ”In particular, society is considering naming the space Sophie Dessus.
The name Simone Veil is given to an urban park in Brave
Also in Brave, where the mayor makes a decision on the proposals, “the feminization of the names of streets, parks and buildings is of course a concern, his deputy asserts. We have seen this with Simone-Veil Park or even Jacques Street and Bernadette Chirac.”
Women are better represented in schools and media libraries
“For schools, in Brave, male dominance is less pronounced, confirms Jean-Michel Valladie. Three out of 24 public institutions in the city are dedicated to women, or 12.50%.”
Do you know who these guys, not necessarily very famous, are who gave their name to Brive Schools?
Alongside the famous Marie Curie and Lucy Oprac, this is an opportunity to honor an unknown woman, Therese Simonet, a nurse born in Brave in 1886. In Toll and Ocel, only in private schools, which have female denominations, such as colleges and high schools (Joan of Arc, Saint Mary, etc.)
As for the media libraries and media libraries in Correz municipalities, when they are baptized, men often honor men, but Marcel Delbaster, the Chorizani poet (1925-1998) had little success with three establishments in her name. City of origin, Champaign, but also in Saint-Pantaleón-de-Larch and Berlivade.
A clear development for middle and high school
The company’s development is being felt in new classes. In recent years, Simone Veil has been honored many times: her name was given, in 2019 at Brive, to the former Danton High School and to the former Bronne Barracks Park? At the RD2089 roundabout in Malimort, in 2018 …
And since 2015, out of the five public colleges that have changed their names, three have taken women’s names: Simone Veil in Argentat? Armand Boudry, Corre’s Resistance Member, in Selhack and Bernadette Chirac in Memac. In 2012, the name Alasak paid tribute to Mathilde-Marty Faucher, the mayor of the city at the time.
The college will now be called Armande Baudry College
In total, six public colleges, out of 25 in Correz, bear the name of a woman, ie 24%: “This is not necessarily the desire of the department, the selection is made in cooperation with the teaching team. Does this reflect the direction of the moment ?!
As for public high schools, one in six institutions honors a woman: in Brave, Simonville (formerly Danton) and Margaret Pahoet (Home School Foundation in Brave).
“The region is concerned with the place of women in new sects. The last three high schools, including Brave School, are named after a woman. ”
Jean-Louis Nimbriani (Vice President of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region)
Christine Mott
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