Irene Joliot-Curie, une féministe engagée ?

• Published in: Genre & Histoire
• Main Author: Louis-Pascal Jacquemond
• Format: Article
• Language: French
• Published: Association Mnémosyne 2013-08-01
• Subjects: Feminism; Irène Joliot-Curie; Women's rights; Women scientists; Political engagement; Suffragism
• Online Access: https://journals.openedition.org/genrehistoire/1796

Was Irène Joliot-Curie a feminist? Chemist, physicist and laboratory researcher, she worked in a masculine profession, and called herself a feminist. In her scientific work she took on hierarchical responsibilities becoming eventually the head of the Curie Laboratory. With her husband Frédéric, she acquired notoriety thanks to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry they won in 1935. Her education and commitment to the values of gender equality, led her to be active in other areas, notably in the promotion of women’s rights. During the economic crisis of the 1930, she spoke out on issues of economic and social equality, which she placed before political rights. Antifascism, women’s rights and disarmament were the causes she defended in the name of a science she believed should promote emancipation and human welfare. As Sub-secretary of state for scientific research at the beginning of the Popular Front or as the faithful member of the French Community Party at the beginning of the Cold War, her political engagements were always on the side of promoting an egalitarian society. She believed in the communist and soviet model despite some hesitations and disillusions.