France's exceptional women, their imprint on diplomacy

March 4, 2024 will be a day to remember. It marks the inscription in the French Constitution, of the “freedom of women to voluntarily terminate a pregnancy”, making France the first country in the world to enshrine it as a constitutional right, 49 years after abortion became legal. At a moment when women’s rights are under threat in many regions of the world, this decision also sends out a universal message of solidarity to women across the globe.

Groundbreaking work

To understand the history of women’s rights in France, particularly the right to bodily autonomy, one has to go back to the year 1949 when French feminist icon Simone de Beauvoir published The Second Sex.

In the second volume of this very long book, which opens with the infamous statement-turned-feminist motto, “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”, Beauvoir dedicates an entire section to abortion in the chapter on motherhood. In this groundbreaking philosophical work, where she marries feminist thoughts with existential theories, the writer lays the theoretical groundwork for pro-choice advocacy. While challenging the reductionist image of a woman as a mother and caretaker, she champions women’s right to the freedom of choice, which is essential to existentialism. According to her, “if a woman is to take charge of her biological destiny, if she is to give life on her terms, then she needs, in addition to contraception, a free, safe and legal abortion service available to her.”

She strongly criticises the hypocrisy of her times where innumerous women resort to abortion, yet have to do it clandestinely. Though abortion was largely practised during Beauvoir’s times, a woman could be sentenced to up to five years of imprisonment. The absence of the right to abortion is part of the larger institutional oppression against women, which results from patriarchy. She states, “Free, safe and legal abortion should be available to every woman. The alternative to a legal abortion is a backstreet abortion, which often has dire consequences for women, such as haemorrhaging, septicaemia, and death itself”. Her statement recalls the poignant autobiographical account by Nobel Prize winner for Literature Annie Ernaux in L’évènement where she narrates the story of her illegal abortion back in 1963.

When The Second Sex was published in 1949, the text was an immediate success and translated into dozens of languages across the world, paving the way for the legalisation of abortion in France. In line with her philosophical beliefs, Beauvoir was living in an open relationship with French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, whom she never married nor had children with. Consequently, she was subjected to criticisms for her disruptive ideas and way of life.

A powerful petition

In 1971, Beauvoir penned the “Manifesto of the 343”, signed by 343 eminent women who opened up to publicly claim that they had had an abortion. The petition, published in the French social democratic magazine Le Nouvel Observateur, starts with this powerful statement, “One million women in France have abortions every year. Condemned to secrecy, they do so in dangerous conditions, while under medical supervision, this is one of the simplest procedures. Society is silencing these millions of women. I declare that I am one of them. I declare that I have had an abortion. Just as we demand free access to contraception, we demand the freedom to have an abortion.” This act of civil disobedience, laying bare the hypocrisy of a system while exposing themselves to potential prosecution, was instrumental in the adoption of the Veil law four years later, which decriminalised abortion for French women. It was named after the then Health Minister and women’s rights icon Simone Veil.

The Second Sex remains, until today, a foundational book for modern feminism. It was first translated into Hindi in 1991, by Indian feminist and novelist, Prabha Khaitan, as Stree Upekshita, which translates literally as “The Neglecting of Women”. Well-versed in western and Indian philosophy, Khaitan had written extensively on existentialism. Nevertheless, there were several omissions and simplifications in the translation.

This is the reason why national award winning Hindi publisher Vani Prakashan decided to commission a new translation in 2022, with Monica Singh translating it directly from French. The first of the two volumes was recently released last month during the New Delhi World Book Fair, giving Hindi readers full and faithful access to the text.

This speaks of the long-lasting influence of Beauvoir and the esteem with which she is held by feminists worldwide. The fact that abortion has now become a fundamental right, enshrined in the French Constitution, owes much to Beauvoir.

This historic decision is also an occasion to remember another iconic champion of women’s rights in Europe, Simone Veil, the revered French politician who survived the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz. She defied institutional sexism to push through the law legalising abortion in France in 1975 when she was Minister of Public Health, and became the first female leader of the European Parliament. Laid to rest at the Pantheon, she is among the eminent figures who still inspires all those who fight for women’s rights all over the world. We hope that Simone Veil and Simone de Beauvoir feel proud of how France has carried forward their legacy.

A feminist foreign policy

The heritage of these exceptional women is reflected today in our work as diplomats: France champions a feminist foreign policy, with a dedicated strategy that seeks to mainstream the promotion of gender equality and the rights of women and girls in all its bilateral undertakings, development assistance, and advocacy in multilateral bodies. In 2021, France co-chaired the Generation Equality Forum, which was the most important international feminist event since the Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995, in partnership with civil society and young people.

India has historically made strong international commitments in favour of women’s rights, including efforts to implement Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender equality), joining the 2019 Biarritz Partnership for Gender Equality, and, recently, gaining membership in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. I believe there is strong potential for France and India to do more together to further women’s rights around the world.

Thierry Mathou is the Ambassador of France to India

The opinion piece was published in The Hindu on 11th March 2024.