CLIO TALKS BACK: “Mothers, dare to be...” Words of Courage for Mothers from Cécile Brunschvicg

Credit: Archives du Féminisme (Angers, France)

Mother’s Day celebrations have become a worldwide phenomenon. Even when political and economic situations are at their worst, we rejoice in celebrating mothers (and fathers too). And we reflect on the importance of a mother’s role and responsibilities.

In honor of Mother’s Day 2014, Clio shares with readers the words of a celebrated French women’s suffrage advocate, Cécile Kahn Brunschvicg (1877-1946). The longtime president of the Union Française pour le Suffrage des Femmes and a great philanthropist, Cécile Brunschvicg courageously sustained the campaign for the vote despite myriad setbacks. In 1919, after World War I and following the first positive vote on women’s suffrage in the Chamber of Deputies (which the Senate refused to consider), Cécile Brunschvicg posed the issue in terms of national honor: "It is humiliating to think that we are Frenchwomen, daughters of the land of the Revolution, and that in the year of grace 1919 we are still reduced to demanding the 'rights of woman'."

In 1936 Cécile Brunschvicg would gain fame as one of three women appointed by Léon Blum to his Popular Front ministerial cabinet (1936-1937). The remarks below date from 1933, the very year that Hitler came to power in neighboring Germany and unleashed a series of threats that would culminate not only in war in 1939 but also in the Nazi occupation of France in 1940. Brunschvicg’s observations about differing views of "the family" remain pertinent in many parts of the world today, as does her counsel on the importance of women’s development and participation in their communities as well as in their homes.

Brunschvicg’s tribute, "Mères, osez être" appeared in La Française, 27 May 1933. Translated by Karen Offen.

 "Mothers, Dare to Be"

"Throughout the world Mother’s Day is celebrated, a touching idea that came to us from America, the great sentimental and practical country which is not merely content with recognizing the moral and social value of woman, but which, since many long years, has given her a place and an influence in its public life that increases every day.

"Some people in France are not afraid to affirm that the development of women’s role can only harm the family and they oppose what they call "the development of individualism" to the idea of the family.

"In reality we and they do not share the same understanding of the family.

"For them, the family is a small group entirely dominated by the authority of the father. In exchange for the bread he wins, he has the right to command as a master to the servant-wife and to the children, in whom he seeks more to develop blind submission than to develop their personalities.

"For us, on the contrary, the family is the union of two beings who share the same spiritual and intellectual ideal, who have decided to give life to healthy and happy children. The common household is the source of energy, the possibility to increase the radiance [rayonnement] of each by the free development of his or her own faculties.

"How is it possible not to understand that it is from the perfectioning of the individual that will give birth to the most perfect family and by what aberration can one oppose a healthy individualism to a healthy family.

"On this day, consecrated to the Mother, let us hope that all the women in France will meditate on their role in the family organization. It is easier, in truth, to submit without reflection than to be responsible, and the individualism that we seek comes with rights and responsabilities. What we cannot sanction is that arbitrary hierarchy, the pater familias who embodies the recognition of an a priori sexual superiority, a recognition that has served as the basis for an unjust Code, which denatures the relations between spouses and creates a privileged situation for the father at the mother’s expense.

"Certain men and even certain women will perhaps regret the life of the wife of earlier days, a life extinguished, which satisfied itself with a thousand little nothings of daily life. But let us dare to say that if men find there their convenience, they are not forever happy with it and, all too often, they look outside the household for a companion capable of understanding their preoccupations and their desires. 

"For the children themselves, the concept of the wife confined to the household is certainly not to be recommended. If the mother is to remain the good "minister of the interior," she should also, even in the interest of her familial mission, look outside and meditate on her responsibilities and duties. 

"Any good-hearted man [homme de Coeur] retains a tender memory of his mother for the care and tenderness with which she surrounded him; but the recognition of the best men goes to the éducatrice, to her who inspired in him that which is most profound and most noble. To raise up the soul of her children, the mother must, first of all, elevate her own; in order to help [children] understand life and guide them, she must instruct herself.

"Women, do not sacrifice your personal growth to your children and your husbands; it would be in vain. They will be the first victims. For your happiness, and for the happiness of those you love, we remind you of the counsel of Julie Siegfried, who was an admirable spouse and the best of mothers: 'Women, do not remain passive; mothers, dare to be!'"

Today, women around the world are honored on Mother's Day. This year France celebrates la Fête des Mères on 25 May. For more Mother’s Day goodness, explore our online exhibition MAMA: Motherhood Around the Globe, send your mother an e-card from us, or share your favorite Mother’s Day quotes.

Human Rights and Parental Rights in the ECHR

[Editor's Note: Very recently, Britain and Wales legalized same-sex marriage, allowing for couples to legally wed. In this special Her Blueprint blog post, Carrie James, a law student at George Washington University in Washington, DC looks at the way forward for LBG rights across Europe, specifically within the European Court of Human Rights.

Bio: Carrie R. James is a law student at The George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC, where she studies international law and international human rights law. She holds a master of arts degree in international affairs with a concentration in governance and rights from The New School University in New York City and bachelor's of fine arts in theatre from Long Island University. She specializes and is an activist in women's and queer people's rights. She spends her rare free time writing fiction with a very snuggly cat on her lap.]

Credit: Salon.com

While the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ensured the protection of rights for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (“LGB”) people, their interpretation of laws to protect LGBs has lead to gaps, particularly in the area of parental rights.

Overview of the ECHR 
The European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention) ensures protection of individual human rights as law, which are reviewed and decided by the ECHR. The Court provides individual relief as well as “determines issues on public-policy grounds in the common interest” in order to increase protection of human rights in Europe. Therefore, the Court's interpretation of a law has powerful human rights outcomes.

When the Court reviews laws pertaining to LGB people, Articles 8 and 14 are typically the provisions used. Article 8 protects an individual’s private and family life, allowing interference only to the extent required to secure “national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.” Article 14 prohibits discrimination according to the Convention. This means the Court considers different treatment of LGB persons to be discriminatory. Overall, sexual orientation discrimination requires a serious justification for any different treatment.

Previous Cases Involving LGB Parental Rights
The Court has considered several overarching LGB issues: criminalization of sodomy, housing discrimination, and parental rights via custody and adoption. At this time, the Convention does not guarantee a right for LGB people to adopt. In result, adoption issues involving LGB people have often arisen before the Court.

In Frette v. France, the Court determined that a denial of adoption to a single, gay man was not a violation of the Convention. The lack of scientific research coupled with the lack of international consensus regarding adoption by lesbians, gays, and bisexuals supported its conclusion. However, in E.B. and others v. France, the Court reversed Frette, finding that too much emphasis was placed on sexual orientation in denying the adoption, specifically the amount of focus given to the role her partner would play in the child’s life. The Court focused narrowly on the facts of this case rather than, as in Frette, broader public policy issues of allowing lesbians, gays, and bisexuals to adopt.

In Gas and Dubois, only married couples were allowed to access reproductive technologies in France. Because at the time same-sex couples were excluded from marriage, a lesbian couple went to Belgium in order for one partner to be inseminated. After the birth of their daughter, the couple sought a second parent adoption, which was denied because only married couples were permitted to adopt. The Court upheld the denial, because no unmarried couples (same or different sex) could access adoption. Therefore, the rights of the couple were not violated according to the Court's interpretation.

However, in X and others v. Austria,  a woman sought a second parent adoption of her partner’s child from a previous relationship, the denial was found to be a violation. Unmarried, different-sex couples in Austria were permitted second parent adoptions.

ECHR’s Straight Gaze on Relational Rights 
The ECHR’s approach to LGB issues is more likely to protect individual rights (private sex and succession) rights, rather than relational rights (parenting). In the cases I've discussed regarding adoption, the Court approaches the issue by engaging with the difference between heterosexuals and homosexuals or bisexuals. In more recent cases, the Court found a similarity between the groups first and analyzed the different treatment through a heterosexual lens (or the “straight gaze”). As can be seen in the French and Austrian second-parent adoption cases, the ability for LGB parents to secure legal protections of their families is entirely dependent on whether the State provides non-married, different-sex couples legal protections for their families.

The Quilting Women of Gee's Bend

I am not a quilter but something about quilting always captivates me. The patches of fabrics of various patterns and colors, the handmade stitches, the “imperfect” lines and shapes. In the culture where I was brought up, traditional Chinese quilts are often used as a gift for newborns; friends and family are invited to contribute a patch of cloth with a wish for the baby. They are called Bai Jia Bei (in translation "One Hundred Good Wishes Quil"t). The quilts contains symbols of luck, energy, and good wishes. They are to be passed down from generation to generation, just like those in America.

I went down to the river to pray

[Editor's Note: The following is a guest post by Ayesha Mattu, a writer, international development consultant and the editor of Love InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women. Her writing has appeared in CNN.com, The Huffington Post, International Museum of Women, and Religion Dispatches. Ayesha is working on a memoir about losing – and finding – faith and love.]

O sisters let’s go down, 

Let’s go down, come on down. 

O sisters let’s go down, 

Down in the river to pray. 

 - Alison Krause, Down to the River to Pray 

 It’s hard for me to admit that light and darkness, love and rage, need and pain are entangled in my relationship with my mother. Every Mother’s Day, we go for brunch and pretend that love is pure and simple, that we’ve never been wounded or made each other miserable, that our hearts aren’t fists covered in each other’s blood.

I gave my mother an advance copy of Love InshAllah about a month before the release date. Although she knew the love story I was going to share, and had been a strong supporter of the book over the five years it took from conception to publication, after she read it in print, she disowned me.

Reclaiming (Her)Story: Drawing Strength from the Past

Contralto singer Mabel Ritchardson in San Francisco, circa late 1930s.

For the past two years, I have been researching the history of my family. I have spent hours rummaging through old photographs and documents, constructing family trees, and scouring the internet for information about my ancestors. What an incredible journey it has been! The more I learn about my family's past, the more I long to know. The stories of the women in my family are particularly compelling. I am fascinated by the story of my great-grandmother, Mabel Ritchardson, who was a noted contralto singer in San Francisco during the 1930's. She performed pieces by Bach and Brahms, as well as spirituals, all while raising her six children in the city's Western Addition neighborhood.

A review of Ritchardson's performance in The San Francisco Spokesman reads, "Mrs. Ritchardson scored another triumph in her career when she was presented in an intimate musicale, by a group of artists at the fashionable Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill. Mrs. Ritchardson, the only colored on the program was introduced as a cultural leader of her race. The audience was spell-bound while she sang "Come Let Us All This Day" by Bach. For encore she sang "Vittoria Mio Core" by Carissima in Italian. She appeared later on the program with a group of Negro spirituals which were enthusiastically received."

I found this review of her work, along with programs, letters, and photos Mabel saved from her singing career. I was inspired by her dedicated pursuance of her craft, especially since this was an era where a woman's "place" was considered to be in the home. In spite of the obstacles facing all women, and especially Black women, she made her dreams a reality.