Léonie Rouzade

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Léonie Rouzade, born Louise-Léonie Camusat (1839–1916), was a French feminist, politician, journalist and writer. She was born on September 6, 1839 in Paris, the daughter of a watchmaker. In 1860 she married Auguste Rouzade and moved to Meudon. Encouraged by her husband, she wrote two feminist novels in 1872: Le Monde renversé and Voyage de Théodose à l'île de l'Utopie. The first imagines a world where women rule and men obey; the second envisions a utopian island where people work only four hours a day and live in gender equality.

In 1878 she attended the International Congress of Women and met Hubertine Auclert, who urged her to support women's rights. In 1879 she founded Droit des femmes. After it merged with the Workers' Party, Rouzade wrote for Le Prolétaire and spoke at party meetings. On February 28, 1880, Le Prolétaire announced the creation of the Union des femmes (UdF) by Rouzade and Eugénie Pierre. She spoke at the UdF’s first meeting on April 13, 1880, and in June represented the UdF at the Union fédérative du centre and at the 1880 Congrès du Havre. She continued to speak at socialist events until 1882, when she stepped back after facing opposition as a socialist candidate in the 1881 Paris municipal elections.

In 1891 she joined La Solidarité des femmes, founded by Eugénie Potonié-Pierre, but left around 1901 after its founder's death. Léonie Rouzade died in mid-October 1916. The Rue Léonie Rouzade in Meudon is named after her.