From Domestic Docility to Public Reckoning: The Evolution of French Feminism

After 1944, French women won suffrage and voted for the first time, buoyed by their contributions during the war. But the new republic still prized women’s domestic role, even as it expanded their rights and supported their growing presence in public life. This tension between “modern” womanhood and domesticity is rendered aptly in the posters of Lefor-Openo. These bright, cheerful, consumer-driven images papered over the upheaval of postwar France with a vision of cute, contented femininity. 

By the 1970s, tension erupted into organized action. Feminists secured legalized contraception and abortion, built shelters and advocacy groups, and forced a national reckoning with sexist culture—though the movement soon split, creating rifts that echo into today. More recently, the 2018 #BalanceTonPorc movement and its opposition echoed old debates about liberation and traditional femininity, while the 2020s have signaled a decisive push toward institutional consequence. Abortion was enshrined in the French constitution in 2024, and the Giselle Pelicot rape trial turned private shame into public reckoning. 

Join Poster House and Dr. Lisa Greenwald for a lecture exploring eighty years of changing ideas about French womanhood, from the traditional ideals depicted in posters like Lefor-Openo’s to women’s hard-won economic, legal, and political power to define their own lives.

Doors open at 6:15pm. There will be a brief Q&A following the lecture. 

Dr. Lisa Greenwald holds a PhD in Modern European and Women’s History from Emory University. She spent nearly a decade researching and working within the women’s movement in France, supported by an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship and grants from the French government. She has served as a consultant and in-house historian for nonprofits and foundations in France, Chicago, and New York, and now teaches history at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. She is the author of Daughters of 1968: Redefining French Feminism and the Women’s Liberation Movement, and her most recent article, on women, war, and violence in both France and Algeria, appeared in the Journal of Women’s History.

Accessibility Note: Masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact events@posterhouse.org.