Maria Martin (Maria Arundale, 18 July 1839 born Westminster - 14 December 1910 Paris) was a French feminist activist, who consistently defends equal rights between men and women.
Life
Maria Arundale is of English and Protestant origin, born in 1839, she is the older sister of Francesca Arundale. She became French through her marriage and mother of four children. She gave evening English classes. She devoted a good part of her life to feminism.
In 1881 she collaborated on the newspaper La Citoyene with the suffragette Hubertine Auclert. She took over its management in 1888. Later, she founded Le journal des femmes, which appeared from 1891 to 1911. The women's journal advocated for new rights such as the eligibility of women to the commercial courts, or the right of married women to open a savings account without the authorization of their husband.
Maria Martin was a socialist. In 1889, she participated in the founding of the Socialist Women's League. In 1891, it became Women's Solidarity, Eugénie Potonié-Pierre was its secretary.
She was a pacifist and participated in the Geneva Peace Congress in 1889, and the Berne Peace Conference in 1892.
She was interested in feminist literature and directed the Women's Literary Circle in Lyon.
In 1893 she was one of the first sixteen women initiated into Freemasonry by Maria Deraismes within Lodge No. 1 of Human Rights. She remained there for fifteen years as secretary. She became Grand Chancellor of the Order. She defended secularism without showing anti-clericalism.
In 1893, she was secretary of the International Council of Women (CIF). She was noticed at the congresses held in France from 1889 to 1900. At the 1900 Congress on the Condition and Rights of Women, she demanded the right to vote and to stand for election. She is one of the pillars of the National Council of French Women founded in 1901 .