author
Julie-Victoire Daubié
1824–1874
A trailblazer in 19th-century France, she became the first woman to pass the French baccalauréat and later the first French woman to earn a university degree in letters. Her writing linked education, work, and women's rights with unusual clarity and courage.
1 Audiobook
French morality, under the regulation system
by Julie-Victoire Daubié
About the author
Born in Bains-les-Bains in 1824, Julie-Victoire Daubié was a French journalist, essayist, and feminist whose life was shaped by a determined pursuit of education. At a time when French women were largely excluded from formal higher study, she taught herself subjects including Latin and Greek so she could sit for the baccalauréat.
Her breakthrough came in 1861, when she became the first woman in France to pass the baccalauréat. She went on to earn a licentiate in letters in Lyon in 1871, making her the first French woman to graduate from a French university. Before and alongside these milestones, she wrote on poverty, labor, and the condition of women, including work that examined the hardships faced by poor women.
Daubié is remembered not only for being "first," but for showing how education could open public life to women. Her career joined journalism and social criticism, and her example helped clear a path for later generations of women seeking access to study, professional work, and intellectual independence.