author
Julie-Victoire Daubié
1824–1874
A determined French writer and reformer, she broke one of the biggest barriers in 19th-century education by becoming the first woman to earn the baccalaureate in France. Her work argued forcefully for women’s access to learning, work, and independence.
1 Audiobook
French morality, under the regulation system
by Julie-Victoire Daubié
About the author
Born in the Vosges on March 26, 1824, Julie-Victoire Daubié grew up in a period when higher education was effectively closed to women. She educated herself widely, worked as a journalist and essayist, and became known for studying the economic and social hardships faced by women.
Her breakthrough came in 1861, when she became the first woman in France to pass the baccalauréat. A decade later, in 1871, she earned a licentiate in letters at Lyon, making her the first woman to graduate from a French university. These achievements were not just personal milestones; they challenged the rules and expectations of her time.
Daubié is also remembered for her book La Femme pauvre au XIXe siècle, which examined women’s poverty and inequality with unusual directness. She died on August 26, 1874, but her name still stands for persistence, intellectual courage, and the long fight to open education to women.