Richer, Léon

(1824-1911)

   political activist

   Born in Paris, Léon Richer was, with maria deraismes, the founder of the mainstream republican French feminist movement. A notary clerk, he became aware of women's plight and wrote for opposition papers such as L'Opinion national. In 1869, he founded the Ligue pour le droit des femmes and began publishing his own newspaper, Le Droit des femmes, which lasted until 1891. Richer favored a gradualist approach to women's rights; he sought, first, civil equality, which, he believed, would lead to eventual political equality.