Simone de Beauvoir

 (January 9, 1908 – April 14, 1986) was a French thinker, feminist, and novelist. She is a representative of the atheist existentialist movement and a crucial figure in the claim of women's rights. She was born into a bourgeois and Christian family. Her father, Georges Bertrand de Beauvoir, was a lawyer and amateur actor, and Françoise Brasseur, a deeply religious homemaker. She enrolled in a very prestigious Catholic girls' school where she was noted for her brilliance. Years later, she had the privilege of studying at the Sorbonne and she met Jean-Paul Sartre, whom she accepted as her life partner. Although, it was a relationship that was quite out of the parameters of the moment: they talked to you for more than 50 years, they never lived together, and they did not see fit to get married or have children.

 

In her adolescence, she understood that religion was a way to subjugate the human being, and for this reason, she decided to declare herself an atheist. After World War I, Gustave Brasseur, her grandfather who was president of the Bank of the Meuse, went bankrupt. As a consequence of this family ruin, Simone's parents left the stately residence on boulevard Raspail and moved to a small apartment. The family relationship became increasingly tense, which is why her parents saw that studying was the only option for their daughters' economic situation to improve. At fifteen years old, Ella Simone knew that her destiny was to be a writer. Beauvoir began her higher education at the Catholic Institute in Paris, a private religious institution. She there she expanded her literary training at the Institute Sainte-Marie de Neuilly.

 

She earned certificates in mathematics, literature, and Latin. In 1926, she studied philosophy and obtained her certificate. Her university studies concluded in 1929 with the writing of a thesis on Leibniz. From 1943 she dedicated herself to teaching in the high schools of Marseille, Rouen and Paris. Her first work was the novel The Guest (1943), then The Blood of Others (1944) and the essay Pyrrhus and Cineas (1944). She was one of the few women to participate in the ideological debates of the time, she was reticent to the political right of her country and assumed the role of a committed intellectual. She joined with Sartre, Albert Camus and Maurice Merleau-Ponty to found the magazine Modern Times, whose first issue came out on October 15, 1945. Over time, she was a political and cultural reference for French thought in the mid-20th century. . Although at this time her name was highly questioned after not replicating the acts of World War II, as expected.

 

Subsequently, she published the novel All Men Are Mortal (1946), the essays For a Morality of Ambiguity (1947) and America Up to Date (1948). But, her starting point and her strong irruption into feminist issues occurred with her work entitled The Second Sex (1949); it became a classic work of contemporary thought. Elaborating a history on the social condition of the woman and analyzed the different characteristics of the masculine oppression. At the time when women's decision-making was limited in matters such as reproduction, social and affective ties, women's freedom and autonomy were restricted. This approach was new and little discussed at the time.

 

She also analyzed the gender situation from the perspective of biology, psychoanalysis and Marxism; destroying feminine myths, and inciting authentic liberation. She maintained that the struggle for the emancipation of women was different, although parallel to the class struggle, and that the main problem for women was linked to the economic factor. Simone de Beauvoir founded with the help of other empowered women the Women's Rights League, one of her intentions was to react firmly to any sexist discrimination, and through the magazine she disseminated all the talks and dissertations that came out of this space . She won the Prix Goncourt with The Mandarins (1954), where she spoke about the difficulties of postwar intellectuals in assuming their social responsibility.

 

Simone developed a vision of solidarity, and that is why in 1968 she joined the students led by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, in 1972 she presided over the Choisir association, in charge of defending free contraception, and received the admiration of her classmates for being a tireless fighter for human rights. In short, she Simone expressed herself in favor of communism and met with Che Guevara, with Mao and with Fidel Castro. Among his most outstanding works we can name: Memoirs of a formal young woman (1958), The fullness of life (1960), The strength of things (1963), A very sweet death (1964), Old age (1968), Final of accounts (1972) and the goodbye ceremony (1981).

 

Simone De Beauvoir died on April 14, 1986. Her work was recognized before and after her death. In the 21st century, the Simone de Beauvoir Award was created, given to those women who have been concerned with promoting freedom and women's rights. This prize awards the amount of 20 thousand euros and is supported by various international institutions, including Diderot University. For example, it was handed over to Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai in 2013.