Héricourt, Jenny Poinsard (1809–1875)

French philosopher, medical practitioner, Communist, and feminist. Name variations: Jenny d'Hericourt; Jeanne Marie; Mme Marie; (pseudonyms) Félix Lamb; Jeanne Marie; and Poinsard d'Héricourt. Born Jeanne-Marie-Fabienne Poinsard in Besançon, Sept 10, 1809; died Jan 1875; dau. of Jean-Pierre Poinsard (clockmaker) and Marguerite-Baptiste-Alexandrine Brenet; received Instructrice diploma at 18; diploma from Medical Homeopathic Institute of Buenos Ayres (Paris); diploma of maitresse sage femme; m. Michel-Gabriel-Joseph Marie, Aug 1832.

Serialized a novel about working-class misery in Étienne Cabet's journal Le Populaire; worked for the women's revolutionary press and signed the published manifesto of Society for Women's Emancipation (1840s–50s); wrote under name "Jeanne Marie" for Voix des Femmes (Women's Voice); also worked as a medical practitioner and midwife; published extensively in Revue Philosophique et réligieuse (Review of Philosophy and Religion) and in the liberal Italian journal La Ragione (Reason); in response to male intellectuals who wrote of women's inferiority, published La Femme affranchie: réponse à M.M. Michelet, P.-J. Proudhon, E. de Girardin, A. Comte et aux autres novateurs modernes (1860), which was abridged in English trans. as A Woman's Philosophy of Woman or Woman Affranchised (1864); moved to US (mid-1860s), settling in Chicago, becoming a facilitator between American and French feminists; returned to France (1873) and became involved in the intellectual circle surrounding periodical L'Avenir des femmes (Women's Future).

See also Women in World History.