ined in limbo and with the break out of war in 1914 was again postponed (McMillan 94).WWIFrench women contributed enormously to the French war effort, and the war effort contributed enormously to the advancement of women. For example, women made great advance in the service sector of the economy. In 1906 779,000 were employed in commercial jobs and by 1921 1,008,000 were employed in that sector (McMillan 120). Jobs of all kinds were starting to open up for women. With education finally being more available for women, women entered the workforce as chief accountants, managers, engineers, and secretaries (McMillan 135). However, most women in commerce were not married. The medical and law professions barred women from their practice.In France, out of 1,580,459 workers, the female component made up about 362,879 of the worker population - almost a quarter of the workforce (McMillan 132). However, women failed to actively join unions. In 1920 only 239,016 out of 1,580,967 working women unionized. Simon de Beauvoir attributed this to "a tradition of resignation and submission, a lack of solidarity and collective consciousness, that left them thus disarmed before the new opportunities that were opening up for them," (115).On the political front, a bill for female suffrage had passed through the Chamber of Deputies in 1919. In debate it was said that women should receive the right to vote as a "reward" for their war efforts (McMillan 144). At the same time Republican senators were debating whether women would receive the right to vote, Pope Benedict XV declared that he was in favor of female suffrage. Anti-clerical Republicans and radicals alike feared giving women the right to though the law separating church and state had been enacted in 1905 and these fears had little true reason for existence (de Beauvoir 123). Senators ignored the bill until 1922 when they threw it out. In 1928 senators passed a resolution to have no further ...
