A rebound journalist and feminist by conviction, Marguerite Durand Le Figaro was commissioned to cover the International Feminist Congress. The article, which was supposed to be humorous, became political. After that, she Durand took the alternative and founded La Fronde, the first newspaper directed, managed, edited, written and distributed by women.
Courageous, she dedicated her first issues to the Dreyfus case and from her pages she addressed masculine issues, such as politics, sports or education, and dared to defend the recognition of the rights of married women –considered inferior even in the Civil Code–, free maternity or the abolition of the regulation of prostitution. Her legend was increased by her walks through the gardens of Paris with her eccentric pet, a lioness.
The Jewish businessman Rothschild provided financial support to the project, which began with a circulation of 50,000 copies and at the beginning of the century, already reached a circulation of 200,000 newspapers. But these figures did not allow economic stability to be given to the newspaper, which was forced to close shortly after, in 1905.
Five years later, Durand established himself by running in the legislative elections demanding the right to women's suffrage.
