Exposition : Les femmes vont voter, octobre 1944 - octobre 1945

Dive into the history of women's suffrage in France, from the Liberation period to the first women's votes. Archives from the Mayenne region enrich the tour, providing a local perspective on this historic transformation.

The exhibition "Women go to the polls, October 1944 - October 1945" was designed by the Institut d'Histoire du Temps Présent (IHTP) after four years of collective research on the subject, in anticipation of its 80th anniversary in 2024-2025.

Through 25 panels, the exhibition takes a chronological and thematic look at the period from the Liberation to the analysis of women's first votes, including their journey from minors to citizens and the questions raised by this new right in a society devastated by war. The panels are illustrated by a wealth of archive material, including personal accounts, women's newspapers, photographs, leaflets and ballot papers. They are also accompanied by documents held by the Archives de la Mayenne, to give the exhibition a local flavour.

A number of events are scheduled to help you discover the exhibition and find out more about women's rights:

- Friday 30 January at 6.30pm | Anne-Sarah Bouglé-Moalic, La Marche des citoyennes vers les droits politiques. Book signing and sale of her book La Marche des Citoyennes (éditions Cerf, 2021) with the Laval bookshop M'Lire.

- Friday 6 February at 6pm | Titiou Lecoq, . Book signing and sale of his book Les Grandes oubliées (éditions de L'Iconoclaste, 2021) with the Laval bookshop M'Lire. Bookings can be made online via the Archives départementales website until 5 February.

- Thursday 5 March at 6.30pm | Association Femmes Solidaires, Women's rights here and elsewhere in the presence of Sophie Pasquet, departmental delegate for Women's Rights and Equality.

- Saturday 7 March at 2.30pm | Élise Druart and Lylie Trouillard, Faire l'histoire des femmes : mobiliser les sources archivistiques des Archives de la Mayenne.

- Wednesday 25 March from 6pm to 9.30pm | Nocturnes de l'histoire: Quand les archives font parler les femmes. The small Saint-Domingue collection, witness to a tormented marital history. Part one: a dramatised reading of letters from the collection. Second part: a lecture by Léa Cabannes, a student at Bordeaux Montaigne University. Online booking coming soon.

- Saturday 28 March at 2.30pm | Marine Gilis, Sensitive archives: the legalisation of abortion in France.

During the school holidays, fun workshops on decoding images on the theme of equality between girls and boys are on offer for children aged 10 and over at the Archives départementales. The workshops can be booked online via the Archives départementales website.

- Tuesday 17 February from 2pm to 4pm with a Chandeleur snack.

- Wednesday 18 February from 10am to 12pm.