Marie Popelin: Google honors Belgian educator, feminist icon on 174th birthday

Happy Birthday Marie Popelin!!!

Google today honors the Belgian educator and feminist icon Marie Popelin on her 174^th birthday. She was the first woman to attain a law degree in the country.

Marie Popelin was a Belgian lawyer and early feminist political campaigner. She was born on September 16, 1846 in Schaerbeek near Brussels into a middle-class family. One of her brothers was a doctor, and another brother was an army officer.

Marie Popelin was well educated by the standards of the time and place. Despite her qualifications, she was denied admission to the bar on the basis of her gender, a result she challenged unsuccessfully in court. This injustice, which became known as the "Popelin Affair," helped to energize Belgium's burgeoning feminist movement, and Popelin became a leading pioneer in the struggle for gender equality.

Marie Popelin broke new ground for women in Belgium when she graduated summa cum laude with a law degree from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in 1888. However, she was denied admittance to the bar association, preventing her from practicing law. Marie Popelin participated in two feminist conferences in Paris in 1889. She established the Belgian League for the Rights of Women (Ligue belge du droit des femmes) in 1892 with the assistance of Isala Van Diest and Léonie La Fontaine.

Marie Popelin was a friend of American feminist May Wright Sewall, who she had met in Paris in 1889, and with Sewall's encouragement, the Belgian section of the International Council of Women was established from 1893.

Marie Popelin travelled the world to support women's rights and in 1905 established the Conseil National des Femmes Belges (National Council of Belgian Women), which served to unify feminist groups from across the country.

Marie Popelin died on June 5, 1913 at the age of 66. She died without even gaining admission to the bar. The Belgium government commemorated her in multiple ways. She was featured on a Belgian postage stamp during the International Women's Year of 1975, and a road in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode was named after her in 2008. In 2011, Marie Popelin with the first Belgian female doctor, Van Diest, were depicted on the Belgian two euro commemorative coin for the 1st centenary of the International Woman's Day. Google today dedicates a beautiful doodle to the Belgian lawyer and early feminist political campaigner on her 174^th birthday.

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