Marguerite Coppin

Marguerite Coppin
Born Marguerite Aimee Rosine Coppin
(1867-02-02)2 February 1867
Brussels, Belgium
Died

1931 (aged 6364)


England

Nationality Belgium
Occupation feminist, poet

Marguerite Aimee Rosine Coppin (2 February 1867 – 1931) was born in Brussels and became woman Poet Laureate of Belgium and a noted feminist and pioneer in female emancipation and equal rights for women.[1] She was compared with women's rights activists Amelia Bloomer and Emmeline Pankhurst.[2]

The city of Bruges was scandalised when Coppin rode a bicycle down the streets of the city with her skirts clipped up to each ankle to function like trousers. The bicycle was recognized by 19th-century feminists and suffragists as a "freedom machine" for women contributing to Female emancipation. "A woman on a bicycle? Brazen!" said the shocked people of Bruges according to a 1937 news article. Like Amelia Bloomer, Coppin devised a convenient and comfortable trouser like garment for women to use for bicycle riding.[2]

In 1914 with the outbreak of war Coppin fled to England where she worked as a French teacher[3] until her death in 1931.[2]

See also

Notes

  1. Éliane Gubin, Marie-Sylvie Dupont-Bouchat, Dictionnaire des femmes belges Bruges, Lannoo Uitgeverij, 2006 ISBN 2-87386-434-6, ISBN 978-2-87386-434-7 Preview available
  2. 1 2 3 "Bicycle Ride that Shocked People of Bruges (World's News)". The Herald. Melbourne. 4 December 1937. p. 16.
  3. Marguerite Coppin : Fin de siècle – Ressort cassé (1889). QuestionDeGenre/GKC, Montpellier (France) 2011.


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