Single Sex Organizations: Communist Theories and Militant Practices. The Union des jeunes filles de France [Union of Young Women of France] (1946-end of the 1950s)

In 1936, French communists create an all-girl youth organization: the Union des jeunes filles de France (UJFF) [Union of young women of France]. Disbanded in 1939, the UJFF is recreated in 1946 on a basis which remains that of 1936. The idea of UJFF as a single-sex organization has nothing to do with morals. It is thought as a means of fulfilling several goals: to allow girls to have a political activity even if their parents do not want them to meet boys without supervision; to defend girls demands; to promote women cadres in the communist movement; to take the specifically feminine concerns into account; not to leave the female youth audience to some other social forces. After considering the motivations and ambitions of the French national communist directions, this article deals with the militancy of communist girls at the local level – particularly in Le Havre (Normandy) region and Parisian high schools. A gap can be seen between the nationally promoted model and the actual practices. The young activists want to act with boys and massively do it. Thereby they weaken an organization designed to provide guarantees to some parents who refuse to let their daughters alone with boys.