Anne Zelensky

Anne Zelensky (born 24 October 1935) is a French feminist activist and author. She is known for being a prominent figure in the Mouvement de libération des femmes (women’s liberation movement), which took place in 1970 that advocated to consolidate fundamental rights for women in France.

As the daughter of a French colonial official in Côte d'Ivoire, she was exposed at a young age to the existing colonial racism and sexist oppression within the social system.^[1] As an adult, Anne Zelensky became a French feminist activist who took part in the revival of French feminism in 1966. She, amongst other things, alongside Jacqueline Feldman, founded the FMA (Féminin Masculin Avenir, Feminine Masculine Future) a mixed-gender activist group that focused on female equality after playing a major role in the Mouvement de libération des femmes (MLF) in 1970.^[2]

She was a significant player in the feminist movement during the May 68 civil unrest protests and throughout the 1970s. Zelensky worked closely with author and sociologist Jacqueline Feldman, with whom she co-founded the FMA, along with existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir, the author of The Second Sex. Zelensky is one of the women behind the Manifesto of the 343 in 1971, a call for the decriminalization and legalization of voluntary interruption of pregnancy (IVG), which included medical procedures such as abortion.

In particular, she defended the position that women must gain access to political responsibilities, which was an unpopular opinion at the time in the feminist movement.