From Queens of the laundresses of Saint-Étienne to Labor Queens of Villeurbanne: Inversion of gender roles and moral conformism (from the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century)

Abstract

is text aims to review the rituals of election and
celebration of different worker queens in France, which have
been previously analyzed by ethnologists. rough the prism
of gender studies, and from the perspective of political history
and microhistory, it makes a comparative analysis of the Queen
of the Laundresses, the Muse of the People and the Queen of
Labor. In this way, it begins by investigating the festivities of
Mi-Carême and the election of the Queen of the Laundresses
at Saint-Etienne in the second half of the 19th century, and
then goes on to the coronation of the Muse of the People
(1900-1906). Finally, it analyzes the appointment of the Queensof Labor in Villeurbanne in the 1930’s. e study points out
the need to distinguish between, on the one hand, the public
and official presentation of the working queens, events that take
place in the center of the urban space with a massive turnout,
are organized by political elites and that, despite their respective
differences, embody a moral and political conformity. On the
other hand, there are the festivities of the washerwomen who, in
their neighborhoods and with an active role, on the day of Mi-
Carême, take up carnival rituals such as collecting in the street,
costumes, songs and eating practices, temporarily investing, thus,
the gender regime.