The First World War: the involvement of Martinican women

During the First and Second World Wars, the men (8,788 men or more) who went to war, women of all ages mobilized to help and participate in the national effort. They felt as concerned as men for this conflict, which took place in Metropolitan France, more than 8,000 km from the island, and were the first to propose solidarity actions in favor of the victims of the war.

Thus, on August 22, 1914, a few days after the announcement of the war, the Union des femmes Martiniquaises (Martinican feminist movement), a committee of assistance to the wounded, was created. It brings together prominent women from the colony. The goal of this movement was to promote the engagement of all with the war-wounded. Thus, the women will undertake demonstrations of support and collection of donations (clothing, rum, confectionery, money) to the soldiers who have gone to defend the nation and their families.

It is with pleasure that I learn of the generous gesture of the ladies of my dear Martinique, consisting of sending clothes and rum to France to the soldiers who are on the front, mainly to those who give their life and their youth to the Motherland.

For example, Mademoiselle Didier organized a charity concert at the municipal theater intended to collect funds (3,100 francs of receipts) to help the blind during the war.

The young girls of the Pensionnat Colonial make two boxes of woolen books that they send, one to the Œuvre du Tricot du Soldat at the Hôtel de Ville in Paris and the other to the Prefect of Loiret, the region where they were located. The largest number of refugees. The girls from the municipal school handed over sachets that they had made with socks and treats.

Some women had demonstrated their involvement and solidarity by becoming war godmothers. The war godmothers were women or young girls who maintained correspondence with soldiers stationed on the front to support them morally, psychologically, or emotionally. These were usually soldiers who had lost their families or had lost contact with them. They didn't just send mail, they also sent packages, gifts, or photographs. In the case of Martinique, they were the point of connection between the poilus without family and the colony. Correspondence was frequent. They had no husband, no children, no brother in the war, and had some means. Several appeals were launched in the newspapers for the recruitment of these war godmothers.

Others offer to go to the war fronts to help as a nurse.