Keeping the lights - Part 1
113 years of women lighthouse keepers in France
It’s International Women’s Rights Day this week - so let's talk about the women who were lighthouse keepers, shall we? This is post one of three.
There is no official number that I could find about how many women were lighthouse keepers in France. And it’s in part because for a long while their work was silent, unpaid and done as part of their housekeeping duties.
Indeed, a lot of women who tended to lights did so as a support to their husbands, who were lighthouse keepers. This was mostly the case when the lighthouse was on land.
They were starting to be recognised in the late 19th century, as auxiliary. This still did not mean full recognition of their duties, as they were not recognised as full-fledged lighthouse keepers but as auxiliary. They were preferred to men for these housekeeping duties, as they were considered to be working more diligently and with less complains than men.
When in 1890 women started to access the full title of lighthouse keepers, their salary was five to six time lower than the one of the men in the same position. We will look a bit closer at their salary in the next post.
Marie-Perrine and Marie-Paule
For today we will look at two women. The first and the last. They combine over 70 years of service and bracket 113 years of recognized lighthouse keeper duties held by women in France.
Marie-Perrine Durand
As many before her, who were married to lighthouse keepers, she helped her husband in his duties. When he died in 1890, she asked for authorisation to be the new lighthouse keeper. At this time, she was a widow with 5 kids between the age of 8 years old and 3 months, and knew no other job than the one of her husband.
The government asked her to undertake the technical exam, which she passed, making her, at 30, the first officially recognised woman to be a lighthouse keeper in France.
Come rain, shine, wartime or even appendicitis, she worked until her retirement at 80 years old. When asked about the hardship of her job, she notes that those in the offshore lighthouses have it worse. She recalls visions of horror as boats capsized and men were overboard, when all she could do was keep records.
When she passed, two years later, she left a legacy of a trailblazer, having taught and trained more women lighthouse keepers, five of which were in duty on the French coast at that time. Two of them being her daughters, to whom she taught everything she knew.
Marie-Paule Le Guen
When the Pontusval lighthouse became automated in 2003, Marie-Paule officially became the last woman lighthouse keeper in France.
When she started on the 15th of October 1968, she knew nothing of her new job. At the time, it’s the lighthouse keeper in charge, another woman, who teaches her everything she needed to know.
She recalls the storms being so strong that for a moment she once thought she lived on an island. And wonder if she could ever live without the sound of the sea and the sight of the waves. It’s all about the sea, and the sea is her life.
Every morning she used to go up the flight of stairs to close the curtain to protect he light against the sun, and in the evening she was going back up to pull the curtains. Constant upkeep to make sure the light never went out and no blackout would be happening. Now, it’s a LED light that is bound to stay working for 10 years.
She raised her family in the keeper’s house attached to the lighthouse, while her husband was at sea for months at a time.
Now, at 80, she still lives in the house, as she doesn’t know where else she could possibly live. And to this day, as she goes to bed, she checks the neighboring lights and makes sure they are also lighting the sea.
Sources
Absolute thanks to @gardien2phare for the thread created last year that gave me pointers, and @gallicabnf and @inafr_officiel for their treasure trove of archives.
Jean-Christophe Fichou, Gardiens de phares (1798-1939), Rennes, PUR, 2002.
Gardiens et gardiennes de phare : mythes et réalité d’une profession
Marie-Perrine Durand
Marie-Paule Le Guen