The feminist X Factor?

All feminist eyes will be on France on September 22, when the campaign to see a woman honoured in the Panthéon enters its final stage. A belated burial in France’s famed secular temple is a great honour, bestowed on the nation’s finest writers, philosophers, fighters and scientists. To date, 71 men and a mere two women have been granted membership, or “pantheonised”.

The drive to redress the gender balance was sparked by President Francois Hollande in a speech on International Woman’s Day in March. Hollande - who is sometimes jokingly referred to as Francois Le Feminist due to his proactive approach to gender politics – spoke, rightly, of the need to recognise France’s female historical figures. His words were seized upon by key feminist groups, keen to turn the president’s rhetoric into action.

The campaign to find female companions to lie alongside scientist Marie Curie and Sophie Berthelot, who was buried with her husband, the chemist and politician Marcellin Berthelot, has gathered pace. Public protests have been held outside the Pantheon demanding that more women be interred there, and an online petition launched by outspoken Feminist group Osez Le Feminist (Dare to beFeminist). The government has responded by opening up the debate and asking the public to submit the names of women they feel deserve this honour. Among the names suggested are the proto feminist Olympe de Gouges, the Paris Commune activist Louise Michel, the resistance fighter Germaine Tillion, and writer and philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. The public vote closes on Sept 22 and the final recommendations will be presented to President Hollande a week later.

While I agree with the sentiment of the online campaign, I can't help thinking it feels rather like a posthumous popularity contest. The President will ultimately make his choice based on who the government deems deserve recognition - the aforementioned names may or may not be in the running, regardless of how many 'likes' they get. There is also an argument that says the sisterhood should stop getting hung up on the statistics and consider that historically women did not play a large role in public life, because society did not permit them. That is why, up till now, less women have been canonised in this manner. There simply was no female equivalent to Voltaire or Victor Hugo at the time, and although it is right and proper that in our egalitarian age this imbalance is addressed, it is important not to ignore the historical context.

Cynicism aside about the overly shrill approach of some feminist groups, I will continue to follow this story with great interest. It has also got me thinking - who would the British select as their leading feminist figures for canonisation? My initial list is below, but I'd be interested to see what our readers think.

Boudicca

Leader of the Iceni tribe, circa AD 61

While it might be hard to find the ashes of this ancient warrior queen, her fierce fight back against the Roman conquerors in AD 61 is well catalogued. Ruling alone after her husband's death, she almost caused the Romans to retreat from Britain.

Millicent Garrett Fawcett

Suffragist, 1847-1929

While other suffragettes were throwing themselves under horses, this tireless campaigner took a more peaceful approach to winning the vote for women. The leader of the constitutional faction of the British female suffrage faction, she also fought to improve women's access to higher education.

Rosalind Franklin

Scientist, 1920-1958

The accidental discoverer of DNA, Franklin's X-ray images of the double helix pattern provided the data that her fellow scientists Francis Crick and James Watson used to make their hypothesis on its structure. She also led pioneering research into polio, and tragically died of ovarian cancer aged just 37.

Nancy Mitford

Novelist, 1904-1973

The archetypal "Bright Young Thing", she was a brilliant comic writer whose novels about upper-class English life, still resonate today. One of six controversial society siblings, she later spied on her sisters for MI5 due to their Nazi sympathies.