Yvette Roudy, France's first minister for women's rights who secured abortion reimbursement, dies at 97

Ministerial tenure and legislative legacy

Yvette Roudy, France's first minister dedicated to women's rights, died on the morning of 18 August 2026 at the age of 97 in a care facility in Cabestany, located in the Pyrénées-Orientales department. Her nephew, Jean-Pierre Saldou, confirmed her death to Agence France-Presse, noting she had lived at the facility for three years. Appointed in 1981 by Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy during the presidency of François Mitterrand, Roudy led the newly established ministry until 1986 under both Mauroy and Laurent Fabius. While Françoise Giroud had previously served as a secretary of state for the female condition in 1974 under Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Roudy was the first politician to hold a full ministerial portfolio for women's rights.

Social security coverage and workplace equality

During her five years in government, Roudy steered two key pieces of legislation through the French parliament. In 1982, she secured state reimbursement for voluntary terminations of pregnancy through the French Social Security system. Although abortion had been decriminalized in 1975 under legislation introduced by Simone Veil, public funding remained absent until Roudy pushed the reform through the National Assembly. She also mandated that hospital beds be allocated specifically for the procedure. Facing opposition accusations that the measure interfered with personal conscience, Roudy argued that state coverage ensured anonymity and removed social reprobation for women seeking medical care.

In 1983, parliament passed the law on professional equality between women and men, commonly referred to as the Loi Roudy. The statute prohibited employers from rejecting candidates, denying promotions, or withholding training on the basis of sex. It also mandated that companies submit an annual comparative report detailing gender distribution across pay and roles. In addition to legislative statutes, Roudy officially established 8 March as International Women's Rights Day in France and led government initiatives for the feminization of job titles.

Grassroots activism and European office

Born on 10 April 1929 in Pessac, Gironde, into a modest household, Roudy began working as a typist in a fish cannery at age 16 before entering the textile sector. She attended night classes to obtain her baccalauréat at age 26. After marrying her husband Pierre, she lived in Scotland in the early 1950s, teaching herself English. In 1964, she translated Betty Friedan's foundational book, The Feminine Mystique, into French. That same year, she joined the Mouvement démocratique féminin, founding and editing its bi-monthly publication, La femme du XXe siècle, in 1965.

Roudy signed the Manifesto of the 343 in 1971 in support of abortion rights and participated in the Socialist Party's Épinay Congress that same year. In 1979, she won election to the European Parliament, where she established and chaired the parliamentary committee on women's rights before joining the French government two years later.

Local mandates and tributes

Following her ministerial tenure, Roudy was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly representing Calvados from 1986 to 1988. She then served as mayor of Lisieux from 1989 to 2001. In the late 1990s, she actively campaigned for political parity legislation. She remained vocal in retirement, publishing her final book, Lutter toujours, in 2020 at the age of 91. Following the announcement of her death, former French president François Hollande paid tribute to her career on social media.

Feminist, socialist, woman of convictions and struggles, she never stopped defending her ideas.

Socialist senator Laurence Rossignol also cited Roudy's lasting imprint on French law, pointing to her work on healthcare reimbursement, equal pay, and institutional representation.

Yvette Roudy is no more. But so much of her remains. The reimbursement of abortion, that is her, the feminization of job titles, that is her, professional equality, that is her, parity, that is still her.