Born: 1854, Poland
Died: 2 January 1927
Country most active: France
Also known as: Maria Szeliga
The following bio was written by Emma Rosen, author of On This Day She Made History: 366 Days With Women Who Shaped the World and This Day In Human Ingenuity & Discovery: 366 Days of Scientific Milestones with Women in the Spotlight, and has been republished with permission.
Marya Chéliga-Loevy (Maria Szeliga) was a Polish-French writer, playwright, feminist and pacifist. She was born in 1854 in Jasieniec Solecki, Poland, but spent much of her life in France. She published two novels in 1873, “For an Ideal” and “The Day Before,” and also published a collection of poems.
A theme that runs through her writing is that of the single woman struggling for independence and being constrained by a hypocritical society. Maria Szeliga scandalized her family by taking a Jew, Edouard Loevy, as her second husband. She collaborated with the women’s rights activist Maria Deraismes then founded the Union Universelle des Femmes (Universal Women’s Union) in 1889.
She later engaged in theatre, with her play “L’ornière” (The routine) gaining critical acclaim in 1896. Chéliga-Loevy also participated in international conferences advocating for women’s rights and child support for unmarried mothers.
During World War I, her focus shifted to charity work, and she played a significant role in the League of Women for International Disarmament.