From 18 March 1871 onwards, women defended the Commune by preventing the Versailles soldiers from taking the cannons. Thousands of them got involved and demonstrated their determination to put an end to their exploitation and the inferiority of their condition. They gave all their passion, all their capacity for struggle and initiative, and even their lives. These women come from very diverse backgrounds and it is difficult to paint a standard portrait.

Louise Michel, the best-known of the Communard women, embodied the will to fight. She entrusted the management of the Montmartre vigilance committee, which she chaired, to Sophie Doctrinal and the public school she ran to the school's vice-mistress. In this way, she was able to don the costume of a federate and be a "soldier" throughout the Commune.

Élisabeth Dmitrieff, a young Russian correspondent of Marx's, became involved in the Commune. Along with Nathalie Le Mel, a bookbinder born in Brest in 1826, and several other women, they created the first feminist organisation on 11 April 1871: the "Union of Women for the Defence of Paris and Care of the Wounded". The general meeting of this association awarded Elisabeth Dmitrieff the title of citizen of Paris.

Women took their rightful place in the management of power. The participation of women in the clubs and sections of the International marked the history of the Commune. They chaired meetings and did not hesitate to speak out. They obtained mixed membership of the clubs. They wrote for the newspapers.

Women worked for the introduction of social measures:

→ The right to work and equal pay for women

→ Free secular schooling for girls and boys

→ Full participation in the Commune's fight, including in the National Guard: the rue d'Arras club would collect 300 registrations for "women's legions".

→ Pensions for the widows of federates killed in action, whether married or not, but also for legitimate or natural children.

On 23 May Élisabeth Dmitrieff called Parisian women to the barricades. They responded massively. They included : Louise Michel, André Léo, Elisabeth Retiffe, Eulalie Papavoine, Léontine Suetens, Adèle Chignon, Blanche Lefevre, Paule Mink. They will defend them valiantly:

→ the Place Blanche by a company of 120 women

→ the Place Pigalle by 50 women

→ the Château d'Eau, Faubourg St Martin, by 52 women. Caught with their weapons in their hands, they were shot.