At the Origin of “HEC Jeunes Filles”, Louli Sanua

An outstanding figure in the world of bourgeois feminism at the beginning of the century, Louli Sanua created the first business school for women in 1916, which later became HECJF, a selective business school for young women. A talented pedagogue and organizer, this young schoolteacher of 30 years of age succeeded in creating, within a few years, a strong network of supporters in the educational and political world, which very soon made it possible to create a graduate business school whose good reputation spread quickly. Before closing down in 1975, when coeducation became the rule, HECJF trained about 4500 young women. From the very beginning of the school, its founder fought for the recognition both of the legitimacy of women’s work and of their ability to occupy managerial positions while being granted equal pay and status with their male counterparts.