The French "School Wars" between 1900 and 1910 were multiple political and social controversies over the role of religion in French education and were based on the shaky foundation of the separation of church and state.
Previously, religious education was the responsibility of monks and nuns, with only limited participation from lay-people or ordained clergy. The Education Act of 1901, along with a ban on teaching by religious orders as stated in the Entente law of 1904, created huge changes for students and families.
Book and magazine publisher, Henri Gautier, decided that if the government discouraged religious education, then his goal of promoting patriotism, religion, morality, and family life would be supported by a new publication aimed at young girls, ages eight to thirteen, the future mothers of the nation, as he saw it. His twice-weekly magazine, L'Ouvier (The Worker), began to advertise a weekly magazine for girls in January of 1905.
Second on the right is listed "Nous Habillions Bleuette," our beloved pattern page, We Dress Bleuette. It is described as "A selection of lovely, very easy needlework projects with patterns and illustrations." As we know, La Semaine de Suzette's first issue was published on the second of February, 1905, with this pattern for the newly arrived Bleuettes.
School, teacher, and textbook conflicts and disagreements in France continued, incredibly, into the 1980s, when private religious and public secular schools eventually began to co-exist.
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