Clarisse Bader

Clarisse Bader (28 December 1840 in Strasbourg – 14 February 1902 in Paris) was a French writer and historian.

She researched and wrote extensively on the role of women and their lives across antiquity, producing major studies on women's lives in Ancient Greece, India and Rome. She also wrote on women's lives in sixteenth century to eighteenth century France. Bader received four awards from the Académie française, including the Botta Prize for her complete body of work to date.

Early life and education

Clarisse Bader was born on December 28, 1840, in Strasbourg. Her father, Daniel Michel Bader, was an Alsatian officer and the senior officer of the Military Quartermaster Corps. Her mother, Justine Frédérique Hardy, was from Frankenthal, Bavaria.

Bader received an unusually extensive education. She spoke English, German, and Italian, and was able to translate Latin and Greek. Such an education was uncommon among women of this period, who usually were unable to access secondary and higher education.

Career

Bader began her first extensive project on the history of women at the age of 20. Her first significant publication, Women in Ancient India, was published 1863, and recognised by the Académie française in the following year.

Bader primarily utilised literary, historical and religious texts for her research, rather than archival or archaeological methods, although this varied among the different societies she explored. For instance, her research for La Femme dans l'Inde Antique relied on existing translations of Indian texts and dramas. Many of her conclusions drew on Max Mueller’s views on Ancient India.