From Charity to Assistance Through Work: The Economic Policy of the Union des Femmes Artistes Musiciennes (UFAM), 1910–1945

This article examines, through the prism of political economy, the paradigm shift observed in the policy of the Union des femmes artistes musiciennes (UFAM—Union of Women Musicians-Artists) over the course of its first decades. Indeed, the debates and views expressed in the speeches of the UFAM’s all-women leadership—as recorded in the association’s annual reports—reflect various theses advanced by economists of the day, involving, for example: strong criticism of charity, the rationalization1 of aid for the needy, and the appraisal of artistic value. Borrowing concepts from the field of political economy, the UFAM became part of what Christian Topalov has described as a broad “reform nebula” focused on organizing assistance for the poor in France in the first half of the twentieth century.