History & The Arts
World-Changing Women: Marie-Louise Girardin
...open to a young woman who had given birth to a child out of wedlock and had then been abandoned by the father. Unable to see a familial or economic future for herself at home, Marie-Louise Victoire Girardin escaped parental disgrace by disguising herself as a man. She joined a scientific expedition to Tasmania as a ship’s steward, calling herself Louis Girardin....
