Isnelle Amelin

Isnelle Amelin née Baret (1907–1994) was a French feminist, women's rights activist, and bank employee from the island of Réunion, where she is remembered for the important part she played in the left-wing Union des femmes de La Réunion from its establishment in 1958. A dedicated trade unionist and member of the CGT, she founded the Syndicat général des employés de banque et de commerce in 1945, the year when she was elected as one of the first women to serve on the municipal council of Saint-Denis. She continued her political support of the Communist party until she was seriously injured while trying to save a ballot box from right-wing militants in the 1956 legislative elections. She headed the Union des Femmes de La Réunion until she died in 1994.