 She traveled to Egypt to open the Suez Canal and officially represented her husband whenever he traveled outside France.She strongly advocated equality for women; she pressured the Ministry of National Education to give the first baccalaureate diploma to a woman and tried unsuccessfully to induce the Académie française to elect the writer George Sand as its first female member.Her husband often consulted her on important questions, and she acted as regent during his absences in 1859, 1865 and 1870.