Christian women's movement

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The Christian women's movement was an effort by the churches to stand up for self-determination and equal rights for women within the churches and society . The movement began with the idea of ​​freedom after the French Revolution and the economic changes in the 19th century.

The beginning until 1945

In the second half of the 19th century, the Catholic women's movement "Le féminisme chrétien" was founded in France , its leader was the French Marie Maugeret (1844–1928); On the Protestant side, Sarah Monod launched a similar movement. In Germany, in the wake of German Catholicism, a women's college was established in Hamburg in 1848. It was the first college for women to train middle-class women to be kindergarten teachers. From this the actual Christian women's movement developed in Germany, whose leading personalities were:

In 1865, under the direction of Louise Otto-Peters and Auguste Schmidt , the “ Allgemeine Deutsche Frauenverein ” (AGF) was established in Leipzig ; after 1918 it was called the “German Citizens Association”. The main goals were to improve educational opportunities, to demand the right to vote for women and to protect maternity .

It was not until 1899 that the " German Evangelical Women's Association " (DEFB) was established in Kassel . As a co-founder, Paula Müller-Otfried became a well-known woman in the Christian women's movement. The members saw themselves as a bourgeois women's movement and wanted to influence socio-political developments and strengthen the position of women in the Evangelical Church.

In 1903, a " Catholic Women's Association " (KFB) was established in Cologne , the first chairwoman was Emilie Hopmann (1845–1926), wife of a Cologne doctor, her deputy and later successor was the Reichstag member Hedwig Dransfeld . Its objective was to impart basic political knowledge, to educate women and to prepare for a Christian life.

The “ World Union of Catholic Women's Associations ” was founded in 1910 by the French Vicomtesse de Vélard. It is based in Paris and today can look back on 100 member organizations with almost 50 million members.

By 1918, twenty-one associations and 23 regional church women's organizations had merged to form the umbrella organization for “ Evangelical Women's Work in Germany ” (EFD), which has been operating under the name of “Evangelical Women in Germany eV” (EFiD) since 2008. They were based in Frankfurt am Main and, as a professional association, became part of the Inner Mission.

The professional association of Catholic welfare workers saw the light of day in Essen in 1918 and was reorganized in 1946. The founder was the MP Helene Weber . This association was also an interest group within the church and had set itself the task of making a contribution to the formation of the Christian professional personality.

In 1919, the evangelical youth movement “Biblical Groups for Schoolgirls” merged to form the “German Association of Girls' Biblical Circles” (MBK). Today this women's and youth organization operates under the name " Evangelical Youth and Missionswerk " based in Bad Salzuflen .

In 1929 the “ Professional Association of Catholic Youth Leaders and Kindergarten Teachers ” was founded in Freiburg im Breisgau . The aim here was to promote professional training on the basis of the Catholic faith. They also saw themselves as representing the interests of the church.

After 1945

The women’s organizations mentioned at the beginning directed their work towards the necessary training of girls and women and then expanded their activities into social areas. After 1945, the Christian women's movement began to be rebuilt and reactivated in Germany. A wide variety of women's associations reorganized, organized international meetings and associations to pool their demands and to build a forum.

In 1946 the “Working Group of Catholic Women's Associations in Germany” was founded. It is an amalgamation of Catholic women's associations and women's groups in mixed associations and consists of 19 associations. Her work focuses on supporting the individual associations, coordinating events and conferences and working with international women's movements. The Christian component is underlined by the initiatives for justice for women and the participation in power and responsibility in church and society. The German Catholic bishops set up the “Church Headquarters for Women's Pastoral Care in the Dioceses” with its headquarters in Düsseldorf, today this facility is called the “Office for Women's Pastoral Care of the German Bishops' Conference” and is based in Bonn .

In 1950, the "Association of Protestant Welfare Women" was founded in Bethel . It was a Christian community of Protestant women who were involved in the social service of the churches and who wanted to deepen the Protestant belief system.

aims

For the Christian women's movement, the effort to preserve and promote Christian marriage and family is in the foreground. You stand up for social justice and peace among peoples . The main objective of the associations , organizations and clubs is to improve educational opportunities for women, including the demand for appropriate educational institutions for women and their legal equality. Ultimately, the Christian women's movement ensures that women become aware of their social and political responsibility as Christians. In order to achieve these goals, they regularly comment on socio-political developments and demand answers to questions relevant to women's politics.

Web links

  • Birgit Sack: Between religious ties and modern society - Catholic women's movement and political culture in the Weimar Republic (1918 / 19-1933) . Waxmann Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-89325-593-1 , p. 32 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • German women's organizations (PDF; 11.1 MB)
  • Rosemarie Nave-Herz , The History of the Women's Movement in Germany , Ed .: Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, Hanover, 1997 ( Online , PDF; 825 kB)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Le chrétiennes féministes Féminisme chrétien
  2. ↑ Marie Maugeret Marie Maugeret
  3. ↑ Sarah Monod Sarah Monod
  4. ^ Birgit Sack: Between religious ties and modern society . Waxmann Verlag, Münster / New York Munich / Berlin 1998, ISBN 978-3-8309-5593-1 , p. 32 .
  5. ^ World Union of Catholic Women's Organizations: Our History ( Memento of March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ The long way to the unified association [1] (PDF; 29 kB)
  7. ↑ Evangelisches Jugend- und Missionswerk eV (MBK) ( Memento from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Office for pastoral care of women of the German Bishops' Conference archive link ( Memento from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive )