General German women's association

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Notice board in Leipzig, Ritterstrasse 12: This is where the German women's movement began on October 15, 1865

The General German Women's Association (ADF) was the first women's association in Germany , it was founded on October 18, 1865 by Louise Otto-Peters and Auguste Schmidt in Leipzig. His central demand was the right of women to equal education and equal opportunities in the labor market. Numerous local associations were founded in the year it was founded. One of the first activities was the publication of an association magazine. In 1920 the ADF was renamed the German Citizens ' Association. In October 2015, it celebrated its 150th anniversary in Leipzig as part of an international scientific conference.

history

Magnificent album of the General German Women's Association with photographs of the main activists (around 1900)
Magnificent album, opened
The information center for municipal offices used questionnaires to collect data from the ADF's wife on the social, political and legal situation in order to statistically substantiate claims (here 1908)

On March 7, 1865, the teacher Auguste Schmidt gave her first public lecture "Life is Striving". In doing so, she drew attention to her concern of founding an educational association for women based on the model of the workers' educational association . A few days later, together with the headmistress Ottilie von Steyber, the writer Louise Otto-Peters, the educator Henriette Goldschmidt and others, she founded the Leipzig Women's Education Association (FBV).

On the occasion of a women's conference from 16. – 18. October 1865 in Leipzig the supra-regional ADF was founded next to this local association. This date marks the beginning of the organized German women's movement. The principle was “everything for women for women”. At a time when the boards of women's associations were made up of men, this was a revolutionary principle. The exclusion of men from the ADF was not without criticism. But Louise Otto insisted on this emancipatory principle of female self-help.

Because the conference took place during the anniversaries of the Battle of the Nations , it was derided by the contemporary press as the "Leipzig Women's Battle ". The approximately 300 participants came mainly from Saxony, but women from other parts of the German Confederation were also represented. August Bebel was one of the occasional men present as advisors or honorary members .

In 1890 there was a strong increase in membership. In March 1894 a new umbrella organization, the Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (BDF) was founded. By 1913 the movement consisted of around 500,000 women. Today the German Women's Council follows the tradition of the BDF.

After 1918, the ADF expanded its tasks to include general political work for women, and from 1920 onwards it called itself the German Association of Women Citizens . In 1933 the association disbanded itself, not with Nazi associations " into line " to be, and took the name German citizens association in 1947 until today his club activities again.

Goals and achievements

One of the main goals of the association was to improve educational opportunities for women and to promote their employment. At that time, women from the bourgeoisie were only allowed to work in the professions of governess, teacher, companion and at most home work. They were also not admitted to higher educational institutions, they were denied high school diploma and university studies. The ADF called for a right to work and the establishment of industrial and commercial schools for girls and equal pay for equal work.

§1 of the ADF:

"The General German Women's Association has the task of working with united forces for the increased education of the female sex and the liberation of female work from all obstacles preventing its development."

Further topics were worker protection and maternity protection and the demand for the right to vote for women as well as legal equality. To this end, the ADF sent a petition to the Reichstag on the occasion of the revision of the civil code . However, these efforts were unsuccessful. In addition, the ADF did important work in organizing the German women's movement .

Association structure and members

Membership card from 1892, signed by the headmistress Louise Otto-Peters and the cashier Josefine Friederici

When the association was founded, Louise Otto-Peters took over the chairmanship. Her deputy was Auguste Schmidt.

Women of legal age were eligible to join. Minors could be admitted as listeners without voting rights. Men could not become full members, they only had advisory voting rights, which brought the association the accusation of hostility towards men. The philosopher Hermann von Leonhardi was made an honorary member.

The German Citizens' Association is a member of the umbrella organization of German-speaking women / lesbian archives, libraries and documentation centers ida

New tracks

From 1849 Louise Otto-Peters published the feminist women's newspaper , which was banned in 1859. The magazine Neue Bahnen , founded in 1865/1866, was the most important publication organ of the German women's movement as the mouthpiece of the General German Women's Association. In addition, a wide range of feminist magazines developed in the 1890s, which were assigned to the various wings of the women's movement: proletarian, social democratic, radical, bourgeois, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish. The Neue Bahnen magazine was edited by Louise Otto-Peters and Auguste Schmidt. They appeared every two weeks. Reports were made on women's associations, petitions, educational issues and new professions. The Neue Bahnen clearly distinguished itself from family magazines and other non-feminist women's newspapers.

In 1899, Auguste Schmidt reviewed the booklet The Student and the Woman , which was based on a lecture given by Clara Zetkin . In her review, Auguste Schmidt advocated a marriage without a church and a registry office and advocated divorce. She called for the woman's right to self-determination, in particular the right “to have freedom of choice in love”.

Web links

Commons : Allgemeiner Deutscher Frauenverein  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the association. DSB German Citizens, accessed on November 16, 2015 .
  2. ^ Women in the History of Leipzig - 150 Years of the General German Women's Association (ADF). (PDF) Retrieved November 16, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Johanna Ludwig, Ilse Nagelschmidt, Susanne Schötz (eds.): Life is striving . Leipziger Universitätsverlag, Leipzig 2003, ISBN 978-3-936522-69-3 (294 pages).
  4. ^ Gerlinde Kämmerer: The General German Women's Association was founded 150 years ago in Leipzig. (PDF) Retrieved April 5, 2018 .
  5. ^ André Böttger: Women's suffrage in Germany - a review. In: from today for everyone! One hundred years of women's suffrage. hgr. by Marjaliisa Hentilä; Alexander Schug, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2006, p. 62ff.
  6. ^ Elisabeth Hannover-Drück : Empress Friedrich and the German women's movement a contribution to the Prussian year 2001/2002. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Bremen Women's Museum, archived from the original on September 29, 2015 ; accessed on November 16, 2015 .
  7. ↑ Kerstin Wolff : The women's movement is organized - the development phase in the empire. Federal Agency for Civic Education, September 8, 2008, accessed on November 16, 2015 .
  8. ^ History. Deutscher Frauenrat eV, accessed on April 4, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Leonie Wagner: An end with horror. The women's movement is "brought into line". Federal Agency for Civic Education, September 8, 2008, accessed on April 5, 2018.
  10. ↑ Only women on the move? (PDF) In: Law and Politics, edition 14. 2006, accessed on November 16, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Brockhaus Adventure Story. Calendar sheet 18./19. October 2008
  12. ↑ Quoted in: "The new women". Barbara Beuys on the female revolution in the Empire , BR2 Kulturjournal, February 14, 2014 ( Memento from April 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ Rosemarie Nave-Herz : The history of the women's movement in Germany. (PDF) Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, 1997, accessed on November 16, 2015 .
  14. ^ Ida the umbrella organization for German-speaking women / lesbian archives. Retrieved June 9, 2020 .
  15. ^ Elisabeth Cheauré , Sylvia Paletschek , Nina Reusch (eds.): Gender and history in popular media . transcript Verlag - Historische Lebenswelten, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-8376-2373-4 , p. 120 f .
  16. ↑ Sabine Fünderich: Presentation of feminist theory formation and the associated transformation of society based on the consideration of the life and work of two famous fighters for the rights of women - Simone de Beauvoir and Louise Otto-Peters. (PDF) In: Bachelor thesis University of Duisburg-Essen. November 21, 2013, p. 54 , accessed November 16, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Barbara Beuys : The new women . Revolution in the Empire 1900–1914. Carl Hanser, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-446-24542-6 .