Working group on emancipation and partnership

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The Working Group Emancipation and Partnership eV (AEP) is an Austrian association for the promotion of women's rights . The AEP has been active since January 1974, making it one of the oldest autonomous women's associations of the New Women's Movement in Austria . The association constituted itself as an independent and non-denominational association, in which women and men are equally welcome.

history

In Innsbruck initiated by Doris Linser petition In 1970, Action 144 , which entered the public for a liberalization of §144 of the Criminal Code. At this point in time, this provided for harsh sentences for all those involved in an abortion . The aim of the campaign was to introduce the so-called deadline solution . In December 1973 a group of around 20 women went public with their demands. The board consisted of eight women, freely chosen by the members.

In 1974 Doris Linser founded the association under the impression of the autonomous women's movement and the struggle for the possibility of abortion. The addition “partnership” is intended to express that female emancipation in a society is indispensably linked to the emancipation of men.

After the deadline solution was politically initiated, the spectrum of the working group was expanded to include other women-specific problem areas. A feminist magazine, the AEP-Informations, was launched as a medium in January 1974 . Since then it has been published continuously, first monthly, then bimonthly and later quarterly.

In July 1975 the AEP opened a women's and family counseling center which was open daily from 5 to 7 p.m. and where social workers, doctors, legal advisors and psychologists got involved.

In 1979 the first and only feminist women's library in Austria opened. Since 1981, the AEP has been organizing courses and lectures on women's issues together with the Innsbruck Adult Education Center, which has thus gained a broader public.

As early as November 1979, at the suggestion of the AEP, the initiative group “to build a refuge for abused women and children” was founded. In October 1980 the founding meeting of the association “Tiroler Initiative Frauenhaus” took place. The first women's shelter should be based on feminist principles: autonomy, self-organization, freedom from hierarchies, holism, partiality and concern are the foundations of the women's shelter's work.

goals and tasks

One of the aims of the AEP is to recognize gender-specific role models and discriminatory mechanisms. In addition, the women deal with social and socio-political issues. You want to carry out practical examples that seem suitable to specifically improve the life situation and self-perception of women.

This is to be achieved through political and public actions. The AEP offers free advice for all women through the family advice center, parent seminars, presentations on important contemporary problems, self-awareness groups, free advice for all women through the family advice center, groups for women returning to work. The AEP advocates the promotion of cash outpatient clinics that offer routine gynecological examinations, care during pregnancy, the implementation of health examinations, advice on contraception and termination of pregnancy.

The AEP today

The premises of the AEP are currently at Müllerstrasse 26 in Innsbruck. The number of members, i.e. those who not only subscribe to the magazine, but also support the AEP with 5 € per year, is around one hundred. The AEP is still active in various areas today:

Family counseling center

In the family counseling center, social workers, psychologists, a legal advisor and a doctor offer assistance in social and legal questions, in questions of contraception and pregnancy conflicts, as well as in partnership conflicts and sexual problems.

The counseling center is open three days a week, twice in the afternoon or in the evening and once in the morning, trying to meet the needs of clients as much as possible. The consultations are anonymous and free of charge.

AEP - women's library

Founded in 1979, the women's library has been recognized as a public library according to the criteria of the Austrian Library Association for several years . The book inventory is approximately 6000 copies, with a large selection of specific magazines, brochures and the like being archived. The women's library can make around three to four hundred new acquisitions a year.

In addition to lending books, the library is also an informal meeting place for women. The work of the women's library is secured by a number of subsidies. With this money, a quota of new books can be purchased every year, the participation, the library care can be paid (slightly).

Library talks

Following the earlier women's meetings and readings, the so-called library talks now take place once a month in the rooms of the AEP. Lectures, readings and workshops are held as part of this event.

AEP information

The magazine, just as old as the association and only designed by voluntary members, is no longer just association information, but sees itself as a feminist magazine for women's issues in politics and society. The booklets appear quarterly and each concentrate on a particular topic. Outside the focus, further articles on various current topics are published, which in the broadest sense concern gender relations.

public relation

Public relations was and is an important, self-chosen task for the AEP. Politicians and the media are written to on all current issues and encouraged to make explicit statements. Demands that could improve the situation of women are formulated and made public as far as possible. The AEP also organizes panel discussions, around 1996, shortly before the start of the women's referendum on the question "Do we need a women's party" and in 1997 on the question "Do we need an outpatient clinic". In April 2011, the AEP organized the two-day event "Democracy Congress in Tyrol: Democracy on the Tableau" together with numerous other organizations. The reason was the cancellation or reduction of subsidies from the state of Tyrol for several feminist institutions in 2009 and 2010. The aim of the congress was to raise awareness and initiate a public debate on funding policy as well as exchange and deepening knowledge about democratic political conditions.

In addition, networking with other important and similarly-minded women's groups is always a special concern.

literature

  • Gensluckner, Lisa / Regensburger, Christine / Schlichtmeier, Verena / Treichl, Helga / Windisch, Monika (eds.) (2001): polyphonic, in some places - the new women's movement in Tyrol since 1970 . Studien-Verlag Innsbruck, ISBN 3-7065-1551-2 .
  • AEP (ed.) (1989): “Women speak up.” Criticism - Conflicts - Consequences. 15 years AEP , Innsbruck
  • AEP (ed.) (1994): 20 years - Ein Juuubi-läum , Innsbruck. AEP (ed.) (1989): “Women speak up.” Criticism - Conflicts - Consequences. 15 years AEP , Innsbruck
  • Geiger, Brigitte / Hacker Hanna (1989): Danube Waltz - women's choice. Women's movement in Austria , Vienna.
  • Hofmüller, Gertha (1990): 15 years of AEP - An occasion for reflection , in: AEP (ed.) Women speak up. Criticism - Conflicts - Consequences. 15 years AEP , Innsbruck
  • Müllner, Elisabeth / Taxacher, Maria (1990): A portrait of women from Tyrol , in: AEP (ed.) Women speak up. Criticism - Conflicts - Consequences. 15 years AEP , Innsbruck.
  • Seebacher, Anneliese (1990): Association historical memories .... how it all began , in: AEP (ed.) Women speak up. Criticism - Conflicts - Consequences. 15 years AEP , Innsbruck.
  • Steibl, Maria (1987): “To forget means to betray”. A chronicle of the women's movement in Innsbruck in: Bell, Anni, Fleischer, Eva, Knapp, Hildegard, Tenschert, Itta (eds.): Furien in Uniform? Documentation of the 3rd Austrian Women's Summer University , Innsbruck
  • Weiss, Alexandra (1998): Women's history - a story of its own. An overview of social and political aspects of female life contexts from 1945 to today using the example of Tyrol. Diploma thesis University of Innsbruck.

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