Federation of Austrian Women's Associations

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The Federation of Austrian Women's Associations ( BÖFV , formerly also BÖF) is an umbrella organization for Austrian women's organizations. The association sees itself as a political lobby organization for concerns of women in work, family and society.

history

Chair of the BÖFV in the period
Marianne Hainisch 1902-1918
Hertha jump 1918-1932
Marie Hoheisel 1932-1938
dissolved 1938-1947
Henriette Hainisch 1947-1968
Hermine Stoeckl 1968-1980
NN 1980-1993
Friedl Corcoran 1992-1993
NN 1993-1997
Eleonore Hauer-Rona 1997-

Established until World War II

The BÖFW was created as a result of encouragement from the International Women's Council (ICW), which had been active in the USA since 1888. At the turn of 1900, the ICW was very interested in expanding its international network. Marianne Hainisch was sent by Austrian women's organizations as a representative to the ICW conference in London in 1899 and brought with her design ideas and specific guidelines on the basis of which she organized a merger of Austrian associations under one umbrella organization. Not least because of the political situation in Austria-Hungary, it took several years until Hainisch founded the BÖFV in 1902 with around 12 to 20 Austrian member associations. In 1904, meanwhile grown to 35 members, the federation fulfilled the formal requirements of the ICW and was accepted by this on the occasion of the International Women’s Conference in Berlin as an umbrella organization. On this occasion Bertha von Suttner gave a widely acclaimed speech for peace.

In the period that followed, the BÖFV was committed to women's rights on an international and national level and developed strong socio-political activity. The association's work remained limited to German Austria , as hardly any efforts were made to integrate the Hungarian half of the empire into the association. The magazines Der Bund and Die Österreicherin were published. One focus of the BÖFV's work was on career counseling and assistance for young people and on health care; numerous other topics were dealt with in commissions that changed according to urgency. But there were also setbacks, so in 1906 the General Austrian Women's Association AÖFV resigned from the BÖFV because the AÖFV represented women's suffrage and (socio) political goals much more sharply, while the BÖFV wanted to address the entire political spectrum and inevitably also civic represented liberal and conservative interests. From 1906 onwards, the Austrian women's movement was split into a moderate and a radical camp; 24 partly prominent members of the AÖFV resigned from it. In 1909 the chairwoman Hainisch was elected as ICW vice-president and organized an ICW meeting in Innsbruck for 1910 . In 1914 the federal government had 74 member associations. Still advocating peace before the beginning of World War I , from 1914 the BÖFV was primarily involved in the patriotic “ home front ”, despite individual pacifist activists.

The women's suffrage was in the newly formed Republic of Austria gained 1918th Leopoldine Kulka led the AÖFV back into the BÖFV, even if the AÖFV soon dissolved completely. From 1919 onwards there were nationalistic tendencies within the BÖFV, after the chairwoman Sprung announced that she wanted to oppose “non-ethnic” elements. In the course of the 1920s, the actually apolitical movement moved closer and closer to the position of the Greater German People's Party . In 1930 the eighth five-year ICW conference took place in Vienna , with the focus on the old guard of international women leaders in the person of Hainisch and Lady Aberdeen . In 1931 there were still 46 member associations organized in the BÖFV. With the establishment of the corporate state in 1934, women's rights were severely restricted, in some cases, whereas the BÖFV took a position against this and for the first time sought to join forces with the Catholic Church. In 1935 the BÖFV was incorporated into the Fatherland Front . When Austria was annexed in 1938, this entire structure was dissolved and all funds were nationalized.

Recent history

Between 1946 and 1947 the BÖFV started again after the occupying powers allowed the women's umbrella association to be re-established under the old name. Henriette Hainisch , by marriage to the founder, became the new chairwoman. The new BÖFV remained value conservative, found far fewer member associations and remained limited in its social importance, which made itself felt as a decades-long crisis of the association. Nevertheless, international congresses of international women's organizations have taken place in Vienna since 1945. The BÖFV was resumed in the ICW in 1951; In 1961, the BÖFV was a founding member of the European Regional Council ECICW. In the course of the EU expansion to include Austria, the BÖFV was also included in the interests of the European women's lobby EWL from 1995. Eleonore Hauer-Rona has been chairwoman of the BÖFV since 1997 .

literature

Web links