Emma Boos-Jegher

Emma Boos-Jegher (born February 26, 1857 in Trieste ; died December 21, 1932 in Zurich ) was a Swiss women's rights activist .

Life

Emma Jegher was the daughter of the Trieste commercial clerk Gaudenz Jegher and his wife Adèle, née Geislinger. She became a foreign language teacher and taught at a girls' school in Zurich.

In 1885 she married Eduard Boos (1855–1928), with whom she directed the “Art and Women's Labor School Neumünster” in Zurich from 1886 and with whom she worked closely in her socio-political work.

From the 1880s Boos-Jegher was active in women's education and was committed to abstinence and the abolition of prostitution . In 1885 she was a co-founder of the Swiss Women's Association (SFV) and became its vice-president. In 1887 she was a co-founder of the “Zurich Women's Association for the Elevation of Morality”. She resigned from the SFV in 1888 together with her colleagues Emma Coradi-Stahl and Rosina Gschwind-Hofer in an argument; Instead, they founded the new Swiss non-profit women's association (SGF). There, too, she worked on the board, but her concerns about women's education were neglected there, which is why she turned to new projects.

In 1893 she founded the “Zürcher Verein Frauenbildungs-Reform”, of which she was president. She participated in the first congress for women's interests in Geneva in 1896. Also in 1896 her association merged with the legal protection association of the lawyer Emilie Kempin-Spyri . The new association, the “Union for Women's Desires Zurich” (later also: “Zürcher Frauenstimmrechtsverein”), fought for equality for women first in a professional, then also in a legal and political sense. Boos-Jegher was the president of the “Union for Women's Desires” from 1896 to 1903 and from 1912 to 1914 (from 1903 to 1911 the office was held by her colleague Klara Honegger ). She shaped the political program of the association and was considered to be the spokesperson for the progressive feminists in Zurich during this time, also because she was striving for national coordination of the Swiss women's movement .

This was realized from 1899: Boos-Jegher was a co-founder of the “ Federation of Swiss Women's Associations ” (BSF). Her Union for Women's Aspirations also organized lectures and services for women, and in 1898, women were approved as lawyers in the Canton of Zurich. Several legislative proposals were also made. From 1903 Boos wrote for the club 's magazine Frauenbestrebungen . She worked prominently for the BSF, for example at conferences of the Women's World Association . From 1912 to 1916 she was Vice President of the BSF. In 1923 she was made an honorary member for life.

Boos-Jegher began withdrawing from the governing bodies of the women's movement in 1914. Her husband died in 1928, and she withdrew completely from the public eye until her death.

literature

• Regula Ludi : Boos (-Jegher), Emma. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
• Emma Boos-Jegher in the image + sound database of the Swiss Social Archives
• Publications by and about Emma Boos-Jegher in the Helveticat catalog of the Swiss National Library