Feminist Women's Health Center Frankfurt am Main

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The autonomous Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. in Frankfurt am Main (FFGZ) was the second Feminist Women's Health Center (FFGZ) in Germany after the Berlin Center (founded in 1974). The center saw itself as an alternative to a male-dominated and conventional medicine-oriented gynecology. With its comprehensive concept of gynecology, the FFGZ increasingly relied on cooperation with other women's projects, but also with clinics, health insurance companies and other health institutions.

The activists of the new women's movement committed themselves in the FFGZ for a holistic concept of health and for a self-determined approach to one's own body. The Feminist Women's Health Center formulated political demands, developed alternative offers of help and advice, founded self-help and self-awareness groups and set up a diverse range of courses for women. Until it closed in 2013, the FFGZ was a specialist and advice center for women's health issues in Frankfurt am Main.

History and foundation

The autonomous Feminist Women's Health Center Frankfurt am Main was founded in 1978 by a self-help group of pregnant women and mothers as well as protesters from the protest movement against the abortion paragraph 218 . The meeting point for the informal group was the women's center at Eckenheimer Landstrasse . After its closure in 1984, the team at the women's health center moved into new rooms on Hamburger Allee. Counseling services on questions of health and contraception, abortion and § 218, on sexual morality and female lifestyles have been integrated into the center, as has emergency advice for women affected by violence. In addition, a comprehensive offer for self-help, self-discovery and self-examination groups and various courses was developed.

WHO definition of health and the concept of women's health in the FFGZ

Based on the definition of the World Health Organization (WHO), according to which health is to be characterized as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just by the absence of illness or ailments, the FFGZ focused on the life contexts of women and their lives social context in which they get sick. Socially determined problems such as lack of financial security, lack of self-determination about one's own fertility and the exclusion from social decision-making positions were named and topics such as rape and sexual abuse that were previously taboo were made public.

The focus of the work was initially on vaginal and breast self-examination and self-help groups , which offered women in protected rooms the opportunity to expand their knowledge of their own body and to become experts on their own health and sexuality in exchange with others. Feminist self-help was seen as a way to more self-determination and as a process of emancipation in contrast to a male-oriented and male-dominated health system: “The work of the center aims to develop a new feminist understanding of health that reflects the context of female life is fair in its complexity and contradiction. "

Structure and offers of the FFGZ based on a holistic concept of health

The counseling and group offers of the FFGZ were expanded according to the broad concept of women's health and, in the years after the founding phase, expanded to a feminist center for women's health through interdisciplinary, professional advisory work. Separate work areas were created for birth preparation and pregnancy counseling, health issues (gynecological diseases, migraines, menopause, contraception and sterilization), unwanted pregnancy and termination of pregnancy , and conflicts in connection with custody. The work area “General Psychological Counseling and Therapy” was added. Then the group of “women against genetic and reproductive technologies” was integrated. From 1987 onwards, the advisory area “Women and Work” and advice and therapy on the subjects of addiction and drug dependence were created. In addition, legal and psychological advice on psychological and physical abuse was offered (carried out by the association Frauenhilfe Frauen e.V. ).

The independent advice center Frauennotruf Frankfurt e. V. has worked professionally and spatially with the FFGZ since it was founded in 1982. The association still exists today (as of 2020).

The courses offered by the FFGZ included, among other things, birth preparation courses and postnatal gymnastics, yoga and Feldenkrais recognized by health insurers . In addition, training courses for women's representatives and health care professionals, coaching, individual and group supervision, information events and lectures were offered.

In 1988, the FFGZ in Frankfurt, together with the Association for Social Science Research and Practice , Cologne, organized the Federal Congress Women Against Genetic and Reproductive Technology with international speakers and participants.

Also in 1988 the antenatal and pregnancy counseling department left the facility in order to expand the work area and, as a family health center, no longer exclusively deal with women, but also include men (such as fathers-to-be) in the counseling work.

Hamburger Allee 45, rooms of the Feminist Women's Health Center on the 2nd floor
From 1993 the Feminist Women's Health Center was located in the Ökohaus, Kasseler Strasse 1a, Frankfurt am Main

The FFGZ was initially located at Hamburger Allee 45 together with the Frankfurter Frauenschule and the editorial office of Pflasterstrand , and from 1993 onwards in the Ökohaus, Kasseler Straße 1a.

In 2001, the Frankfurt Women's Health Center published its work results on the area-based women's health promotion of migrant and socially disadvantaged women as part of a model project of the Hessian Ministry for Youth, Health, Family and Environment.

Organizational structure and working method

Eight departments worked together under one roof in the FFGZ in Frankfurt. The interdisciplinary collaboration of women of different qualifications and professional groups (sociologists, doctors, pedagogues, social workers, lawyers, social pedagogues, psychologists, psychoanalysts, students) in autonomous teams was unique in the women's health movement in Germany.

The team worked as a collective based on grassroots democracy, all decisions were made by consensus between representatives of the individual work areas in the plenum. Every FFGZ employee had to be part of a specialist group. The quality of the work of the consultants was ensured, controlled and further developed using instruments such as collegial advice, intervision and supervision. The course instructors presented their offers in the plenary session. The plenary decided here whether the offers should be included in the program or not.

Networking and cooperation

From the 1990s onwards, the FFGZ Frankfurt worked increasingly with traditional institutions such as clinics, health authorities, health insurance companies and trade union organizations on a municipal, national and international level. It cooperated with other women's health centers in Germany and was a member (and press spokeswoman) in the Bundesverband der Frauengesundheitszentren e. V.

Budget and economic development

Up until 1985, around 50 employees worked in the FFGZ on a voluntary basis in self-administration without state influence.

From 1985 to 1987 the FFGZ received a project grant of 150,000 DM from the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs as part of the first red-green coalition at state level.

In 1988, after the change of policy in the state government, the funds were canceled, 4 out of 5 permanent positions and fees were lost.

From 1989 to 1996 the FFGZ was recognized and financed by the state of Hesse and the women's department of the city of Frankfurt .

In 1990 around 40 employees worked in the FFGZ with around 10,000 users. After Margarethe Nimsch set up the women's department and women's department , around 50 women's projects received funding grants, including the FFGZ with 380,000 DM (with a financial requirement of 1.5 million DM), the women's businesses (now jumpp - your springboard to self-employment ), the Association whores fight back together (HWG) and the Frankfurt women's school .

In 1995, the Hessian state government approved DM 180,000 for the model project to promote women's health for socially disadvantaged women in Hesse.

From 1996 to 2006, both the city and state funds were continuously cut after political decisions and finally discontinued. In the uncertain budget situation, which could not be sufficiently compensated by own income such as consulting fees, the FFGZ's work spaces had to be reduced and the FFGZ's administrative structures adjusted. The previously self-governing institution has since acted with a board of directors, management, scientific advisory board and general assemblies. Various advisory topics and group offers have been restricted or discontinued.

In 2012 there was a conceptual reorientation and the renaming of the FFGZ as a women's and girls' health center.

In 2013, the Feminist Women's Health Center was closed after 35 years.

The board of directors of the FFGZ included Cornelia Hühn, Helga Kraus, Karin Kraus and Beate Herzog . The managing directors were Angelika Zollmann, Claudia Gutmann and Cornelia Ullrich. Other employees included Elisabeth Bonn, Angela Bülow-Clemenz, Barbara Dürk , Roswitha Friedrich, Carolin Heuring, Gabriela Kruk, Madeleine Michaelis, Marianne Rauwald, Christine Schäfer, Traute Schönenberg, Sieghild vom Dorp, Bettina Witte de Galbassini and Dorothea Reichert.

The scientific advisory board consisted of Sibylla Flügge , Sophinette Becker (1950–2019), Ute Sonntag, Margarethe Mitscherlich , Christian Luetkens (–2020), Michael Lukas Moeller (1937–2002), Margret Hauch and Barbara Ehret-Wagener.

Continuation of the topics of the FFGZ after the closure

Among other things, the FFGZ provided psycho-oncological advice for breast cancer patients at St. Marienkrankenhaus, the FamilienGesundheitsZentrum Neuhofstraße , the Wildwasser gegen Sexual Violence Association. V. and the women's emergency hotline in Frankfurt . The initiatives and institutions continue to exist today (as of 2020).

Publications (selection)

  • Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. Frankfurt am Main (ed.): Women's health in motion. Documentation of the conference on December 7, 1994 , self-published, Frankfurt am Main 1994.
  • Birgit Plan: Gender and Health. Who is the sicker sex? Man or woman? Grin Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 978-3-638-35328-1 .
  • Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. Frankfurt am Main (Ed.), Christina Schäger (Red.): Health promotion for socially disadvantaged women in the district . FFGZ, Frankfurt am Main / Working Group on Social Hotspots / Citizens' Initiative for Social Issues, Marburg 2001.
  • Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. Frankfurt am Main (ed.), C. Gutmann et al. (Red.): Documentation on the 20th anniversary of the FFGZ, Feminist Women's Health Center e. V., 1978-1998. Frankfurt am Main 1998.
  • Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. Frankfurt am Main (Ed.): Annual report , FFGZ, Frankfurt am Main 1991.

literature

  • Claudia Gutmann, Beate Herzog: Feminist women's health work from the beginning until today . In: Germanus Hungeling, Monika Knoche (ed.): Social health policy. Locations and bases of a green health policy . Verlag Mabuse, Frankfurt am Main 1998, pp. 128-138, ISBN 978-3-929106-57-2 .
  • Eva Brinkmann to Broxten, Claudia Fuchs, Elke Kiltz , Brigitte Schäfer, Brigitte Sellach in cooperation with WEIBH e. V .: (Ed.): Without a net and a false bottom: Women's projects & women's politics in Hessen . Zypresse Druck, Frankfurt am Main 1987, pp. 27-29.
  • Files Feminist Women's Health Center Bockenheim: FFBIZ, files, GM, ZD / women's movement and women's projects BRD A Rep. 400 BRD 20.14 (1).
  • Angela Stascheit, Karin Uecker: Archive of the Munich Women's Health Movement 1968–2000 . FAM Women's Academy Munich e. V. 2011.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chronicle of the New Women's Movement: 1977. In: FrauenMediaTurm - Feminist Archives and Library. Retrieved July 7, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Feminist Women Health Center (Ed.): 10 Years Feminist Women Health Center Frankfurt 1978–1988: Documentation . Frankfurt am Main 1988.
  3. ↑ C. Gutmann et al. (Red.): Documentation on the 20th anniversary of the FFGZ, Feminist Women's Health Center e. V., 1978-1998 . Ed .: Feminist Women's Health Center. Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 8-9 .
  4. ↑ Feminist Women's Health Center (ed.): 10 Years Feminist Women's Health Center Frankfurt 1978–1988: Documentation . Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 11, 58-59 .
  5. ↑ Eva Brinkmann to Broxten, Claudia Fuchs, Elke Kiltz, Brigitte Schäfer, Brigitte Sellach in cooperation with WEIBH e. V. (Ed.): Without a net and a false bottom: Women's projects & women's politics in Hessen . Zypresse Druck, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 28 .
  6. ^ Ute Sonntag: Health Promotion of Women and Girls . In: Germanus Hungeling, Monika Knoche (ed.): Social health policy. Locations and bases of a green health policy . Mabuse Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 978-3-929106-57-2 , p. 140 (Ottowa Charter of WHO 1986).
  7. ↑ Claudia Gutmann, Beate Herzog: Feminist women's health work from the beginning until today. Organizational structures and conception . In: Germanus Hungeling, Monika Knoche (ed.): Social health policy. Locations and bases of a green health policy . Mabuse Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 978-3-929106-57-2 , p. 130 .
  8. ↑ Feminist Women's Health Center (ed.): 10 Years Feminist Women's Health Center Frankfurt 1978–1988: Documentation . Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 11-14 .
  9. ↑ Claudia Gutmann, Beate Herzog: Feminist women's health work from the beginning until today. Organizational structures and conception . In: Germanus Hungeling, Monika Knoche (ed.): Social health policy. Locations and bases of a green health policy . Mabuse Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 978-3-929106-57-2 , p. 129 .
  10. ↑ Lecture: “Women Power Health. Or: women's health in women's hands. 35 years FFGZ Frankfurt. A review "from September 27, 2013. It contains a leaflet" No money and no place for women's health in Frankfurt? "
  11. ↑ Eva Brinkmann to Broxten, Claudia Fuchs, Elke Kiltz, Brigitte Schäfer, Brigitte Sellach in cooperation with WEIBH e. V. (Ed.): Without a net and a false bottom: Women's projects & women's politics in Hessen . Zypresse Druck, Frankfurt am Main 1987, p. 27 .
  12. ↑ a b C. Gutmann et al. (Red.): Documentation on the 20th anniversary of the FFGZ, Feminist Women's Health Center e. V., 1978-1998 . Ed .: Feminist Women's Health Center. Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 16-17 .
  13. ↑ Lecture: “Women Power Health. Or: women's health in women's hands. 35 years FFGZ Frankfurt. A review "from September 27, 2013. It contains a leaflet" No money and no place for women's health in Frankfurt? "And Angelika Zollmann, Farewell -" This is not a lecture, but an attempt to write a short history of 35 years of FFGZ from my memory and perspective ( especially from 1988-2005) ", in September 2013.
  14. ^ Women's congress against reproduction techniques . In: taz. the daily newspaper . October 22, 1988, p. 9 .
  15. ↑ Sibylla Flügge: Jubilee - 40 years of FGZ - address on the 40th anniversary of the Family Health Center (FGZN). In: FamilienGesundheitsZentrum. FamilienGesundheitsZentrum, September 27, 2019, accessed July 7, 2020 .
  16. ↑ a b The "child of the women's movement" is still rebellious. 20 Years of the Feminist Women's Health Center: Menopause is leaving its mark . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . November 6, 1998, p. 24 .
  17. ↑ Claudia Gutmann, Beate Herzog: Feminist women's health work from the beginning until today. Organizational structures and conception . In: Germanus Hungeling, Monika Knoche (ed.): Social health policy. Locations and bases of a green health policy . Mabuse Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 978-3-929106-57-2 , p. 132 .
  18. ^ Helga Kraus, Karin Kraus: The cooperation in the feminist women's health center . In: Feminist Frauengesundheitszentrum (ed.): 10 years of Feminist Frauengesundheitszentrum Frankfurt 1978–1988: Documentation . Frankfurt am Main 1988, p. 7 .
  19. ↑ C. Gutmann et al. (Red.): Documentation on the 20th anniversary of the FFGZ, Feminist Women's Health Center e. V., 1978-1998 . Ed .: Feminist Women's Health Center. Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 8 .
  20. ↑ For the holistic well-being . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 260 , November 9, 1998, pp. 58 .
  21. ↑ C. Gutmann et al. (Red.): Documentation on the 20th anniversary of the FFGZ, Feminist Women's Health Center e. V., 1978-1998 . Ed .: Feminist Women's Health Center. Frankfurt am Main 1998, p. 20 .
  22. ↑ Beate Herzog: Funded by the country . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 293 , December 17, 1994, pp. 51 .
  23. ↑ Frankfurt's women can be happy . In: taz. the daily newspaper . June 15, 1991.
  24. ↑ "No purple dungarees" . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 276 , November 27, 1993, pp. 50 .
  25. ↑ "We have to reduce the consultation times": Feminist women's health center has to restructure its offers . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . January 29, 2004, p. 39 .
  26. ↑ Source of household information unless otherwise stated: Angelika Zollmann, Abschied - “This is not a lecture, but an attempt to write a short history of 35 years of the FFGZ from my memory and perspective (especially from 1988-2005)”, in September 2013.
  27. ↑ a b From after 35 years: The Feminist Women's Health Center closes . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . No. 170 , July 25, 2013, p. 36 .
  28. ^ Johanna Zwingmann: My body, my choice. In: Frauen-macht-politik-ffm.de. Women's Department of the City of Frankfurt am Main, accessed on July 8, 2020 .
  29. ^ Creditreform Frankfurt am Main: COMPACT COMPANY INFO: Feminist Frauengesundheitszentrum e. V.
  30. ↑ a b About Us. In: FFGZ: Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. Accessed July 8, 2020 .
  31. ↑ model projects. In: FFGZ: Feminist Women's Health Center e. V. Accessed July 8, 2020 .

Coordinates: 50 ° 7 '14.2 "  N , 8 ° 38' 17.3"  E