Frankfurt women's school

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The Frankfurt women's school was a women's education project initiated by protagonists of the autonomous women's movement and typical of the 1980s . The facility, founded by the sociologists Barbara Rendtorff and Dörthe Jung , was managed by the project team together with the psychologists Barbara Köster and Iris Nikulka in alternating roles for 30 years. From 2003 until the closing of the women's school, Barbara Köster was the chief managing director. The Frankfurt women's school existed from 1982/3 to 2013.

Network politics: decentralized, grassroots democracy, feminist

Alongside Berlin, Frankfurt am Main was the most important center of the West German women's movement. From the 1970s onwards, numerous autonomous women's projects in various areas of society were organized independently of state institutions. The discrimination and exclusion experiences of women in the health care system, in education, culture and media, on the job market, in science and, last but not least, in the dogmatic orientation of the West German 1968 movement, forced the development of women's networks.

In Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1972 the women's center Eckenheimer Landstraße, 1976 the women's bookstore , 1977 the women's center Bockenheim, 1978 the feminist women's health center (FFGZ, until 2013) and the autonomous women's shelter .

From 1979, Barbara Rendtorff and Dörthe Jung were committed to setting up an autonomous educational institution for women. You had previously co-founded the Women's Center in Bockenheim: The Society for Social Science Research and Education for Women (SFBF), established in 1979 to continue the women's center work, took over responsibility for the Frankfurt Women's School after the women's center was closed.

The management team brought different qualifications and work priorities into the program of the women's school: The psychologist Barbara Köster was a member of the Frankfurt Women's Council and came to the women's school first on a voluntary basis, then full-time with health policy issues. The sociologist, educationalist and later professor Barbara Rendtorff designed the educational work of the women's school full-time until the early 1990s. With her social and labor market policy expertise, the sociologist and management consultant Dörthe Jung u. a. at the founding of the "women companies" and together u. a. with the politician Marita Haibach (DIE GRÜNEN) in the implementation of the first Hessian action program for women in the then red-green coalition in the Hessian state parliament. This program resulted in the political anchoring of women's politics in Hesse, such as the first Hessian women’s promotion plan for state administration and universities in 1987 and the Hessian Equal Rights Act 1993. Iris Nikulka worked as a psychoanalyst and trainer in child and adolescent psychotherapy. The program makers worked together on an interdisciplinary basis, including discussing feminist theories. Similar offers of autonomous women's projects arose in Cologne, Hamburg and West Berlin; the Frankfurt women's school was one of the largest in Germany.

Feminist education

program

The project management team defined the Frankfurt women's school as a feminist place of “communication (cafe, pub), education (courses for head and body, bookstore and library, film offers, etc.), counseling (pregnancy conflict counseling such as legal, psychological), reproduction and Recreation (child care, cultural offers) ”.

The program offered included courses, discussion groups and workshops on specific situations in life for women. Addressed were mothers, housewives and single parents, employed people, unemployed people and women starting up a business. The users of these offers came from different ages and levels of education. In the three decades of its existence, the women's school has continuously expanded its educational and event program. The women's school organized conferences on current political issues such as environmental and urban development, sexual violence and abuse, and women in the right-wing scene. In addition, there were state-approved offers for educational leave and long-term training for professional qualifications, such as training in the new media. Information forums were created on various forms of therapy and on the topic of pensions and old-age provision for women. External course instructors were employed on a fee basis for the courses and discussion groups offered during the semester.

From 1999 the women's school also set up educational and information programs for girls: In the “girls' school” a. Workshops for professional orientation in the areas of media, fashion and museums are offered.

In addition to its own offers in the field of art and culture, such as literary readings from the writing workshop, the Frankfurt women's school cooperated with other experts: u. a. Karola Gramann , Frankfurt film curator and from 2006 artistic director of the Kinothek Asta Nielsen , showed several film series under the title “ How do I look? - I don't see it “with a changing program in the Frankfurt women's school (1994 to 1997). In 1997 she presented examples from the lesbian-gay film days Hamburg " Lesbians in Film " on various film evenings .

From 1989 to 1999 the artist Charly Steiger headed the exhibition space “Sequence” in the Frankfurt women's school. The exhibition program presented current positions by female artists in thematic series. Represented in solo exhibitions were u. a. Alba D'Urbano , Laura Padgett , Joanna Jones and Heide Weidele .

Feminist theorizing

A special focus in the work of the Frankfurt Women's School was the joint reading of theoretical writings on concepts of femininity and gender relations , which were aimed primarily at scientifically interested women from the women's movement and academic forums. As part of numerous conferences and events, the Frankfurt Women's School itself has contributed to the development of feminist theory with its own approaches. In 1990 the project team's study on the work of the women's school, funded by the then Federal Ministry for Youth, Family, Women and Health (BMJFFG), was published. Your resulting from theoretical discussions lectures, including those of a number of international speakers, including Rosi Braidotti , Judith Butler , Luce Irigaray or Luisa Muraro , Geneviève Fraisse , Christa Rohde-Dachser and Marianne Schuller , mostly in the publication series were feminist facets theory - materials volume of published between 1987 and 2002. The series comprises 26 volumes and documents, as can be read on the website of the Frankfurter Frauenschule, "the course of feminist theoretical debates over a period of 15 years (...), from the first high phase of feminist theoretical discussions to the end of the women's movement - and you shows how open, searching and thoughtful the debates were in those years. "

In 2018, Barbara Rendtorff reflected on the concept, goals and practice of the Frankfurt women's school in a retrospective “self-description”.

Initiatives, projects and networks that emerged from the Frankfurt women's school

The women's debates led to a number of specific projects by and for women in the areas of labor market policy, financial services, culture, art and design.

The first labor market policy initiative of the Frankfurt women's school was the founding of the women's businesses - women create their own jobs eV 1984. The association, meanwhile renamed jumpp - your leap into independence. Frauenbetriebe eV , offers qualification programs and socio-economic advice for female entrepreneurs and start-ups in the commercial sector. The initiators were Dörthe Jung, Lu Haas (1944–1991) and Gudrun Krieger . Since the women's department was founded in 1989, the city of Frankfurt am Main has supported the association as a resource-oriented pioneering project. Jumpp has been working as the "Hesse- wide control center for corporate succession " on behalf of the State of Hesse since 2008 . In 2019 the association, which now also accepts men in the advisory program, celebrated its 35th anniversary.

On the initiative of the women's school, the “Sequence” exhibition space and a financial advisory office for women opened. In addition, the founding group of the lesbian and gay culture house in Frankfurt am Main was constituted in the Frankfurt women's school.

In 2000, the Frankfurt Women's School participated in the founding and programming of the Women - Life (s) drafts working group . The forum were women education providers u. a. of the churches, the adult education center, Pro Familia and the International Family Center.

The Offenbach-based School for Fashion.Graphic.Design under the direction of Daniela Ballweg offers preparatory basic courses for university applicants in the field of art and design. The company was founded under the umbrella of the women's school.

Financing and spaces

In addition to self-generated income (including voluntary work, course fees, rentals), the Frankfurt women's school financed operating and personnel costs through grants from the state of Hesse and the women's department of the city of Frankfurt in varying amounts. The renting and furnishing of a loft floor with café, office and course rooms, children's room and event hall was made possible by a Frankfurt patron. In 1983 the team from the Frankfurt women's school took part in the implementation of the Hessian action program for women. 1984/85 adopted by the first red-green coalition in the Hessian state parliament. From this funding program for non-institutional women's education work, 11 autonomous women's education projects received grants, including a. also the Frankfurt women's school.

In this building on the first floor of Hamburger Allee 45 were the first rooms of the Frankfurt women's school

At first, the women's school was nomadic, with no office space or budget. The courses and events took place in rooms rented by the day in the Bürgerertreff Westend. In 1985, with the support of a patron, the women's school moved to a loft at 45 Hamburger Allee. The building complex was occupied by different projects. a. also the Feminist Women's Health Center eV (FFGZ), the city magazine Pflasterstrand and the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) are located. The address was considered a landmark of the Frankfurt culture of movement. In 1991, the company moved to Hohenstaufenstrasse 8, which remained the headquarters of the Frankfurt women's school until it closed in 2013.

Publications

  • Material volumes 1–26: Facets of feminist theory formation. published by the Frankfurter Frauenschule / SBFB eV :
    • Volumes 1 - 4: collections of articles from lectures, self-published 1987/88.
    • Volume 5: Luisa Muraro: Lectures. 1989, ISBN 3-926932-05-8 (material volume ).
    • Volume 6: Genealogy and Traditions. 1990, ISBN 3-926932-06-6 .
    • Volume 7: About female desire and sexual difference and the lack in the ruling discourse. Autonomous women's education using the example of the Frankfurt women's school. 1990.
    • Volume 8: National Socialism - Nationalism. 1990.
    • Volume 9: The Feminist View of Addiction. 1990, ISBN 3-926932-09-0 .
    • Volume 10: Body - Image - Language. 1991, ISBN 3-926932-10-4 .
    • Volume 11: Search images - illusions. 1992, ISBN 3-926932-11-2 .
    • Volume 12: Drug Use and Control. 1992, ISBN 3-926932-12-0 .
    • Volume 13: Violence and Law. 1993, ISBN 3-926932-13-9 .
    • Volume 14: Rosi Braidotti: The Crisis of Categories. Woman, lesbian, sex. 1994, ISBN 3-926932-14-7 .
    • Volume 15: Materiality - Body - Gender. 1996, ISBN 3-926932-16-3 .
    • Volume 16: Freedom, Equality, Difference. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 1996, ISBN 3-927164-91-7 .
    • Volume 17: Barbara Rendtorff: Gender and Childhood. Psychosexual development and gender identity. Working texts for educators, teachers and mothers. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 1997, ISBN 3-927164-92-5 .
    • Volume 18: Adaptation and Dissidence. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 1997, ISBN 3-927164-69-0 .
    • Volume 19: Seductions and dispositions. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 1998, ISBN 3-927164-68-2 .
    • Volume 20: About Producing. Feminine - Aspects of Another Reason? (Ed.) Frankfurter Frauenschule / SFBF eV, Ulrike Heimer Verlag, Königstein / Taunus 1999, ISBN 3-927164-49-6 (material volume ).
    • Volume 21: Women’s Work: Alienation and Freedom. Reflections from Italy . (Ed.) Frankfurter Frauenschule / SFBF eV / Gisela Jürgens, Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 1999, ISBN 3-89741-028-1 (material volume ).
    • Volume 22: Desire, Think. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 1999, ISBN 3-89741-029-X .
    • Volume 23: The Question of Sexation. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 2000, ISBN 3-89741-041-9 .
    • Volume 24: Identity Desire Difference. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 2000, ISBN 3-89741-059-1 .
    • Volume 25: Mother and Daughter. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 2001, ISBN 3-89741-073-7 . (Material tape).
    • Volume 26: Women-Body Relationships. Ulrike Helmer Verlag, Königstein 2002, ISBN 3-89741-091-5 .
  • Barbara Köster: For the invention of femininity . In TAZ. November 10, 1988. (taz.de)
  • Barbara Rendtorff: About the Frankfurt women's school. In: Die Philosopher: Forum for Feminist Theory and Philosophy. 2/1990.
  • Barbara Rendtorff, Iris Nikulka, Barbara Köster, Dörthe Jung: About female desire and sexual difference and lack in the prevailing discourse. Autonomous women's education using the example of the Frankfurt women's school. Material volume 7 - Facets of feminist theory formation. Society for social science research and education for women, Frankfurt am Main 1990.
  • Barbara Rendtorff: From the history of feminist theory and practice - The work of the Frankfurt women's school. A contribution to historical memory. In: Feminist Studies. 1/2018.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dörthe Jung: How the women's movement moved Frankfurt. New beginnings and rebellion: The new women's movement in Frankfurt 1968–1990. Lecture in the German Architecture Museum Frankfurt am Main. (PDF) In: Lecture series “STADTplus. The City and Feminism ”and the exhibition“ Ms. Architect ”. October 4, 2017, accessed December 9, 2019 .
  2. ↑ a b Ulla Wischermann: From women councilors to women professors. New women's movement of the 1968 dawn . In: Research Frankfurt . No. 01 , 2018.
  3. ↑ a b Friederike Tinnappel: Fight as well as possible and as long as you can . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . October 25, 2003.
  4. ↑ Women's information center from the Mannheimer Frauenhaus eV: Women's shelters. In: Family handbook website. March 10, 2010, accessed December 11, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Barbara Rendtorff. Brief CV. Retrieved December 11, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Dörthe Jung. Biography. Retrieved December 11, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b Gisela Ludat: The women's school. In: EMMA. 9/1985, pp. 34-37. Reprinted in: women's politics in concrete terms. Part 1: The Hessian Action Program for Women. The Greens in the Hessian Parliament, Wiesbaden 1985, pp. 60–63.
  8. ↑ Dörthe Jung: The discreet entry into power. In: FrauenStadtGeschichte. For example: Frankfurt am Main. Ed .: Hessische Landeszentrale für Politische Bildung und WEIBH eV Helmer, Königstein 1995, ISBN 3-927164-29-1 , p. 198.
  9. ↑ Acting Gender Equally - A New Dawn in Women's Politics. Lead proposal. (PDF) Bündnis 90 / DIE GRÜNEN, Landesverband Hessen, 2010, accessed on December 11, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Women's Policy Concrete. Part 1: The Hessian Action Program for Women. The Greens in the Hessian Parliament, Wiesbaden 1985.
  11. ^ Wolfgang Grün: Weibermacht, Weiberlist . In: The time . 4th January 1985.
  12. ↑ a b Barbara Rendtorff, Iris Nikulka, Barbara Köster, Dörthe Jung: About female desire and sexual difference and lack in the prevailing discourse. Autonomous women's education using the example of the Frankfurt women's school. (PDF) In: Material Volume 7 – Facets of Feminist Theory Formation. Society for social science research and education for women, 1990, accessed on December 11, 2019 .
  13. ↑ For girls and volunteers . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . July 27, 1999.
  14. ↑ Dorothee Baer-Bogenschütz: From the role . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . March 22, 1995.
  15. ↑ Material volumes of the Frankfurt women's school. In: Website of the Frankfurt women's school. Retrieved December 17, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Counter-steering where it is "tough and misogynistic". Frankfurter Frauenschule offers support for artists and volunteers . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . May 10, 1999.
  17. ↑ Barbara Rendtorff: From the history of feminist theory and practice - the work of the Frankfurt women's school. A contribution to historical memory . In: Feminist Studies . No. 01 , 2018.
  18. ↑ Dörthe Jung: On the death of Lu Haas . In: Frankfurter Frauenblatt . No. 06 , 1991.
  19. ↑ Mechthild Harting: The welder is no longer in fashion . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . February 10, 2014.
  20. ↑ jumpp: For a different culture of independence: impulses and role models for 35 years. (PDF) In: website from jumpp - Your leap into independence. Frauenbetriebe eV 2018, accessed on December 16, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Sabine Schiner: 0.004 percent - no money for women . In: MATHILDE . January 1996.
  22. ↑ Providers of women's education. More than 50 events in autumn . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . September 25, 2000.
  23. ↑ Nadja Erb: Where designers prepare for university. School for fashion and graphics teaches the basics . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . December 11, 2004.
  24. ↑ 20 years of women's school. The revolutionary has now almost become everyday life . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . September 3, 2002.
  25. ↑ a b Friederike Tinnappel: A generation project . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . December 6, 2013.
  26. ^ Anne Lemhöfer: Adorno and atomic power . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . January 25, 2010.
  27. ↑ Material volumes 1-26: Facets of feminist theory formation. Frankfurter Frauenschule / SBFB eV, accessed on December 23, 2019 .