Women's Landsturm

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Frauen-Landsturm was the title of an eight-page leaflet on yellow paper that was distributed in the German Reichstag on June 25, 1896 as a protest against the draft family law . It was directed against the second reading of a draft for the German Civil Code (BGB) in which the legal position of women was also dealt with. The Frauen-Landsturm was written by Marie Stritt , who in a sharp but also emotionally charged tone demanded equal rights for women in this law, which was passed in August 1896. The leaflet was sent to the plenary and distributed to all MPs by staff. The title for the leaflet was derived from the Landsturm , a term that the press had given the movement and that was intended to devalue the cause of the women's movement .

background

The draft law rewrote the husband's guardianship over the wife, which continued the previous inequality of the sexes under civil law . For example, the husband was given the right to make the final decision in the event of disagreement between the spouses. Although the woman was given the right to enter into an employment contract, she was not allowed to do so without the consent of the husband. The husband retained the right of administration and usufruct over all of his wife's property. The only exception was a contractually agreed separation of property prior to the marriage . The concerns of the children were also decided by the man alone.

“The man is entitled to make decisions in all matters relating to joint conjugal life; in particular, it determines the place of residence and residence.
The woman is not obliged to obey the man's decision if the decision is an abuse of his rights. "

- Civil Code of August 18, 1896 - Section 1354

The lawyer Anita Augspurg noted the following about this body of law:

"Anyone who subscribes to the law can, under their sanction, exploit the person, labor and property of his wife to the point of slavery."

- Anita Augspurg

The women's movement initiated a nationwide wave of protests against this law, which was ridiculed by the press as a “women's country storm”. The protest ultimately had no effect, because the civil code with the family law regulations that disadvantaged women came into force on January 1, 1900. The requested postponement of the second reading was not complied with, so time was pressing. A protest action was the distribution of a leaflet with the demands of the women's movement to the MPs, which have been known for years . The text of Marie Fougere which the sheet with their initials was written M. St. signed. The editor was Hanna Bieber-Böhm . The journalist Minna Cauer took care of the distribution to the members of parliament , supported by fellow campaigners. Cauer watched the Reichstag debate from the beginning and kept the women's movement up to date. The leaflet contained the already known demands, but was in an emotional, but also sharp tone, which the movement expected to have a stronger effect than the last resolution , which only contained 25,000 signatures due to the short time.

The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine also published several publications on this subject from 1895 to 1900, including petitions to the Reichstag.

  • Anna Simson : The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine, what it wants and what it doesn't want. Issue 1. Breslau 1895 (lecture given at the first general assembly of the Federation).
  • Aug. Schmidt, H. Goldschmidt: Petition and accompanying document regarding “family law” in the draft of the new civil code for the German Reich. Issue 2, Schäfer, Leipzig 1896 (petition with proposals for amendments regarding family law).
  • Freiin Olga von Beschwitz-Dresden: Accompanying document to the petition of the Federation of German Women's Associations to the Reichstag regarding the family law of the new BGB for the German Reich. L. Reisel, Frankenberg (Saxony) 1899, issue 3.
  • Cäcilie Dose, Alma Kriesche : The position of the woman and mother in the family law of the non-German states and according to the provisions of the new civil code for the German Empire. (Compiled on behalf of the Federal Legal Commission) L. Reisel, Frankenberg (Saxony) 1900, issue 4.
  • Marie Stritt, Ika Freudenberg : The Federation of German Women's Associations. A description of his tasks and goals and his development so far, together with a brief overview of the activities of his work committees. L. Reisel, Frankenberg (Saxony) 1900, issue 5.

effect

Marie Stritt was considered one of the best speakers in the women's movement at the time. The leaflet she wrote was intended to spread criticism of family law in a popular way, was designed accordingly and cost "10 Pfennig". It begins with the words: "Like a dark shadow from the darkest days of the Middle Ages, the family law of the civil code protrudes into the present ..." Further passages are held in a combative tone, Stritt states: "We are all and all weak and highly defective creatures - and our legislation has ensured that we [...] us not [...] become a nobler and freer manhood can . The absolute position of power that she [note: the legislation] granted the man in marriage, had to develop arbitrariness, brutality, megalomania on the one hand, the complete dependency into which she forced the woman, lack of character, cowardice, deceit, on the other hand. "

Marie Stritt insists on addressing the reactionary MP Hugo Schroeder at the end of her text and explaining the term Frauen-Landsturm as the title of the leaflet:

“[…] MP Schroeder recently allowed himself a delicate allusion to the 'ripe old age' of the women who are at the forefront of the protest movement […] and referred to this movement as a 'women's landsturm'. The gentleman - although no longer a youth himself - is one of those men who see only the sexual being in their female fellow men, in whose eyes the woman is only considered as long as she is young and pretty and for whom the aging of women their most unforgivable mistake is. "

- Marie Stritt : - Arne Duncker: Equality and inequality in marriage.

The leaflet was received ambiguously by the MPs, so it was received in the Reichstag debate by the left-liberal MP Albert Traeger , who even spoke out in favor of removing male decision-making power in marriage. Some read the script eagerly, others tore it up unread. Ultimately, the hoped-for effect did not materialize. Minna Cauer reports on the Catholic MP Karl Bachem from the Centrumspartei , who played a key role in the drafting of the controversial draft for family law and angrily tore the page up, but which was immediately seized and read by another MP. There were further appeals, such as the warning to the German people , which called for a mass petition to be submitted to the Reichstag before the new legal text came into force. The petition made demands such as the repeal of the husband's exclusive usufruct and administrative right to the married property, which was provided for in § 1363. Furthermore, the introduction of the separation of property as a statutory property law was aimed for. Another important point was the equal exercise of parental authority by mother and father, the granting of parental authority also for illegitimate mothers, as well as a fairer standardization of the maintenance obligation of the illegitimate father towards his children.

literature

  • Marie Stritt, Hanna Bieber-Böhm: Women's Landsturm. Flyer on family law in the civil code . Association "Youth Protection", Berlin 1896, OCLC 637699402 .
    • Reprinted in: 60. Marie Stritt: Frauen-Landsturm, 1896 . In: Stephan Meder, Arne Duncker, Andrea Czelk (eds.): The legal status of women around 1900. A collection of sources with comments . Böhlau, Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20577-5 , p. 805-811 .
  • Marie [Bacon] Stritt: The civil code and the women's question. Lecture given at the general assembly of the Federation of German Women's Associations in Hamburg in October 1898 (=  Gerritsen collection of women's history . No. 2767 ). Lothart Reisel, Frankenberg 1898 ( reader.digitale-sammlungen.de ).
  • Johannes Brenneisen: The civil code and women a socio-political contribution to the question of women's emancipation. At the same time, a serious warning to all German women and men (=  library of the women's question in Germany according to Sveistrup / v. Zahn-Harnack . No. 1526 ). Kunze, Leipzig 1896, OCLC 705385801 .
  • Tanja-Carina Riedel: Equal rights for women and men. The bourgeois women's movement and the emergence of the BGB (=  legal history and gender research . Volume 9 ). Böhlau, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20080-0 .
  • Arne Duncker: Equality and Inequality in Marriage. Personal position of woman and man in the law of marital partnership; 1700–1914 (=  legal history and gender research . Volume 1 ). Böhlau, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-412-17302-9 ( gbv.de [PDF]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Markus Raasch, Andreas Linsenmann: Women and political Catholicism: Actors, topics, strategies . Ferdinand Schöningh, 2018, ISBN 978-3-657-78906-1 , pp. 215 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  2. ^ Civil Code of August 18, 1896 - Paragraph 1354 . Book Four Family Law , Section 1. Civil Marriage , Title Five Effects of Marriage in General , 1896, p. 323 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive - Valid from January 1, 1900– July 1, 1958).
  3. ↑ Stephan Meder, Arne Duncker, Andrea Czelk: The legal position of women around 1900. A collection of sources with comments . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20577-5 , p. 44 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ↑ Monika Storm: First choice? First choice! State center for political education ( political-bildung-rlp.de PDF).
  5. ↑ a b Tanja-Carina Riedel: Equal rights for women and men. The bourgeois women's movement and the emergence of the BGB (= legal history and gender research. Volume 9). Böhlau, Cologne 2008, ISBN 978-3-412-20080-0 , p. 465 f.
  6. ↑ Meder, Duncker, Czelk (ed.): The legal status of women around 1900. A collection of sources with comments. Böhlau Cologne 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20577-5 , p. 805 ff.
  7. ↑ Arne Duncker: Equality and inequality in marriage. Personal position of women and men in the law of conjugal union 1700–1914 (=  legal history and gender research . Volume 1 ). Böhlau, Cologne / Weimar 2003, ISBN 3-412-17302-9 , pp. 1164 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  8. ↑ Stephan Meder , Arne Duncker, Andrea Czelk: The legal position of women around 1900. A collection of sources with comments . Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar 2010, ISBN 978-3-412-20577-5 , p. 805 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  9. ↑ Civil Code of August 18, 1896 - Paragraph 1363ff . Fourth Book Family Law , Section 1. Civil Marriage , Sixth Title Marital Property Law , Subtitle 1. Statutory Property Law , 1896, p. 326 ff . ( Text archive - Internet Archive - Valid from January 1, 1900 to July 1, 1958).
  10. ↑ Gertrud Bäumer , Helene Lange : Handbook of the women's movement . Part 2: Women's movement and social activity in Germany according to individual areas . Moeser, Berlin 1901, p. 146 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).