Women's party

The Women's Party (short: women ) was a small political party in the Federal Republic of Germany .

history

The founding party congress took place on September 30, 1979 in Warendorf (Westphalia). Eva Rath and Sibylle Schücking-Helfferich were among the 25 women present there . Schücking-Helfferich became the first chairwoman of the party, Rath, previously a member of the SPD, took over management. The office was located in Kronshagen near Kiel , Rath's place of residence.

In early 1980 there was considerable tension within the party. The point of conflict was the fundamental question of whether membership should also be made possible for men. While Rath opposed a general exclusion of men, Schücking-Helfferich called for an all-women party.

As a result, a split occurred in March 1980. The Schücking-Helfferich group set up their own office in Soest . In May 1980, after a judicial clarification had previously failed, the party's arbitration commission excluded 14 women. As a result, a violent dispute arose over the name of the women's party , in which the Kiel group around Eva Rath was ultimately able to prevail. The Soester Group changed its name to Women in Parliament .

In September 1980, the women's party's first regular congress took place.

There were several candidacies for state parliaments. In 1987 the party took part in the federal election. However, the electoral successes were only minor. After 1989 she no longer appeared in public. At the end of 1997, the women's party joined the feminist party Die Frauen, founded in 1995 .

Other women's parties in Germany

In the Weimar Republic there were several regional or municipal groups with the name "Frauenpartei". As early as 1920, a women's party ran unsuccessfully in Berlin. From 1924 the establishment of a women's party was discussed in the women's movement. In local elections, lists of women ran in individual cities. From 1927 onwards, the Federation of German Women's Associations supported such lists.

In 1991 the Independent Women's Association (UFV) rejected the idea of founding a women's party.