Women's suffrage in Belgium

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General women's suffrage in Belgium was only introduced in 1948. It was achieved through a lengthy top-down process, controlled more by the political elites than by the women's movement. Influences from neighboring countries and the achievements of women in the two world wars were decisive . However, Belgium was the first country in Europe and the second country in the world to introduce statutory gender quotas in 1994 and is now one of the countries with the highest number of women in parliament.

historical development

Compared with neighboring countries, women in Belgium were only allowed to vote at the national level very late to the same extent as men (Germany 1918, Netherlands 1919, Denmark 1915, United Kingdom 1928, France 1944).

19th century

In Belgium, since the state was founded in 1831, the right to vote has been restricted by gender and property criteria: only about one percent of men over 25, mostly aristocrats and landowners, were allowed to vote. As early as 1831, however, all men over 25 were granted the right to vote . The demand for women to vote was not raised in 1831. After a general strike in 1891, a constitutional reform in 1893 extended the right to vote to heads of households for over 25 years, but it was still socially unbalanced: academics, family fathers, landowners and civil servants had more than one vote. This new right to vote led to the fact that the two-party system with Catholics and liberals was expanded to include the socialists. Although they had included women's suffrage in their program in 1894, they dropped the demand in 1902 because they feared women's solidarity with the Catholic Church.

20th century

After the First World War

In Belgium there was a lack of women who could have promoted the cause of women's suffrage, as in the English-speaking countries: There was definitely a middle class in Belgium, but their relatives saw their place in the church and charity and not in the commitment to socio-political progress.

In 1918, women's suffrage was re-introduced into the Belgian socialist program, but there was little commitment to it. Their main concern was the abolition of privileges for certain social groups, not so much gender equality . While neighboring countries introduced general women's suffrage after the war , which was not restricted to individual groups of women (1918 Germany and Luxembourg, 1919 the Netherlands), only reduced women's suffrage was implemented in Belgium at that time: in parliamentary elections all men were over 21 and all widows soldiers or civilians killed by enemies in World War I, or, if the victim was not married, his mother; also all women who were convicted of patriotic acts during the occupation or who were in prison. So only certain women were rewarded for their role in the war with the right to vote, not the idea of ​​gender equality implemented.

List of the first women members of the Fédération belge pour le Suffrage des Femmes, founded in 1913

Two reasons for this development differing from that of neighboring countries can be identified:

  • On the one hand, the feminist movement in Belgium was comparatively weak. The Belgian Union pour le Suffrage des Femmes (Union for women's suffrage) was not founded until 1907 and in 1910 had only three branches and only a few members; a comparable organization had existed in the Netherlands since 1894, and in 1911 had a hundred branches and 10,000 members. In 1913, the women's movement founded the Fédération Belge pour le Suffrage des Femmes (Belgian Association for Women's Suffrage) as an umbrella organization for the smaller groups that already existed who campaigned for women 's suffrage.
  • Another reason lies in the power relations and political calculations at the time: Socialists, Catholics and liberals shared power in Belgium after the war. While in Belgium, unlike in Italy or France, for example, the Catholic side was in favor of women's suffrage because they hoped for political support from them, the liberals were against the introduction, despite their fundamental support; they were anti-clerical and feared that women would strengthen the conservative religious side. The socialists' considerations also went in this direction.

In April 1920, all women over the age of 21 were granted passive municipal voting rights, with the exception of prostitutes and adulterers . This can be seen as a step towards the right to vote for all women, or as a measure to partially compensate women for their reduced right to vote at national level. Married women, however, needed the consent of their husbands to run. Thus in Belgium women were given a restricted right to stand as a candidate over the general active vote.

After the Second World War

World War II was a new catalyst for the introduction of women's suffrage. The example of France, which introduced women's suffrage in 1944, motivated Belgian women to make greater efforts. The male political elite realized that women's suffrage was unstoppable; it was also seen as a reward for the dedication of women during the war. Catholics and Communists introduced a legislative initiative in 1945. But it was not until 1948 that the right to vote for all women was introduced under a coalition between Catholics and socialists led by the socialist Paul-Henri Spaak .

In the parliamentary elections of June 26, 1949, women participated for the first time using the same criteria as men. The number of votes cast was 5.3 million, more than twice as high as in the previous elections on February 17, 1946.

Connections with the situation of women in other areas of society

At the end of the 19th century, Belgian society was characterized by a patriarchal system, which envisaged the natural role of women as a wife and mother. The women did not initially focus on enforcing women's suffrage, but tried to make improvements in the education sector and civil rights for women. Only gradually did the realization gain acceptance that women's suffrage could become a tool to promote emancipation in the political field, and the commitment to this increased.

Since Belgian women were still underrepresented in politics in the 1990s, despite women's suffrage, Belgian feminists advocated gender quotas in politics. This was introduced in Belgium as the first European country and the second country worldwide. After the 2010 elections, 39 percent were women in the House of Representatives and 43 percent in the Senate. The local and regional elections showed similar figures. This makes Belgium one of the countries with the most women in parliament.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 408.
  2. ↑ a b c d Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 289
  3. ↑ a b c d e Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 290
  4. ↑ a b c Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 291
  5. ↑ According to another source, the founding year was 1909: Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 410.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 412.
  7. ↑ DB élection - result. In: ibzdgip.fgov.be. Retrieved August 20, 2018 (French).
  8. ^ Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 416.
  9. ^ A b Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 417.
  10. ^ Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 418.
  11. ^ Petra Meier: Caught Between Strategic Positions and Principles of Equality: Female Suffrage in Belgium . In: Blanca Rodríguez-Ruiz, Ruth Rubio-Marín (eds.): The Struggle for Female Suffrage in Europe. Voting to Become Citizens. Brill Verlag Leiden, Boston 2012, ISBN 978-90-04-22425-4 , pp. 407-420, p. 419.