Irmgard from Meibom

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Irmgard von Meibom, 1998

Irmgard von Meibom (born August 21, 1916 in Mülheim an der Ruhr as Irmgard Stoltenhoff ; † April 25, 2001 in Bonn ) held up to twenty top socio-political functions and honorary posts in the areas of women's policy , family policy and consumer policy from 1953 until her death and active in church associations in the Federal Republic of Germany. She was a member of the CDU .

Life

Irmgard von Meibom comes from a Protestant parsonage. Her father Ernst Stoltenhoff was a member of the Confessing Church and until 1948 as General Superintendent of the Rhine Province in a bishop-like function. Her mother Gertrud Stoltenhoff took over the chairmanship of the largest Protestant women's organization, Evangelical Women's Aid in Germany , in 1926 . The daughter grew up in a family in which public activity was a matter of course. After graduating from high school , she trained as a physiotherapist from 1936 to 1938 and married the lawyer Hanspeter von Meibom during a war vacation in 1940 , who after the war specialized in international constitutional law as a ministerial advisor in the Interior Ministry in Bonn and played a key role in the formulation of the Treaty of Rome . She has not been employed since the birth of her three children, Hans-Dieter , Wolfgang and Barbara , but after the end of the war she participated intensively in the democratic new beginning. Her particular concern was to bring together different interests and groups in a democratic culture of discussion and to give women equal access to shaping public affairs. From 1946 until her death, she volunteered for the common good. As a top manager in the intermediary area between politics, business and society, she belonged to the elite of the old “ Bonn Republic ”. “Women make up over fifty percent of the world's population and they represent a largely untapped potential for knowledge, imagination and creative action. Women are not the more perfect people, but their experiences and perspectives are in many ways different from those of men. Holistic politics requires equal partnership, which is to be striven for realistically. It begins in the private sphere of each individual and continues in all areas of public life - including the Church ”.

Services

Irmgard von Meibom became known as the chairwoman of the German Women's Council - the umbrella organization of women's associations in the Federal Republic - during the United Nations International Year of Women and the first UN World Conference on Women in Mexico in 1975. She advocated equal opportunities and Design options for women in all areas. Although she, as a representative of the more traditional women's associations, rejected the radical demands of the autonomous women's movement, she began a fruitful confrontation with feminists like Alice Schwarzer . The activation and empowerment of women she strives for is now a generally recognized political objective as a “ gender mainstreaming approach” and “ empowerment ”.

The starting point for her commitment was the founding of a working group within the framework of the German-Evangelical Women's Association (today the German Evangelical Women's Association ) in Bonn, where she a. a. launched civic courses. From there she took on one function after the other in the household and consumer policy areas. She became federal chairwoman of the German Evangelical Women's Association, later the umbrella organization for Protestant women's work in Germany, from there she was sent to the conference of the Diakonisches Werk of the Evangelical Church in Germany ( EKD ) - a kind of parliament for the social group - and finally took over as the first woman and Non-theologian presides over the conference of church works and associations in the EKD (KKWV).

Although she is not an enthusiastic housewife herself, she is actively involved in various housekeeping associations to ensure that housework is recognized as a value-creating and maintaining activity and as economically just as important work as paid work and is accordingly taken into account in social, pension and tax law.

Irmgard von Meibom played a decisive role in the development of consumer policy in Germany on the border between home economics and economics. In management positions in the working group of consumer associations , in various committees of the Federal Ministries for Food, Agriculture and Economy and in the board of trustees of Stiftung Warentest , she advocated health, nutrition and environmental issues as well as the economical use of energy and other resources at an early stage. In mediating between the conflicting interests of providers and consumers, both strict political neutrality and a specific mix of sovereignty, tolerance, commitment and humor were required. She was widely considered to be "the great lady of consumer policy". In 1989 she received the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and in 1997 the Great Federal Cross of Merit with a Star.

Selected offices and functions

Honorary positions for life

  • Honorary member of the Order of St. John
  • Honorary chairwoman of the German Evangelical Women's Association
  • Honorary member of the working group of consumer associations
  • Honorary President of the Evangelical Action Group for Family Issues
  • Honorary member of the Conference of Church Works and Associations
  • Honorary member of the German UNESCO Commission

Publications

  • Lecture at the opening event of the German Women's Council for the International Year of Women in Bonn, January 9, 1975 , In: epd documentation, February 3, 1975.
  • Report on the results of the World Conference on Women in Mexico , In: “Information for Women”, No. 7/8, 1975.
  • Glossary 'Typisch FrauX' , In: Korrespondenz - Die Frau, No. 2, 1975.
  • Church and women . In: Evangelical Responsibility . Evangelical working group of the CDU / CSU, Berlin. 1985/86 (1985), p. 12.
  • Like old childhood dreams. Letting go in attachment - a lifelong process , In: Frauenleben , ed. from Protestant women's work in Germany e. V., Frankfurt a. M. 1985.
  • Chances and limits of consumer work , In: Hartwig Piepenbrock. Conrad Schroeder (Ed.): Consumer policy controversial . Cologne 1987
  • Present and future of women's association work in a democracy . In: Women vote. An inventory of Protestant women's work. For Hildegard Zumach . Radius-Verlag, Stuttgart 1992, pp. 181-190. ISBN 3-87173-848-4
  • Consumers also determine the future - they set the course . In: Deutscher Evangelischer Frauenbund e. V. (Ed.): Taking responsibility for yourself and others. 100 years of the German Evangelical Women's Association V. In: Anhalt points , No. 5 September / October 1999.

literature

  • Festschrift Irmgard von Meibom on his 80th birthday 1916–1996 , Bonn 1996.
  • Barbara Böttger: Courage for the public. Irmgard von Meibom: 50 years in honorary office . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001. ISBN 3-525-55445-1
  • Gerhard Eisfeld: The establishment of Stiftung Warentest in 1964 and the collaboration between Irmgard Meibom (CDU) and Helmut Lenders (SPD) . In: the same: Helmut Lenders. Politics for the future - independence in the community . With a foreword by Franz Müntefering and a preliminary remark by Karin Kortmann . Bouvier, Bonn 2009, pp. 217-220. ISBN 978-3-416-03268-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "I about myself" - experiences and experiences of well-known Protestant personalities from work and everyday life, lecture 1984, In: Barbara Böttger: Courage for the public. Irmgard von Meibom: 50 years in honorary office . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001. ISBN 3-525-55445-1 , 186 f.
  2. ↑ Merit holders since 1986. State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Albert Oeckl (Ed.): Pocket book of public life Federal Republic of Germany 1988/89 . Volume 38, Festland Verlag, Bonn 1988, p. 493.
  4. ^ Albert Oeckl (ed.): Pocket book of public life Federal Republic of Germany 1988/89 . 38th year, Festland Verlag, Bonn 1988, p. 494.
personal data
SURNAME Meibom, Irmgard von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stoltenhoff, Irmgard (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German physiotherapist, chairwoman of the German Women's Council
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Mülheim an der Ruhr
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 2001
Place of death Bonn