Johanna Dohnal

Johanna Dohnal (seated) and Elisabeth Orth (2008)

Johanna Aloisia Dohnal (born February 14, 1939 in Vienna as Johanna Dietz; † February 20, 2010 in Grabern im Weinviertel) was an Austrian feminist and politician of the SPÖ . As this she was the first woman minister in Austria from 1990 .

Dohnal was Austria's most famous women's politician and an icon of the Austrian women's movement .

Childhood and youth

Johanna Dietz grew up out of wedlock in the 14th district of Vienna with her grandmother because her mother suffered from tuberculosis . Her childhood was marked by her grandmother's struggle for survival, the chaos of the war, the National Socialist rule and the rapidly weakened atmosphere of optimism as well as the restorative turnaround in Austria after 1945. After attending primary and secondary school , she began training as an industrial clerk in a plastics factory. A higher education was denied to her for financial reasons.

1956 Johanna Dietz became a member of the SPÖ; In 1957 she married the chauffeur Franz Dohnal, after 19 years of marriage the divorce followed. In 1959 she became a mother for the first time. From 1960 Dohnal lived with his husband and from 1961 with two children in a municipal apartment of the City of Vienna on 48 m² of living space. Because the money was urgently needed, Dohnal returned to work a few weeks after the first birth; after the second birth she was fired. Because there were no inexpensive childcare facilities available, Dohnal took on various homeworks . It wasn't until 1969 that she managed to find a decent job again, this time as a secretary in a locksmith's shop.

Political career

Founding documents of the social assistance association for women and children at risk, which Dohnal co-founded (1978)

In 1969 Dohnal became a socialist district councilor in the 14th district; In 1971 she was elected chairman of the district's SPÖ women. In 1972 she moved to the party headquarters of the SPÖ, where she worked as the state women's secretary of the SPÖ Vienna until 1979. From 1973 to 1979 she was a member of the Vienna City Council and State Parliament in the era of Mayor Leopold Gratz . In 1978 Dohnal was a co-founder of the Association Social Aid for Women and Children at Risk , which created the first women's refuge in Vienna .

After tireless political activity in the field of equal rights policy , Bruno Kreisky brought Dohnal to the federal government in 1979 as State Secretary for general women's issues . She worked increasingly in Austrian women's policy and implemented numerous legal improvements, especially for working women. She was also involved in peace, education and development policy .

In 1990, Dohnal became Federal Minister for Women's Affairs under Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky until 1995, making it the first Austrian Minister for Women.

In 1987 Dohnal became chairwoman of the SPÖ women and deputy federal chairwoman of the SPÖ, which she remained until 1995. At the beginning of the nineties, elementary women's rights in Austria, such as the elimination of official guardianship for unmarried mothers, the right to refuse entry in the event of violence in marriage and the legal prohibition of sexual harassment on Dohnal's initiative, were enshrined in law.

Withdrawal from politics

In 1993, public service equality laws were passed; a quota for women at universities and in ministries was introduced. In the mid-1990s, however, after Jörg Haider's first major successes, a conservative turn began in Austria ; Dohnal's initiatives and her person were called into sharp controversy. Dohnal resisted, but could no longer counter the change in mood in the country; In 1995 she was dismissed from the government by Vranitzky against her resistance as Minister for Women. She withdrew from professional politics and no longer ran for any political office .

From 1995 Dohnal became involved in the political sub-areas that she had been passionate about for decades; she worked with universities, NGOs, women's organizations and trade unions and continued her struggle on the web for equality for women in state and society and for their socialist ideals.

In 2008 she published the book Inner Views of Austrian Women's Politics in Studienverlag , in which she writes about the development of women's politics in Austria, about reforms of the 1970s up to the cooperation with the autonomous women's movement, but also about disputes within the SPÖ (e.g. the conflict with Rotraud A. Perner ).

Private

Vienna Central Cemetery - honor grave of Johanna Dohnal

From 1981, she lived in cohabitation with the SPÖ-councilor Anne Marie Aufreiter with which they early 2010 shortly after the entry into force of the Registered Partnership Act on January 1, 2010, a registered partnership entered. Dohnal owned a country house in Mittergrabern in the Weinviertel .

Dohnal's son Robert died in January 2008, her daughter Ingrid works as an assistant for the Wiener Frauenhäuser Association, of which Johanna Dohnal was honorary chairman.

Johanna Dohnal died at the age of 71 as a result of long-lasting heart problems in her country house in Mittergrabern. In this context, official statements emphasized Johanna Dohnal's outstanding position for equality and women's rights in Austria.

After the cremation on March 9, 2010, she was buried in an honorary grave of the City of Vienna in the central cemetery near the graves of Hertha Firnberg and Rosa Jochmann (Group 32C, No. 1A).

Her registered life partner Annemarie Aufreiter sought the award of a widow's pension. However, the application was rejected because the two women had only been a partner for a few weeks.

Awards

• In 1994 she received the Grand Decoration of Honor in Gold on Ribbon for Services to the Republic of Austria .

Johanna-Dohnal-Platz in Vienna-Mariahilf

• 2008 Vienna Women's Prize

• July 16, 2009: Professional title Professor, awarded by the Federal President

• On September 27, 2011, the municipal building at Jenullgasse 18–26 in Vienna- Penzing, completed in 1932, was named Johanna-Dohnal-Hof .
• On June 5, 2012, following a decision of November 7, 2011 in Vienna- Mariahilf (6th district), Johanna-Dohnal-Platz was named after her.

Quotes

“There are people who have an absolute majority in the people and the fewest seats in parliament. Ask the men why. "

- Sticker for the 50:50 requirement

“I think it's time to remember: the feminist vision is not a 'female future'. It's a human future. Without role constraints, without power and violence, without male bundling and femininity. "

"Only a women's organization that is annoying has a right to exist."

literature

• Susanne Feigl: What do his buttons concern me? Johanna Dohnal. A biography . Ueberreuter, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-8000-3878-1 .
• Maria Rösslhumer, Birgit Appelt: The main thing is women. Politicians in the Second Republic . Verlag Styria, Graz, Vienna, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-222-12850-2 , pp. 90-96 .
• Alexandra Weiss, Erika Thurnera (ed.): Johanna Dohnal and the women's policy of the Second Republic. Documents on a pioneer of Austrian feminism . Promedia Verlag 2019
• Maria Mesner, Heidi Niederkofler (ed.): Johanna Dohnal: A political reading book . Mandelbaum Verlag 2013

Movie

• Sabine Derflinger : Die Dohnal , 2019

Web links

Commons : Johanna Dohnal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Johanna Dohnal on the website of the Austrian Parliament
• Literature by and about Johanna Dohnal in the catalog of the German National Library
• Website johanna-dohnal.at
• Johanna Dohnal. In: dasrotewien.at - Web dictionary of the Viennese social democracy. SPÖ Vienna (Ed.)
• Michaela Spiegel: Johanna Dohnal (Ge) haben , YouTube film for SPÖ women (length: 8:44). Retrieved March 11, 2010.
• Entry on Johanna Dohnal on www.rotbewegt.at
• Radio reports with Johanna Dohnal in the online archive of the Austrian Mediathek
• The small grave of the great Johanna Dohnal in the Standard from April 11, 2020, page A7

Individual evidence

1. ↑ derstandard.at: Johanna Dohnal deceased: Former minister of women and icon of the women's movement was 71 years old. February 20, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
2. ↑ Markus Gremel: Leadership in women's politics presented in the life and work of Adelheid Popp and Johanna Dohnal (diploma thesis), PDF , p. 66, accessed on February 25, 2010.
3. ↑ Brigitte Perchar: A life for women's rights in: Wiener Zeitung of February 23, 2010, accessed on November 7, 2013.
4. ^ Lisa Nimmervoll: Obituary - Johanna Dohnal 1939-2010
5. ^ Ö1 audio images (Saturday, March 12, 2011, 9:05 am): Johanna Dohnal. A portrait. By Elisabeth Putz ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Johanna Dohnal. (No longer available online.) In: Niederösterreichische Nachrichten . Formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 21, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
7. ↑ Thomas Jorda: Principles remain principles. (No longer available online.) In: Niederösterreichische Nachrichten . Formerly in the original ; Retrieved February 21, 2010 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
8. ↑ Ulrike Lunacek : Mourning for Johanna Dohnal: Her premature death leaves a big void. (No longer available online.) In: dielunacek.at. February 20, 2010, archived from the original on December 8, 2013 ; Retrieved February 21, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Maria Kern, Daniela Kittner: Farewell to an Emanze. In: Courier . February 20, 2010, archived from the original on February 23, 2010 ; Retrieved October 14, 2013 . 
10. ^ Frauenhäuser Wien: Activity report 2006, page 6 ( Memento from January 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
11. ↑ dieStandard.at: Feminism still has a negative connotation , May 11, 2009
12. ↑ ^{a b} APA: Former Minister Dohnal died at the age of 71. In: Relevant.at . February 20, 2010, accessed February 23, 2010 . 
13. ^ Farewell to Johanna Dohnal on ORF - Vienna on March 6, 2010, accessed on March 6, 2010.
14. ↑ Memorial plaque, but no pension. In: Der Standard, December 16, 2010
15. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
16. ↑ Municipal housing named after Johanna Dohnal , wien.orf.at, September 27, 2011
17. ↑ Place in Mariahilf named after Johanna Dohnal ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , wien.at  
18. ↑ "ABC of Women's Policy" of the SPÖ women p. 16, PDF, 540kB ( Memento from August 24, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
19. ↑ In conversation (Ö1) ( memento from March 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) with Renata Schmidtkunz and Birgit Sauer , February 25, 2010.