Lily Boeykens

Lily Boeykens (actually Liane Boeykens , born March 21, 1930 in Dendermonde ; died November 22, 2005 in Antwerp ) was a Belgian suffragette .

Life

Liane Boeykens was the daughter of August Boeykens (1900–1974, later prison director) and his wife, Maria Vander Cruyssen (1905–1989). She spent her childhood in different cities, as the family had to move to new places again and again for new posts for her father. With the support of her father and despite resistance from the rest of the family, she studied law and graduated from the University of Ghent with a doctorate in 1954 . She married the veterinarian and virologist Constant Huygelen and followed him to the Belgian Congo in 1955 after his studies . As a woman, she was unable to work there. After the independence of the Congo returned to Antwerp in 1960, the mother of now three children was forced to do housework as there were no childcare facilities. A failed application in which a less qualified man was preferred to her gave her the opportunity to set up her own PR company , which she ran on the side. She finally found an additional job as a journalist for the Flemish language broadcaster BRT in 1963 after complaining about the depiction of part-time work on a program. She carried out both activities until 1973 and came into professional contact with striking workers and feminists. She devoted herself more and more to lobbying for women's rights and social equality in Belgium. She was supported by her husband as much as possible.

In 1964 she joined the Conseil National des Femmes Belges , the Belgian umbrella organization of the International Women's Council (ICW). The Belgian Women's Council was mainly made up of French-speaking representatives, something Marthe Boël's daughter Maya Janssen tried to change. In Boeykens, Janssen found a fellow campaigner who campaigned for the organization to become Flemish and, in 1969, managed to get the CNFB to work bilingual. Ultimately, the development led to a division of the Women's Council into two autonomous Belgian representations: the Nederlandstalige Vrouwenraad and the Conseil des Femmes Francophones de Belgique , which was established in 1974. Both organizations remained in the ICW. From 1972 Boeykens was the chairman of the Flemish part of the council and was then from 1974 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1992 President of the Vrouwenraads . During the four-year break from the office, she completed a master's degree in international law .

During her active time, she worked closely with other feminist groups (such as the activist group Dolle Mina founded in 1969 ), but also co-founded new organizations, including the so-called PAG ( Pluralist Action Group for Equal Opportunities for Man and Woman ) and the Vrouwen Overleg Komitee think tank founded in 1972 (from 2016 Furia ).

She was also one of the organizers of the first Women's Day in Belgium, which took place on November 11, 1972. In 1975 she was involved at the level of the United Nations in shaping the International Year of Women , as well as the subsequent UN Decade of Women and the four international conferences that were held in this context. In 1976 an international tribunal against crimes against women was held in Brussels. For the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), founded in 1976, Boeykens was President of the Belgian UNIFEM Committee from 1982 to 1994 and then represented Belgium in the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women from 1995 . She was also President of the ICW for two terms from 1988 to 1994. From 1999 to 2001 she took over the chairmanship of the European Center of the International Women's Council (ECICW). She also ensured contact with the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality of the European Parliament .

After she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at an early stage, she chose to commit suicide by means of euthanasia , which has been legal in Belgium since 2002, while still having her mental faculties .

Awards and recognitions

• In 1995 she received the Marie Popelin Prize
• In 2004 she received the Leopold Order
• In 2009 the Belgian Post issued a postage stamp with her portrait next to Martha Boël's
• several streets in Belgium were named after her, including in Gent , Houthalen-Helchteren and Huldenberg
• the Belgian archive and documentation center for feminism, Rol en Samenleving (RoSa) reviewed her life's work in 2004 in a biography

Individual evidence

1. ^ Conseil des femmes francophones de Belgique asbl .: Historique

literature

• Veerle Ceulemans, Annemie Vanthienen: Lily Boeykens: a boundless feminist ( short version of the biography online ), RoSa 2004.