Association for women's interests
The Munich Association for Women's Interests eV has its roots in the women's movement of the 19th century. The aim of the association was and is the equal participation and cooperation of all people in a gender-equitable, inclusive, social and free-democratic society. By taking on women's political and social tasks, he wants to actively shape social change. It is non-profit, non-partisan and non-denominational.
history
1894 to 1914
The Munich Association for Women's Interests eV was founded in 1894 by Anita Augspurg as a society for the promotion of intellectual interests of the wife . In 1896 the association joined the Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine and counted itself among the progressive and “modern” wing of the bourgeois women's movement. His aim was the "systematically carried out in all areas and full participation of women in all of our public life". Men could also join the club. In 1897 it had 237 members, including 22 men such as Max Haushofer , Rainer Maria Rilke and Ernst von Wolhaben . With the legal advice and legal protection office for women founded in 1898 , the Central Office for Welfare Institutions founded in 1900 , the Social Work Department (1906) and the information office for women's professions ( 1908), the association became known in Munich and enjoyed a high reputation among the population. The support of the association by prominent representatives of Munich modernism was unique in the German women's movement . Numerous writers, painters, artisans and other artists were already among the early members.
The General Bavarian Women's Day , first organized by the association in October 1899, is the starting point for the bourgeois women's movement in Bavaria. In the following years, the association founded local groups in 35 Bavarian cities and in 1909 merged them to form the main association of Bavarian women's associations . Ika Freudenberg took the chair . Her successor in the club and association, Luise Kiesselbach , founded the Stadtbund Münchener Frauen-Vereine in 1914 as an amalgamation of all Munich associations that were part of the organized women's movement.
1914 to 1918
During the First World War, the association and the city federation put their women's political goals aside and allowed themselves to be co-opted for service on the “home front”. The Gabrielenheim in Tutzing was founded in 1918 as a rest home for Munich schoolchildren.
1918 to 1933
The association resumed its work in women's politics. After the fall of the monarchy in Bavaria and the empire, the association committed itself to a republic and democracy. He welcomed the declaration of the right to vote for women as the beginning of a new era. He called on his members to be politically active and to exercise their active and passive voting rights, at the same time declaring himself to be politically neutral. Luise Kiesselbach was active as a city councilor for the left-wing liberal DDP until her death in 1929 . The Reichstag delegate Toni Pfülf , a member of the association since 1908, belonged to the SPD parliamentary group from 1919 to 1933. Numerous members were professionally or voluntarily active in the city administration for the development of welfare state structures. They met within the association in the department for communal and social issues. The founding of the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband München (1922) and the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband Bayern (1924) was initiated by Luise Kiesselbach and thus by the Association for Women's Interests.
The main areas of activity of the association in the social field in the twenties were child welfare and middle-class assistance. To finance the work, the association has been running milk kiosks in Munich city center since 1928.
1933 to 1945
The women's movement in Germany ended in 1933. Their goals were diametrically opposed to the National Socialist ideology. Most women's clubs and associations dissolved themselves to forestall a ban or harmonization.
The association for women's interests decided on a different path. For years he fought for his existence and against the "synchronization". Although he elected a NSDAP member as chairman, he insisted on ideological neutrality and non-denominationalism in his statutes. By holding out resistance, he succeeded in playing off the various Nazi authorities against each other. At times, up to eight Nazi authorities in Munich and Berlin were involved with the association. The association was finally forced to hand over its facilities to the NSV (National Socialist People's Welfare). But it was not dissolved. The Jewish and racially persecuted member women and their families were driven into emigration or suicide, others were deported.
In 1944/45 the office of the association was destroyed. The association lost its archive and an extensive library on the women's movement.
After 1945
Immediately after the end of the war, the association resumed its women's political and social work in 1945 and continues it to this day. The Parité action alliance in parliaments is the association's youngest women’s political initiative. It was launched in 2014 by the association together with the Munich women's associations .
The association is responsible for the following institutions:
- Volunteer agency Tatendrang Munich
- BOOKMARKS - Reading and speaking with elementary and middle school students
- Housekeeping advice for indebted families from voluntary helpers (HWB)
- FIT financial training - "Finances under control"
- Senior Exchange
- JUNO - a voice for refugee women
- Munich women's forum
- Open meeting for women from all over the world
- Supervised handling - supervised handover
- Get well at home
- New start - orientation course for women
- Change of lane from 55
- Foreign-familiar intercultural dialogue
- Information exchange for women from all over the world
Name of the association
- Society for the Advancement of Intellectual Interests of Women (1894 to 1897)
- Society for the Intellectual Interests of Women (1897 to 1899)
- Association for women's interests (1899 to 1920)
- Association for women's interests and women's work (1920 to 1977)
- Association for women's interests (since 1977)
Chairperson
- Anita Augspurg , President (1894–1896)
- Ika Freudenberg (1894–1912)
- Emma Haushofer-Merk (1912–1913)
- Luise Kiesselbach (1913–1929)
- Hilde Obermair-Schorch (1929–1935)
- Gisela Mauermayer-Schmidt (1935–1945)
- Julie Countess Bothmer (1945–1958)
- Irma Lotte Haesler-Oeser (1958–1974)
- Gretl Rueff (1974–1994)
- Hildegard Kronawitter (1994-2003)
- Elke Kästle (2003-2006)
- Helga Ziegler (2006 - 2012)
- Christa Weigl-Schneider (since 2012)
Web links
- http://www.fraueninteressen.de/
- https://portal.ehri-project.eu/units/de-002624-verbakt-ed_898
- www.aktionsbuendnis-parite.de
- www.luise-kiesselbach.de
Sources and literature
- Annual reports of the association for women's interests. Munich 1896ff.
- Association for women's interests e. V. (Ed.): 100 Years Association for Women's Interests. Munich 1994
- Elisabeth Maißer: Therese Hinsenkamp and the association for women's interests. Linz 2003
- Brigitte Bruns: Female avant-garde around 1900. In: Rudolf Herz, Brigitte Bruns (Hrsg.): Hof-Atelier Elvira 1887 - 1928. Aesthetes, emanciers, aristocrats. Munich 1985, pp. 191-219
- Monika Schmittner: Aschaffenburg - a scene of the Bavarian women's movement. Women's emacipation in the "province" before the First World War. Aschaffenburg 1995, pp. 137-194
- Susanne Kinnebrock: Anita Augspurg (1857-1943). Feminist and pacifist between journalism and politics. A communication history biography. Herbolzheim 2005