"First Women's Movement" (1848-1914): The Tough Fight for Political and Civil Rights

As the women's movement developed in the 19th Century, the early feminists were initially concerned with achieving improvements in civil rights and to eliminate their legal minority (divorce, custody, repeal of guardianship for the man in marriage etc.). Electoral law had a subordinate meaning in their demands at first. However they soon suffered bitter experiences. Without rights and a voice in the public political debate they were nothing more than petitioners - dependent on male allies and the political atmosphere. Partners and established parties or organizations only supported the women so long as it lay in their own interests. As soon as the aim was reached the women were abandoned. As a consequence the women's movement concentrated more and more on achieving the right to vote. Women's rights activists organised themselves into their own autonomous or partially autonomous organisations. The women who took to the public stage can be generally split up into three groups:

"The Moderates": This concerns a heterogeneous group of women's associations, whose members wanted a small amount of change or on a step by step basis and within the bounds of the existing civil structure. It was emphasised that women are different and have other tasks in society than men. This group included, for instance, Christian welfare organisations who cared for the poorest of women, and liberal women's educational societies and conservative women. The demand for the right to vote was not made mainly by associations and societies, but was either rejected with the explanation that women were not mature enough or one did not want to snub those in government, or a right to vote for classes was demanded which included women. The right to vote was not meant to be given to everyone, simply those women with property. Following the process of militarisation and nationalism that took place shortly before the breakout of the First World War, many women gave support to this voice and called upon their supporters to help in "defending" the fatherland.

"The Radicals": This is a small group of women who are fighting for the radical reform of society. They were the driving force behind the voting rights campaigns. These women emphasised the equality of men and women, who also have a right to the same rights therefore. The Radicals comprised a minor movement and did not feel it belonged to any party. Some did however try to make contact with socialist women. Some campaigns were carried out together such as the women's voting rights campaign. The radical feminists also fought for the rights of socially deprived women, women workers and prostitutes. Representatives of this group founded the "International Woman's League for Peace and Freedom" during the First World War, which women from all warring nations at this time belonged to.

The Development in Selected Countries

USA: The women's movement had its source in the anti-slavery movement (abolition), in which an unusually high number of women were organised. They particularly had to defend their demands against the church, and also against the prejudice from the rows of the male abolitionists. Typical for the US American women's movement is the sisterhood of white and coloured women. It came to a break with the abolitionists at the time when the right to vote for blacks was recognised for the first time in the consitution. The word "male" was added to the corresponding change in the constitution, making the exclusion of women from the right to vote all too clear. Prior to this, the right to vote existed for women with limitations in individual federal states. Surprisingly the men of the republican party ordered this, with whom the feminists had fought together at first for the rights of the blacks. The women's right to vote movement formed its own organisations following this: the "National Woman Suffrage Association" (NWSA) and the "American Woman Suffrage Association" (AWSA) which merged at a later date. Women received the right to vote in the USA in 1920 - around 50 years after their disenfranchisement by the constitutional reform mentioned.

England: The women's movement began with the first voting rights reform of 1832. This was meant to be democratised by the English parliament, but excluded women from the municipal and parliamentary right to vote (by extending the word "person" around the attribute "male".) A more comprehensive political fight began in the 1860's. The influential right to vote movement of the Suffragettes came into being. They wanted to achieve the right to vote for women via public relations work and petitions. The English philosopher and member of Commons, John Stuart Mill, was an important supporter of the Suffragettes. Their first success was achieving the active and passive right to vote in municipalities at lower administrative level (from 1869). The "Morality Movement" under Josephine Butler turned against the reglementation of prostitution by the police. This was the first time that women in civil life had stood up for the rights of prostitutes. The reglementation was abolished a short time later. The proletarian women organised themselves into the "Women's Trade Union Provident League". They also joined the fight for the right to vote later. This turned the Suffragette movement into one of the largest political movements in England prior to the First World War. Since the government failed to react to written petitions, the women did not shy away from spectacular actions and damaging property. The popularity of the women's rights activists rose due to the arrests made following, and the brutal treatment of the Suffragettes in prison. The First World War brought the fight for the women's right to vote to an end.

Germany: The women's right movement had initial links with the revolution of 1848. During the subsequent period of restoration, women were denied their basic rights, such as the right to being a member of an association or society, or editorial work on newspapers or any form of political task. This brought the women's movement to a standstill. The political liberalisation of the 1860's led to the foundation of the first German women's association the "Allgemeinen Deutschen Frauenvereins" (ADF) by Louise Otto-Peters in 1865. The early German social democrats went hand in hand with the strong proletarian women's movement, whose organiser was Clara Zetkin. The social democrats included the right to vote for women in their programme due to their influence. The right to vote for women was introduced by the Social Democrat Party in Germany in 1918 following the war which they had lost.

France: The limited successes of women in the areas of education and women's rights was fought against by the Jacobites from 1793 onwards and women's societies were prohibited and women tied to the home by law. These restrictive politics were continued under the leadership of Napoleon I. and were laid down in the "Code Napoléon" (1804), the legal code which he created, so that it was first possible to speak of a women's movement after the revolution of 1848. The women's societies now created criticised the marriage laws more than anything else and pressurised for the right to vote by way of petition. In addition a strong proletarian women's movement was created under the influence of the early socialist Charles Fourier and Flora Tristan. The restoration introduced after the revolution was not so strong as to succeed in totally suppressing the increasing organisation of women. They were able to slowly achieve results however. The French women's fight was one of the most arduous. Although France was the first country in Europe to introduce a general and equal right to vote for men, it first recognised the full right of women to vote in 1944. The last discriminations in civil rights were finally eliminated in the 1980s.

Examples of Discrimination from the "Code Napoléon" of 1804: The protective age of female children only extends until the child is 13, the child is then, as it were, outlawed; Article 340 "la recherche de la paternité est interdite" is suitable for protecting the male crime and exposing the seduced and cheated girls to misery and destitution; a husband is his wife's legal guardian and is not even allowed to provide her with general power of attorney. even the earnings and savings of the woman belong to the man; the mother has no legal right to her children; no woman can be a member of a family council; women can only become the guardians of their own children and grandchildren; no woman may function as a witness at the "Etat civil" (civil register); in the case of adultery on the part of the woman, the man has the right to kill her if he catches her inflagranti; women are excluded from all civil rights; they have neither active or passive rights to vote in communal and political elections. [according to: Lange, Helene/Bäumer, Gertrud (Editor): "Handbuch der Frauenbewegung", Volume 1 (Guide to the Women's Movement): "Geschichte der Frauenbewegung in den Kulturländern" (History of the Women's Movement in the Cultural Nations), Berlin 1901, P. 366 ff.]

Results: The most important political demands of the women's rights activists, in particular the right to vote, was taken up. After the First World War, the focus shifted back to the family and motherhood however - disillusioned war veterans needed to be cared for and the fall off in births equalled out. The ideas and thoughts of the grandmother's generation were first taken up again 60 years later.

[Author: Dorette Wesemann, Edited by: Ragnar Müller]

The "New" Women's Movement (from circa 1969): "The Woman the Half of the World - The Man the Half of the Home"

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