Bourgeois women of the world unite! Badge

Bourgeois women of the world unite!

Bourgeois women of the world unite!
Mar 29 1894
The women's rights activists Anita Augspurg, Marie Stritt, Lily Braun, Minna Cauer and Sophia Goudstikker, ca. 1894 (Photo: Archive of the German Women's Movement)


The establishment of the Federation of German Women’s Associations (BDF)

Aiming to widen girls’ access to education, improve women’s working conditions and generally improve the lives of women, a gathering of various women’s groups in Berlin on 29 March 1894 decided to found an umbrella organisation to unite their various energies. Reflecting the forced apoliticality of women in Prussia and seeking to establish broad appeal, the new organization pursued only moderate aims. This meant that although it was prepared to accept women from the working classes, it excluded socialists.

The BDF soon gained influence and reached a membership of over one million. It disbanded in 1933 in order to prevent it from being taken over by the women’s movement of the NSDAP.

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