Conseil_national_des_Femmes_Belges_-_Membres

The Conseil National des Femmes Belges ( nl, italic=no, Nationale Vrouwenraad van Belgïe), or National Council of Belgian Women, is the name of a Belgian women's organization which was founded in 1905 as the Belgian chapter of the

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's rights organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington, D.C., wit ...

(ICW). Over the years, the organization succeeded in supporting the emancipation of women in a wide range of interests until its mandate was limited to French-speaking Belgian women in 1974. In 1990, the name was changed to Conseil des Femmes Francophones de Belgique (Council of French-speaking Women of Belgium).

History

The Counseil National des Femmes Belges was established by Marie Popelin in 1905 as the Belgian chapter of the

. It initially brought together three organizations:

Ligue belge du droit des femmes The Belgian League for the Rights of Women (french: italic=no, Ligue belge du droit des femmes) was a political association founded in Belgium in 1892. Established by Marie Popelin and her lawyer Louis Frank, it was created in response to the re ...

, Société belge pour l’amélioration du sort de la femme and Union des femmes belges contre l’alcoolisme but by 1906 it had also attracted four additional members: l'Œuvre de la maison des servantes et de la bourse du travail (1889), la Croix verte, l’Union des mères de famille (1902) and La Ruche. Although the organization was intended to be apolitical, from the start it tended to support liberal interests. After the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the CNFB was one of the few women's organizations which continued to thrive. As its president, Léonie La Fontaine failed to return from Switzerland where she had spent the war, she was replaced in 1920 by Marguerite Van de Wiele, a firm feminist but with a rather traditional approach centred on emancipation rather than voting rights. Nevertheless, under her leadership the organization gained strength, welcoming new members irrespective of their political views. While Catholics such as

Marie Haps Marie Haps (1879–1939) was a Luxembourg-born Belgian educationalist, the founder of what subsequently became the Institut Libre Marie Haps (now part of the Haute École Léonard de Vinci) and the Marie Haps Faculty of Translation and Interpr ...

Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire Marie-Elisabeth Belpaire (31 January 1853 – 9 June 1948) was a Belgian writer and activist. She was known as the "mother of the Flemish Movement".Juliette Carton de Wiart headed committees, in 1921 the aristocratic Marthe Boël was elected vice-president. She drastically revived the approach, attracting a new generation of university students. In 1934, Jeanne Beeckman, a physician, became one of the vice-presidents, encouraging fresh legal graduates to join. These included Georgette Ciselet,

Fernande Baetens Fernande Baetens (1901 Antwerp – 1977) was a 20th-century Belgian Catholic feminist jurist. In 1930, she joined the National Council of Belgian Women (CNFB). She became assistant to the National Secretary in 1933 and took part in the Internation ...

Paule Lamy Paule (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Paule are called ''paulois'' in French. Geography Paule is located on the northern slope of the Montagnes Noires (frenc ...

and

Marcelle Renson Marcelle may refer to: *Marcelle, a French feminine version of Marcel *1300 Marcelle (1934 CL), a main-belt asteroid *Groupe Marcelle, a Canadian cosmetics company See also * Marcel (disambiguation) * Marcell (disambiguation) Marcell may refer t ...

who, thanks to their legal competence and knowledge of foreign languages, significantly improved the CNFB's international image which had somewhat suffered under

Élise Soyer Élise, Elise, Elyse or Elize is the shortened feminine French form of Elizabeth, coming originally from the Hebrew name אלישבע (אלי = My God שבע = oath) and meaning "My God is an oath" or "My God is abundance". People Élise * Él ...

's lack of fluency in English. The newcomers contributed so impressively to the 1933 ICW conference in Stockholm that in 1936 Marthe Boël was chosen to succeed Lady Aberdeen as ICW president. As president of the CFNB from 1935 to 1952, Boël made substantial progress in all aspects of emancipation: women's place in all the professions, equal pay for equal work, improved higher education for girls, and a better understanding of cohesion at home and abroad. After the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Boël's leadership continued to provide results with the acceptance of women as magistrates, civic rights of married women and improvements to education. In 1948, women were permitted to vote in national elections. In 1966,

Maya Janssen Maya may refer to: Civilizations * Maya peoples The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and ...

became president, encouraging many young women to join the movement, promoting their professional opportunities, even in areas traditionally reserved for men such as judges, police commissioners, university professors, architects and naval officers. It was decided in 1974 that the CNFB should be divided into two branches, one for French speakers, the other for Dutch speakers. In 1990, the name of the French-language branch was changed to Conseil des Femmes Francophones de Belgique (Council of French-speaking Women of Belgium).

References

{{Authority control Women's organisations based in Belgium Organizations established in 1905 1905 establishments in Belgium Organisations based in Brussels Women's suffrage in Belgium