De Danske Husmoderforeninger or DDH (The Danish Housewives Associations), later Aktive Kvinder i Danmark (Active Women in Denmark), was established on 15 May 1920 as the central organization covering the many local

housewives A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which includes caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; making, buying a ...

associations in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. The first of these was Københavns Husmoderforening (Copenhagen's Housewives Association) which was established in 1917. The author

Thit Jensen Maria Kirstine Dorothea Jensen (19 January 1876 – 14 May 1957) was a Danish novelist and author who wrote under the name Thit Jensen. She is known for her short stories, plays, and socially-critical articles. For her writing, Jensen was honored ...

was responsible for founding the Copenhagen association as we all the DDH. Over the years, the DDH became the country's largest organization for housewives, reaching a membership of some 10,000 by 2005. It later became known as Aktive Kvinder i Danmark but was dissolved in 2009. The organization set out to support, protect and promote the role of the home for practical, social and ethical purposes, recognizing above all the importance of housework carried out by women. The DDF and the associations it represented focused on mainly middle-class women in cities, in parallel to the rural women's household associations established for the farming community. Education, which became a major concern, led in 1934 to the establishment of Marthaforbundet (The Martha Federabtion) which offered a three-year theoretical and practical course in housekeeping for young women. The association was also instrumental in establishing a course in housekeeping at

Aarhus University Aarhus University ( da, Aarhus Universitet, abbreviated AU) is a public research university with its main campus located in Aarhus, Denmark. It is the second largest and second oldest university in Denmark. The university is part of the Coimbra Gr ...

in 1945. The initial emphasis on the role of women in the home evolved in the 1960s when women increasingly entered the labour market. This later brought about changes in the name of the association, first in 1997 to DDH Forening af Aktive Kvinder (DDH Association of Active Women) and in 2001 to Aktive Kvinder i Danemark (Active Women in Denmark), the focus shifting to the part women played in

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

nutrition Nutrition is the biochemical and physiological process by which an organism uses food to support its life. It provides organisms with nutrients, which can be metabolized to create energy and chemical structures. Failure to obtain sufficient n ...

and

childcare Child care, otherwise known as day care, is the care and supervision of a child or multiple children at a time, whose ages range from two weeks of age to 18 years. Although most parents spend a significant amount of time caring for their child(r ...

and as well as their social and economic responsibility for consumer issues. But as membership seriously declined, the association was dissolved in 2009.

References

{{reflist Women's organizations based in Denmark Organizations based in Copenhagen 1920 establishments in Denmark 2009 disestablishments in Denmark