Frauenwohl ("Women's Welfare") was a German women's society composed of philanthropic women who took as their work the devising of schemes for bettering the conditions of less fortunate women.
It was founded by
Minna Cauer
Wilhelmine Theodore Marie Cauer, née Schelle, usually known as Minna Cauer (1 November 1841 in Freyenstein – 3 August 1922 in Berlin) was a German pedagogue, activist in the so-called "radical" wing of the German bourgeois feminist movemen ...
in Berlin in 1888, who also served as the editor of the association's official organ, also called ''Frauenwohl''.
History
Cauer founded the first Frauenwohl organisation in Berlin in 1888 with the aim of encouraging the establishment of associations of the same name in
Danzig,
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
,
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
,
Breslau,
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
,
Bromberg
Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
,
Rudolstadt
Rudolstadt is a town in the German federal state Thuringia, with the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north.
The former capital of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the town is built along the River Saale inside a wide va ...
and finally, also in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
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, postal ...
. It was focused on advancing the basic demands for equal rights for women in all areas.
The association was established in Hamburg at the end of 1895 and, like four other associations, was based in the women's center founded by
Lida Heymann
Lida Gustava Heymann (15 March 1868 – 31 July 1943) was a German feminist, pacifist and women's rights activist.
Together with her partner Anita Augspurg she was one of the most prominent figures in the bourgeois women's movement. She wa ...
at Paulstraße 9 in Hamburg. Heymann and especially Cauer came to the fore as founders.
Although the scope of the association overlapped with that of the local group of the
German Association of Female Citizens The German Association of Female Citizens (german: italic=no, Deutscher Staatsbürgerinnen-Verband) is the oldest German women's rights organisation, founded on 18 October 1865.
History
The association was created by Louise Otto-Peters and Auguste ...
, there were major differences in the way it worked and in the political approach. In the Frauenwohl association, there were never cautious "ifs" and "buts"; it was never asked whether something would cause offense to the authorities or in the high society and families of Hamburg. The progressive feminists
of Frauenwohl association protested with undisguised objectivity against everything that seemed unfair to it, made criticisms at public meetings and in the press; it made its demands and made no compromises.
Their activities included: holding meetings and discussions on current political issues; courses on civics, constitution, guardianship, political parties; and prisoners were visited and following their sentences they were socially supported. The association's demands included: a uniform association law for all of Germany; employment of female doctors in schools; a total transformation of the prison system; thorough reform of the girls' school system; and expansion of women's employment, especially new types of jobs of a scientific and commercial nature.
[Twellmann, 1992, pp. 69, 101]
Cauer was also the editor of the association's weekly pamphlet, also called ''Frauenwohl''.
Notable people
*
Minna Cauer
Wilhelmine Theodore Marie Cauer, née Schelle, usually known as Minna Cauer (1 November 1841 in Freyenstein – 3 August 1922 in Berlin) was a German pedagogue, activist in the so-called "radical" wing of the German bourgeois feminist movemen ...
(1841-1922), pedagogue, feminist activist, pacifist and journalist
*
Hedwig Dohm
Marianne Adelaide Hedwig Dohm (née Schlesinger, later Schleh; 20 September 1831 – 1 June 1919) was a German feminist and author.
Family
She was born in the Prussian capital Berlin to assimilated Jewish parents, and her father was baptized. ...
(1831-1919), feminist and author
*
Helene von Forster
Helene von Forster (born Helene Schmidmer: 27 August 1859 – 16 November 1923) was a German women's rights activist and author. She is considered the most important representative of the feminist movement's moderate "bourgeois" wing in Nuremb ...
(1859-1923), women's rights activist and author
*
Lida Heymann
Lida Gustava Heymann (15 March 1868 – 31 July 1943) was a German feminist, pacifist and women's rights activist.
Together with her partner Anita Augspurg she was one of the most prominent figures in the bourgeois women's movement. She wa ...
(1868-1943), feminist, pacifist and women's rights activist
*
Bertha Kipfmüller
Bertha Kipfmüller (28 February 1861 – 3 March 1948) was described by an admiring journalist as a "small person with a powerful voice and an iron will". Her work as a German school teacher made her a women's rights activist and a pioneering fi ...
(1861-1948), school teacher, women's rights activist, pacifist
*
Jeanette Schwerin (1852-1899), women's rights activist and social work pioneer
See also
*
Feminism in Germany
Feminism in Germany as a modern movement began during the Wilhelmine period (1888–1918) with individual women and women's rights groups pressuring a range of traditional institutions, from universities to government, to open their doors to wom ...
References
Bibliography
* Cauer, Minna: ''25 Jahre Verein Frauenwohl Groß-Berlin'', Loewenthal
ruck Ruck may refer to:
* Ruck (rugby union), a contesting for the ball in Rugby Union from a grounded player
* Ruck (Australian rules football), an aerial contest in Australian rules football between rival ruckmen
* Ruck (rugby league), the area sur ...
Berlin 1913
online(in German)
* Twellmann, Margit (ed.): ''Erlebtes, Erschautes: Deutsche Frauen kämpfen für Freiheit, Recht und Frieden; 1850–1940. Lida Gustava Heymann und Anita Augspurg, 1941''. Helmer Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1992, ISBN 3-927164-43-7 (in German)
{{Authority control
1888 establishments in Germany
Organizations established in 1888
Women's organisations based in Germany
Liberal feminist organizations
Women's rights organizations
Feminism in Germany