Marthe Boël (;
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
, 3 July 1877 – 18 January 1956) was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
feminist. She was the third daughter of the
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
senator Count
Oswald de Kerchove de Denterghem and
Maria Lippens, daughter of
August Lippens.
Biography
She studied in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, where she obtained the ''brevet supérieur'' in 1895. In 1898, she married
Pol Boël, director of the
Usines Gustave Boël in
La Louvière. She engaged in several charities and founded the ''Cercle des Dames Libérales''. Through her father she came into contact with the Belgian
feminist movement
The feminist movement (also known as the women's movement, or feminism) refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by the inequality between men and women. Such ...
and where she met
Hélène Goblet d’Alviella and
Jane Brigode
Jane Brigode (born Jane Ouwerx; 30 May 1870 – 3 May 1952) was a Belgian liberal and politician. From 1940 until 1945 she was co-president of the Liberal Party. In 1921, she and Marthe Boël founded the ''Union des femmes libérales de l’arro ...
. When
World War I
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 ...
broke out she started working as a nurse and joined the ''Union patriotique des femmes belges'' led by Jane Brigode. She joined the ''resistance'' and was arrested, together with her husband, in October 1916 and after a trial in
Charleroi imprisoned in
Siegburg
Siegburg (i.e. '' fort on the Sieg river''; Ripuarian: ''Sieburch'') is a city in the district of Rhein-Sieg-Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the banks of the rivers Sieg and Agger, 10 kilometres from the former seat ...
. Her health deteriorated during her stay in prison and in 1917 she was exchanged for Frau von Schnee, the wife of the governor of
German East Africa. The remainder of the war she lived in exile in
Gstaad
Gstaad ( ; ) is a town in the German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society and the internati ...
(
Switzerland).
As a war hero, she was one of few women who were allowed to vote in Belgium in national elections after the war. Jane Brigode introduced her to the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, where in 1919 she became a member of the ''Commission on Women problems'' under
Paul-Emile Janson. Disappointed by the reluctance of the political parties to grant women the right to vote, she organized in 1920 the first ''Women Conference'' together with Jane Brigode. In 1921, she and Jane Brigode founded the ''Union des femmes liberales de l’arrondissement de Bruxelles'' and in 1923 they founded, together with Alice De Keyser-Buysse the ''National Federation of Liberal Women'', of which she became the first President. She resigned however in 1936 as she wanted to broaden her horizon and work over the boundaries of political parties.
In 1921 she had become a member of the National Council of Women (
Conseil National des Femmes Belges
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 ...
- CNFB) which had been founded by
Marie Popelin in 1904 and in 1935 she succeeded
Marguerite Van de Wiele as its president. In 1936, at the conference of
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
, she was elected President 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 ...
. As a member of the ''Union belge pour la Société des Nations'', she had contacts with
Paul Hymans
Paul Louis Adrien Henri Hymans (23 March 1865 – 8 March 1941), was a Belgian politician associated with the Liberal Party. He was the second president of the League of Nations and served again as its president in 1932–1933.
Life
Hymans was ...
, and
Jules Destrée. She was appointed by the
League of Nations
The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...
as President of the commission for the
emancipation
Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...
of women and the international political role of women.
At the outbreak on
World War II
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 opposing ...
, she retreated at her estate in
Chenoy near Brussels where her husband died in 1941. When the
Université Libre de Bruxelles had to close its doors by the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s, she provided space at her estate and a meeting place. After the war, in 1947, she resigned as President of the ''International Council of Women''. In 1952 she spoke for the last time at a conference of the council at the
Acropolis from the
Parthenon
The Parthenon (; grc, Παρθενών, , ; ell, Παρθενώνας, , ) is a former temple on the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, that was dedicated to the goddess Athena during the fifth century BC. Its decorative sculptures are considere ...
, the temple of
Pallas Athena
Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress of v ...
.
She was honored at several occasions for her work, she died on 18 January 1956.
Bibliography
* Marthe Boël, ''1920-1950. Trente ans d'activité féminine. Extrait de discours et de messages'', Paris-Brussels, A l'enseigne du Chat qui pêche, 1950.
* Marthe Boël and Christiane Duchène, ''Le féminisme en Belgique 1892-1914'', Brussels, Editions du Conseil national des femmes belges, 1955.
Sources
* Duchène, C., in : Biographie Nationale, Brussel, Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux Arts, 1866–1986, XXXIV, 1968, kol. 87–93.
* B. D'hondt, ''Gelijke rechten, gelijke plichten. Een portret van vijf liberale vrouwen'', Liberaal archief
* Le Flambeau, jg. 39, 1956, nr. 2, Huldenummer Marthe de Kerchove de Denterghem baronne Boël.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerchove De Denterghem, Marthe De
1877 births
1956 deaths
Politicians from Ghent
Belgian feminists
Belgian women's rights activists
Liberal Party (Belgium) politicians