Maria (Mia) Boissevain (1878–1959) was a Dutch

malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

Life

Boissevain was the youngest of nine children. Her father was a shipowner from a rich

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

merchant family and her mother was the daughter of a lawyer.

Education

Boissevain attended a high school for girls. After graduating, Boissevain attended a lecture on botany by

Hugo de Vries Hugo Marie de Vries () (16 February 1848 – 21 May 1935) was a Dutch botanist and one of the first geneticists. He is known chiefly for suggesting the concept of genes, rediscovering the laws of heredity in the 1890s while apparently unaware o ...

, which sparked her interest in the subject. In 1896, she started studying natural science at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other bein ...

. Here she specialised in zoology. After graduating, she moved to Zurich to do further research on '' Dentalium'' species and at age 25 attained the title of doctor. Afterwards, she moved back to the Netherlands where she became a curator for Artis, a Dutch zoo and association for zoology. She would remain active as a researcher until 1915, but would retain her interest in zoology afterwards. Four mollusk

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...

are named after her: the species ''Cadulus boissevaini'', ''Antalis boissevainae'', ''Fustiaria Mariae'' and the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...

''Boissevainia''.

Women's rights

While in Zurich, Boissevain encountered international students who were interested in women's rights. When she returned to the Netherlands, she visited

Aletta Jacobs Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs (; 9 February 1854 – 10 August 1929) was a Dutch physician and women's suffrage activist. As the first woman officially to attend a Dutch university, she became one of the first female physicians in the Netherlands. I ...

to talk about the Dutch women's rights movement.Boissevain
in

1001 Vrouwen ''1001 Vrouwen uit de Nederlandse geschiedenis'' is a compilation of 1001 biographies of famous women of the Netherlands spanning roughly 1700 years. Project The book is the result of a research project called the Digital Women's lexicon of the N ...

In 1908, Jacobs asked Boissevain to help with the preparation for the third

International Congress of Women The International Congress of Women was created so that groups of existing women's suffrage movements could come together with other women's groups around the world. It served as a way for women organizations across the nation to establish formal m ...

in Amsterdam. Here, she met other prominent feminists and would go on to become more involved in the women's movement. Together with Rosa Manus, who she had gone to school with, she founded a commission for propaganda within the Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht and was its president until 1912. The same year, she and Manus proposed an exhibition that would highlight the circumstances of women between 1813 and 1913, inspired by the exhibitions held to celebrate 100 years of independence from the French. She wrote the catalog for the exhibition '' De Vrouw 1813–1913'', which became successful.Catalog
on worldcat During 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 fighti ...

, Boissevain helped the families of mobilised soldiers and Flemish refugees. In 1915, she was one of the organisers of the International Congress of Women in the Hague. In the same year, she also wrote a book about her life titled ''Een Amsterdamsche familie'', which was published in 1967. After 1915, Boissevain moved to Great Britain and adopted two English girls. She lived in Switzerland with her two daughters from around 1925 to 1928, moved to the Netherlands afterwards and lived in London from 1930 until her death in 1959. She is buried in Amsterdam.

References

External links

Academia.edu

Vrouwenlexicon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boissevain, Maria Dutch feminists Dutch pacifists Dutch malacologists 1878 births 1959 deaths Pacifist feminists Scientists from Amsterdam University of Amsterdam alumni Women zoologists International Congress of Women people