Rooie Vrouwen in de PvdA ("Red Women in the PvdA") was the name of a woman's organization active in the Dutch
Labour Party, the PvdA.
The organization started as a union of women's organizations, called ''
"union of social-democrat women's clubs''
at the time of the
Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands), one of the predecessors of the PvdA.
The organization's goal was to emancipate the "masses of proletarian women". It owned a building named "De Born" in
Bennekom
Bennekom is a village and parish in the Netherlands, which is part of the Municipality of Ede in the south-west of the Veluwe district of the Province of Gelderland. It adjoins the town of Wageningen on the Lower-Rhine to the south, and Ede to ...
, in the countryside, which allowed its members--at the time "proletarian girls"--the opportunity to spend some time outside of the cities where they worked. The organization was renamed ''Vrouwencontact in de PvdA'' in 1969, and from 1975 on ''Rooie Vrouwen in de PvdA'', a more "catchy" name chosen to align the group with, and draw membership from, the
second wave of feminism
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades. It took place throughout the Western world, and aimed to increase equality for women by building on previous feminist gains.
Wh ...
.
[
The ]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 ...
organization promoted equal rights and equal pay for women, as well as the redistribution of wealth
Redistribution of income and wealth is the transfer of income and wealth (including physical property) from some individuals to others through a social mechanism such as taxation, welfare, public services, land reform, monetary policies, confisc ...
and power, including within the PvdA itself. It made headlines in 1976 when it occupied an abortion clinic (the Beahuis & Bloemenhovekliniek in Heemstede), which then- Minister of Justice Dries van Agt threatened with closure.
In 1992 then-party leader Felix Rottenberg indicated he would cut the organization's funding; three years later, in 1995, the organization decided to stop being an independent group and integrate within the party,
Notable members
* Pijkel Schröder, the first president
*Hedy d'Ancona
Hedwig "Hedy" d'Ancona (; born 1 October 1937) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and political activist.
d'Ancona applied at the University of Amsterdam in June 1956 majoring in Sociology and obtaining a Bachelor of Soc ...
* Mieke van der Burg
*Geke Faber
Geesje Hendrika (Geke) Faber (born 5 August 1952, 's-Graveland) is a Dutch politician who was mayor of Zaanstad from 2007 until 2016. Between 1990 and 1998 she was mayor of Zeewolde, she served as interim mayor in Wageningen between 2002 and 20 ...
*Ien van den Heuvel
Carolina van den Heuvel-de Blank, known as Ien van den Heuvel, (7 August 1927 – 13 October 2010) was a Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) politician.
Political life
Van den Heuvel joined the Dutch Labour Party (''Partij van de Arbeid'') immediately w ...
* Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven
*Liesbeth den Uyl
Elisabeth Jacoba den Uyl-van Vessem (18 June 1924 – 30 September 1990) was a Dutch activist, politician, and writer, involved with the PvdA, the Labour Party (Netherlands), Dutch social-democratic party. She was the wife of politician Joop den U ...
*Wil Velders-Vlasblom
Wil Velders-Vlasblom (2 May 1930 - 20 January 2019) was a Dutch politician and woman's rights activist. She was the first woman alderman in Utrecht, and later served as mayor of Beverwijk. During the 1970s and a portion of the 1980s, Velders-Vlas ...
References
{{Feminism
Labour Party (Netherlands)
Women's organisations based in the Netherlands