Marie Stritt (18 February 1855 – 16 December 1928) was a German feminist and a leading force in the international and German

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

movement. She helped worked towards woman's education and fought against state regulated prostitution. Stritt also worked for changes regarding divorce laws through the Woman's Legal Aid Society. She was a strong proponent of birth control and

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

Life

Stritt née Bacon was born on 18 February 1885 in Segesvár,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

(today

Sighișoara Sighișoara (; hu, Segesvár ; german: Schäßburg ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Schäsbrich''; yi, שעסבורג, Shesburg; la, Castrum Sex) is a city on the Târnava Mare River in Mureș County, Romania. Located in the historic region of Transy ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

). She had a career as an actor at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. In 1879 she married fellow actor and opera singer Albert Stritt (1847–1908). Stritt began her work in the late 1890s. She was an activist for many groups, including the women's group reform (1891) and the Women's Legal Aid Society (1894), organizations dedicated to fighting for women's rights to education equality and legal protection. Stritt proved an important leader in the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), whose goal was to work towards

women's education Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

and to oppose state-regulated prostitution. Marie Stritt was one of the founders of the

International Alliance of Women The International Alliance of Women (IAW; french: Alliance Internationale des Femmes, AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international org ...

1904 in Berlin, Germany. She was the chairperson of

Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (Federation of German Women's Associations) (BDF) was founded on 28/29 March 1894 as umbrella organization of the women's civil rights feminist movement and existed until the Nazi seizure of power in 1933. Its crea ...

from 1899 to 1910, the

Deutscher Verband für Frauenstimmrecht The Deutscher Verband für Frauenstimmrecht (German Union for Women's Suffrage) was a German women's organization for women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, ...

from 1913 to 1919, and the

from 1913 to 1920. Stritt's activism did not end with her retirement from the board of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance; she continued to write and participate in journalism fighting for feminism issues for the remainder of her life. Stritt died on 16 September 1928 in Dresden, Germany.

Literature

* ''Häusliche Knabenerziehung'', Berlin 1891 * ''Frauenlogik'', Dresden 1892 * ''Die Frau gehört ins Haus'', Dresden 1893 * ''Die Bestimmung des Mannes'', Dresden 1894 * ''Weibl. Schwächen'', Dresden 1894
''Der Internationale Frauenkongress in Berlin 1904'

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stritt, Marie 1855 births 1928 deaths People from Sighișoara 19th-century German people 20th-century German people German feminists German suffragists 20th-century German women