page_title: Feminism in the Netherlands
section_title: 1917 to 1960
hierarchical_section_title: Feminism in the Netherlands / History / 1917 to 1960
caption_attribution_description: English: In the winter of 1944/1945 (the end of World War II) there was practically no food left in the Netherlands. The winter is known as the 'winter of hunger'. This tile is a tribute to Dutch women who were able to make something out of nothing. The tile reads: "We honour the Dutch wives for persistence and courage during the winter of 44 and 45". The tile was made by 'De Porceleyne Fles' in Delft, Netherlands
context_page_description: Feminism in the Netherlands began as part of the first-wave feminism movement during the 19th century. Later, the struggles of second-wave feminism in the Netherlands mirrored developments in the women's rights movement in other Western countries. Women in the Netherlands still have an open discussion about how to improve remaining imbalances and injustices they face as women.
context_section_description: Women won the right to stand for an election as a candidate in 1917. They gained full suffrage in 1919. This was relatively early compared to most other European nations; only Finland and Sweden had given women the vote earlier. Women had in part gained the vote to a political compromise "package deal" between socialists, liberals, and "confessionalist" parties. The confessionalists supported state funding for private schools, typically belonging to a religious denomination. This compromise system in Dutch politics was known as Pillarisation. In the years after women's emancipation, the confessionalists came to dominate moral discourse in the Netherlands, and legislation in support of confessionalist moral views was enacted (prostitution banned, 1912; abortion prohibited, 1911; advertising for contraception criminalized).
  A healthy economy and a rising standard of living characterizes life in the Netherlands during the 1920s. Women, however, faced a backlash against women's rights which reached into the workplace. Women's rights groups multiplied. The international feminist organizations gained larger memberships as women worldwide continued to struggle for emancipation. Dutch women were active in such international organizations as:
  League of Nations;
  International Labour Organization;
  International Council of Women;
  IWSA/IAW, the International Women's Suffrage Alliance, after 1926 called the International Alliance of Women.
  Women were praised for their resilience throughout the Hunger Winter of 1944-5 when food and fuel were blocked by the Nazi military. A period of conservatism followed for several years, but two notable legal milestones were achieved during the 1950s: in 1955, the law changed so that women could no longer be forced from civil service jobs after marrying, and in 1956, married women became legally competent. The marriage bar was removed in 1957.
caption: A plaque tribute to Dutch wives who persevered during the Hunger Winter of 1944–5.
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