The theme of International Women’s Day (IWD) for March 8th, 2025 is “Accelerate Action for Gender Equality”. How can this be achieved? The IWD website highlights several key areas for action to accelerate gender equality. One important area is economic empowerment for women, and another is legal and policy reform. These areas are interconnected through labor rights, reproductive rights, and unpaid care work, among other issues. Looking back over a century ago, it was these same issues that prompted the need for an international day dedicated to women.

Key milestones in the history of the establishment of International Women’s Day (IWD) include the alleged all-women garment workers' strike in New York City on March 8th, 1857, which addressed demands for shorter working hours, better working conditions, and equal pay. Another significant event occurred on March 8th, 1908, when women workers in the needle trades marched through New York City. Although the historical validity of these two New York events in connection to IWD remains questionable, they continue to be cited in some narratives.

What can be validated is that in 1909, the Socialist Party of America organized the first National Women’s Day on February 28th. A year later, the idea of an International Women’s Day was proposed by Clara Zetkin at the Second International Socialist Women's Congress. Subsequently, the first IWD was observed on March 19th, 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. In 1921, Zetkin proposed that March 8th be the official date of IWD to commemorate the Petrograd women workers' strike on that day in 1917, an event marking the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

Zetkin, a renowned German socialist of the 20th century—often referred to as the mother of International Women’s Day—was not only a staunch advocate for women’s labor rights, but also recognized that women’s oppression was deeply connected to motherhood and unpaid domestic labor. Zetkin argued that the sexual division of labor, including women’s reproductive roles and domestic responsibilities, is a key source of inequality in the home, which, in turn, limited women’s full labor participation and hindered their full emancipation.

Zetkin advocated for child-rearing practices that are free from gender roles, emphasizing the importance of teaching domestic responsibilities to both boys and girls. She believed that raising and educating children should be the shared responsibility of both parents, not solely the mother's role. To enable both parents to participate fully in public life, Zetkin called for state intervention in domestic life, such as the provision of state-supported daycare.

Throughout history, IWD celebrations have spotlighted critical issues, including labor protections (such as equal pay for equal work, labor protection laws, and minimum wage standards); women’s political rights (the right to vote); equal access to education; and women's reproductive rights and protections for mothers and children (e.g., maternity leave and healthcare). Today, according to IWD 2025, accelerating gender equality includes promoting women’s economic empowerment through paid maternity and paternity leave, improved access to financial services for women, and the recognition, redistribution, and reduction of women’s unpaid care work. This includes advocating for flexible work policies and childcare support.

So here we are today with many of the same issues as a century ago.

In terms of policy reforms, there have been successes; however, the outcomes remain insufficient.

For example, Sweden is a pioneer in parental leave, introducing state-mandatory paternity leave as early as 1974. Decades of government initiatives in Sweden have narrowed gender inequality in the workplace, increased gender equality in childcare at home, and established Sweden as one of the world’s most egalitarian countries. Nevertheless, statistics reveal that women still perform a larger proportion of unpaid care work. In Sweden, women spend about 3.7 hours on unpaid care work (including housework), while men spend around 2.9 hours (OECD Stats, 2023).

Furthermore, while these policy reforms have advanced gender equality, they have not adequately addressed protection against gender-based violence.

Iceland, for example, has closed more than 90% of its gender gap through significant reforms in health, education, political empowerment, economic participation, and other sectors, earning its reputation as one of the safest countries in the world. Ironically, women are not safe inside the home. Data from 2023 reveals a concerning rise in domestic violence in Iceland over recent years (Statista, 2024). In fact, the country’s rate of gender-based violence surpasses the European Union (EU) average.

The IWD 2025 website highlights combating gender-based violence as a step toward accelerating gender equality. Ironically, the reality remains that even important advancements in gender equality have often fallen short of ensuring a safe environment for women.

While celebrating achievements and milestones is undoubtedly important, we also need to dedicate more time to reflecting on what is still not working. It’s discouraging that, over a century since the inception of International Women’s Day, we are still struggling with many of the same issues. Women have come a long way, but at times, we have been running in place. Unfortunately, this condition has been exacerbated in recent years by political changes that have created more challenges for gender equality.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2025)

Updated on March 10th, 2025 to include explanation of key milestones

You might be interested to read: Remembering Rosa on May Day

Visit my other blog: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

#women #history #socialism #Germany #Russia #US

Image: Statute of Clara Zetkin in Leipzig (via Pinterest)

Sources:

Amnesty International (2009) Women make history. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2009/02/mujeres-hacen-historia-20090227/ [7 March 2025].

BBC News (2024) Is Iceland the best place in the world to be a woman? https://youtu.be/h_y4xMOKWUM?si=Ehja0Pb25tikVKRs [21 December 2024].

Encyclopedia Britannica (n.d.) Why Is Women’s History Month Celebrated in March? https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-womens-history-month-celebrated-in-march [8 March 2025].

International Women's Day (2025) What are some key ways to ACCELERATE ACTION for gender equality? https://www.internationalwomensday.com/Missions/20724/key-ways-to-ACCELERATE-ACTION [7 March 2025].

Johannes Kepler Universität Linz (n.d.) The History Behind March 8. JKU. https://www.jku.at/en/department-for-equality-equitable-opportunities-and-diversity/gender-diversity-management-unit/the-advancement-of-women-at-the-jku/march-8-international-womens-day/a-history-of-the-advancement-of-women/ [8 March 2025].

OECD Stats (2023) Time spent in paid and unpaid work, by sex. stats.oecd.org [18 December 2023].

Statista (2024) Number of domestic conflicts and violence in Iceland from 2015 to 2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1463279/number-of-domestic-violence-cases-in-iceland/ [22 December 2024].

The Hindu (2025) ‘International Women’s Day: when women marched for Bread and Roses.’ https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/international-womens-day-2025-history-of-womens-day-when-women-marched-for-bread-and-roses/article69302167.ece [8 March 2025].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

It’s exaggeration and mockery that goes beyond sarcasm, specifically posed on the feminine. It tells the story of the ugly and morbid sometimes with a hint of wit. It may sound fictitious but at the same time exposes what has shaped reality. It expresses what the “truth” could not capture. It is poetry, parody, tragedy, agony, anguish, and irony; all combined to shock conventions and empower the marginalized. It is called Gurlesque.

Mocking and Celebrating the Female

She looks like the Sunday comics She thinks she's Brenda Starr Her nose job is real atomic All she needs is an old knife scar

Who remembers this punkish pop late 70’s song from Blondie? It tells a girl vs. girl tongue-in-cheek story, you know, like when the popular girls in school compete against each other. The ref goes like this:

Yeah, she's so dull, come on rip her to shreds She's so dull, come on rip her to shreds

And that is the title of the song, “Rip Her to Shreds”. It’s a comical take on how women mock each other in rivalry. The next verse goes on to describe this reality in a parody fashion:

Oh, you know her, “Miss Groupie Supreme” Yeah, you know her, “Vera Vogue” on parade Red eye shadow! Green mascara! Yuck! She's too much

In a BBC interview, Deborah Harry, the lead singer of Blondie and who also co-wrote this song with band member, Chris Stein, said that the song was actually about what gossip columns do to people’s lives.

This suggests that the song is a reflection of how the media portray women and influence the readers’ perception about women. The song reflects this reality through exaggeration of the female experience and by depicting it in its extreme. What you get is a tune that is tastefully sarcastic, funny and fun at the same time. Even more fun as Debbie sang it with an in-your-face feminine tone, and when performed live, with a badass grrrl attitude that was not yet popular in the 1970s. Thus, ironically, this narrative of female stereotyping which demeans women has brought the female experience from the margins to the center.

Now fast forward to the 80’s, an era where female solo artists, bands, and band leaders were slowly emerging. An anthem of female celebration had hit the charts in 1984—a cover song, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun”, sung by a quirky red Mohawk female vocalist, Cyndi Lauper, which was released a year earlier. This was timely as this was when pop videos were the music industry’s new trend and youths were glued to MTV, thus amplifying the song’s message to youngsters through visualization. The storyline of the song’s video centers around Cyndi walking home under the morning light in last night’s gown and telling her parents that “girls just wanna have fun”.

I come home in the morning light my mother says when you gonna live your life right Oh mother dear we're not the fortunate ones And girls they want to have fun Oh girls just want to have fun

And in another verse of the song:

Some boys take a beautiful girl and hide her away from the rest of the world I want to be the one to walk in the sun....

Afterwards in the video, Cyndi and her female friends come together in one frame, singing “girls just wanna have fun” and later they are marching and dancing in the streets with male onlookers, some even joining them, creating the narrative that women as a collective are changing values.

The song does not explicitly talk about discrimination or equal rights or anything else as such, but just the simple message that women, like men, are entitled to enjoy their lives (have fun). The video illustrates this in a comical and parody manner just as the way the singer presents herself in a comical, playful female—sometimes self-mockery—image, quite different to the typical sexualized female representation promoted by the music industry.

Interestingly, the song was originally penned by male songwriters Robert Hazard and Lolly Vegas and was intentionally written from a male perspective. Cyndi changed parts of the lyrics and the sound, shifting the narrative and turning it into a female empowerment anthem.

The 90s: Gurelsque and Grunge

Fast forward again, now to the 90s. This era not only saw the emergence of more female musicians, but also a different way of representing women through music and fashion. In pop culture, women wearing leather and jeans or unisex attire had been typically associated with female autonomy and independence. In contrast, the 90s popularized babydoll-like dresses that had begun resurfacing in the 80s.

Babydoll dresses were typically associated with femininity, but the 90s had given them a whole new meaning in expressing female sexuality. Not only because the skimpy babydoll attire was worn with masculine boots, but because the new babydoll mixed the pure with the profane, vulnerability with empowerment, and the virgin with the whore. Not surprisingly this babydoll version of the 90s was subsequently known as the “kinderwhore dress”, which was made fashionable by female rock musicians, particularly in the grunge scene.

... the new babydoll mixed the pure with the profane, vulnerability with empowerment, and the virgin with the whore.

During the same time, a new poetics had emerged—the Gurelsque—which was employed by majorly female writers and poets who used parody and mockery to describe the female experience. This form of poetry and writing disrupts traditional values about the feminine by transforming femininity in its extreme into subversiveness that challenges the power structures. This decade also saw the birth of Third Wave Feminism which principles (such as diversity, inclusiveness, and intersectionality), resonate with Gurlesque aesthetics. Gurlesque was initially used to describe a form of poetics, but it has then been expanded to other forms of arts such as music, although probably unintentionally by the songwriters as Gurlesque was a term initially created by scholars.

Gurlesque (later also known as New Grrly Poetics) was first coined by American feminist poets and scholars Arielle Greenberg and Lara Glenum to describe a new female poetics that emerged in the turn of the millennium. However, there are earlier writers commonly associated with Gurlesque, such as Sylvia Path and Gertude Stein. Moreover, Gurlesque is influenced by other forms of arts which arose further back in history.

... Gurlesque ... challenges what is considered normal or natural in relation to society’s norms on gender and femininity by using mockery and ridicule ...

The word Gurlesque derives from girl culture, burlesque, and grotesque. Burlesque (Italian—burla: joke, ridicule, mockery) is a musical and theatrical parody popular in early 17th century Europe. Initially, grotesque is a term used in literature and drama to describe something strange or unusual, but generally it describes something comical, ugly, distorted, bizarre, or shockingly and disturbingly inappropriate. Combine these with girl culture, then you get Gurlesque—an artistic expression which challenges what is considered normal or natural in relation to society’s norms on gender and femininity by using mockery and ridicule, and by transforming these norms into a different feminine culture that may appear bizarre, ugly, and disturbingly unacceptable to society.

In the 90s, Gurlesque was attributed to female solo artists or bands led by female musicians, particularly in grunge, a genre which emerged on the onset of the 90s. Hole, the grunge band led by main songwriter Courtney Love, and particularly their album “Live Through This” (1994), is regarded as displaying Gurlesque features in its compositions, such as lyrical expressions of morbidness. The songs in this album, which almost all were co-written with lead guitarist and band co-founder, Eric Erlandson, are generally considered to represent feminist themes—the experiences of unjust women endure in society through female objectification, sexual violence, motherhood, and personal relationships. These themes are in line with Third Wave Feminism that rose in the same decade.

Live Through This album cover (Wikipedia)

The cover of the “Live Through This” album is a good example of what would be called Gurlesque art by those who use the term. The cover shows a woman with a blondish feathered haircut wearing a beauty queen crown. Her smudged eye make-up almost running down her cheeks due to tears of joy, her wide gaping smile and her arms tightly embracing a bouquet all display a sense of eerie exaggeration, mockery, and ugliness. It’s a parody of what it means to be beautiful in a male-dominated society—the tragedy of being female. The album cover is now an icon of the grunge decade and of Hole as one of the best grunge bands. The iconic cover and the album’s songs are also celebrated for their feminist symbolism and as the legacy of an era.

Gurlesque: Challenging Power through Subversiveness

Gurlesque was a term used in the 90s by feminist scholars, arising from their observation of the arts and literature during this decade that employed the use of girl culture, burlesque, and grotesque to describe the female experience. Nonetheless, the essence of Gurlesque can be found earlier in the works of a few (song)writers, poets, and artists. Gurlesque serves as an awakening and resistance as it transforms femininity into a form of subversiveness that challenges the power structures which oppress women as a social class.

Gurlesque continues to find its relevance in the 2000s, where a number of poets are associated with this form of poetry. You can check out some of their works published in the book, Gurlesque: the new grrly, grotesque, burlesque poetics (Lara Glenum and Arielle Greenberg, eds.).

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2024)

#music #subculture #gender #women #counterculture

Top image: Courtney Love in a babydoll dress performing with her band, Hole (Pinterest)

Sources

Cooper, Sabrina (2019) 'The Story Behind Hole’s Iconic Live Through This Album Cover.' AnOthermag.com. https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/11646/the-story-behind-hole-s-iconic-live-through-this-album-cover-ellen-von-unwerth. Accessed June 15 2024.

Oliva, Melanie (2016) 'What Is Gurlesque Poetry? A third wave of feminism, sexuality, and femininity revisited.' The Odyssey Online. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/gurlesque-poetry. Accessed 1 May 2024.

Volpert, Megan (2024) 'The enduring feminist legacy of Hole: 30 years later, must we still “Live Through This”?' Salon.com. https://www.salon.com/2024/04/11/hole-live-through-this-courtney-love/. Accessed 23 April 2024.

Videos

Cyndi Lauper YouTube Channel (2009) Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Official Video). https://youtu.be/PIb6AZdTr-A?si=KQIzN6OcWs4FwpXT. Accessed 17 June 2024.

Warmer Music Videos YouTube Channel (2016) Blondie – Rip Her To Shreds (Live). https://youtu.be/b18RIMN5NBg?si=eJpk4FsZ-wlBk7KM. Accessed 17 June 2024.

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

“We are containers, it's only the insides of our bodies that are important.” (The Handmaid’s Tale)

That's a quote from The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood published in 1985, many of you may be familiar with.

Dystopian novels tend to intensify reality—the inequality, oppression, or violence of what the future could hold. It is fictional but not purely detached from reality. Women’s reproductive capacity has been a recurring theme in dystopian tales of a dark world where women are enslaved to breed children for a despotic society.

This is not too far-fetched. If we look back a few decades ago women’s wombs were part of a political campaign of the fascist regimes of Germany and Italy to “encourage” women to procreate a specified race. In 1930s Germany, through the Lebensborn program, facilities were established for Aryan women to breed with SS soldiers for the sacred goal of achieving a pure Aryan state. In Mussolini’s Italy, giving birth was biological labor arranged with the efficiency and mass production akin to manufacturing factories to produce a new generation that will strengthen the military. In both regimes, women were awarded medals based on the number of children they produced, which was their act of servitude to the state.

Decades after the Second World War, along with industrialization, many countries experienced an economic boom after consistently implementing a strict population control policy. China’s one-child policy is one of the extreme examples of how population control was implemented at the cost of women’s reproductive rights, where coerced abortion, sterilization, and contraception took place. During the course of this policy, infanticide and femicide were also common practice. Just as during the rule of the fascist regimes of World War II, women’s body became a tool to achieve the goal of the state.

Women of ethnic minorities have also been the target of population control. To limit an ethnic population, minority women experienced coerced contraception without their consent. This happened to the Inuit people of Greenland, where in the 1960s, Inuit women and adolescent girls had IUD inserted into their bodies without their knowledge. Another case was the women of the Roma minority of socialist Czechoslovakia who experienced forced sterilization, first reported in the late 1970s.

Then there are cases of rape used as a weapon of war, executed for the purpose of ethnic cleansing. Such a case occurred in former Yugoslavia during the 1990s, where women of the Bosniak ethnic group were systematically raped. In conflict situations, men have also been victims of sexual violence, but war crimes and genocide are gendered. Such as in cases where women are impregnated as a war strategy, mothers and the children will serve as a representation and reminder of how their identity, community, and nation have been torn down.

In the 21st century we are haunted by population decline and for some nations, the fear of the extinction of an ethnicity. Several countries in Asia and Europe are facing a significant drop in fertility rate. A number of policies to raise fertility rates are also targeted at men, nevertheless, pressure is on women because they are the ones that can make it happen. Various government policies in the form of allowances for newborns, parental leave, and availability of daycare centers have not led to much change. Women and also men, such as in Japan, China, and South Korea, for a number of economic and cultural reasons are not eager to have children.

The reasons include the high costs of raising children, lack of affordable quality childcare, and women’s double and even triple burden because caring roles, including housework, are culturally still the main responsibility of women even with women’s high participation in the labor force. Data have shown that globally women spend more hours than men in unpaid carework. According to The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics, “on an average day, women globally spend about three times as many hours on unpaid domestic and care work as men (4.2 hours compared to 1.7).”

Meanwhile, according to experts, continued low fertility rate—under 2.1, the number of children needed to be born to a woman in their reproductive years—will result in an irrecoverable condition. This means an aging society and a collapsed pension system due to scarce labor. Solving population decline is complex, there are economic issues, cultural issues, and the issue of a nation’s identity. The fear of ethnic replacement or even extinction is used to justify the opposition to immigration and the need for the native population to bear children. So in other words, attempts to maintain existing class structure (inequity) and ethnic preservation contribute to the continued population decline some countries are facing.

The year 2020 saw a global decline of democracy, which is part of a global trend of democratic decline and rising authoritarianism of the last 30 years (Freedom House, 2021). As scholars today are talking about the rise of fascist or authoritarian governments, it raises the question of how population decline will be addressed in the near future, particularly considering that women in countries with continued low fertility rate are refusing to have the required number of children. Will abortion and voluntary sterilization be less available to some women and perhaps only available to those who are marginalized? Will this lead to a history of state-condoned sexual violence repeating itself? When all policies fail, will this lead to a dystopian future where women’s bodies are treated as mere containers to achieve the goals of the state or, worst of all, wombs at the mercy of draconian laws?

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- 2023

#population #gender #reproductiverights #dystopia #women

You might be interested to read: Fertility and the Labor of Care

Read about modern political strongmen: Political Strongmen and the Crisis of Democracy

Image: Katie M. Berggren via Pinterest

Sources

Barrett, Claire (2021) ‘Building the “Master Race”: Nazi Women Were Awarded Medals to Bear Children.’ Historynet.com https://www.historynet.com/building-the-master-race-nazi-women-were-awarded-medals-to-bear-children/ [31 December 2023]

HistoryExtra (2020) The Woman Who Gave Birth for Hitler https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/woman-birth-hitler-lebensborn-aryan-child-hildegard-trutz-germany/ [31 December 2022].

Morgan, Melissa (2021) ‘Understanding the Global Rise of Authoritarianism.’ Stanford https://fsi.stanford.edu/news/understanding-global-rise-authoritarianism [31 December 2023]

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2020) The World’s Women 2020: Trends and Statistics https://www.un.org/en/desa/world%E2%80%99s-women-2020#:~:text=On%20an%20average%20day%2C%20women%20globally%20spend%20about,times%20as%20much%20as%20men%20on%20these%20activities [31 December 2023].

Wills, Matthew (2022) ‘Mussolini’s Motherhood Factories.’ Jstor Daily https://daily.jstor.org/mussolinis-motherhood-factories/ [12 April 2022].

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

The coronation of King Charles III on May 6th, 2023, marking a new era in the UK, coincides with another important event over a century ago. On May 6th, 1910, King Edward VII died, technically ending the Edwardian era and marking a start of a new one. In King Edward VII’s coronation in 1901, Queen Alexandra’s crown was adorned with the Koh-i-noor diamond—today, a controversial gem considered by some as symbolizing colonialism and imperialism, and which Queen Consort Camilla avoided to wear in her coronation. Interestingly, like today, the sentiments of anti-imperialism, albeit in no reference to the gem, had also echoed throughout the Edwardian era.

Although King Edward VII died in 1910, historians use the term Edwardian era to include the years onto the beginning of the First World War. Because the era was just before the Great War, some romanticize it as a golden age of a laid-back life with nostalgic summer garden parties. This created a misconceived image of a less turbulent era, while in fact it was a time of the upsurge of labor rights and suffrage.

Because the era was just before the Great War, some romanticize it as a golden age of a laid-back life with nostalgic summer garden parties.

Angels and Labors

The Industrial Revolution and urbanization during the Victorian era brought the prosperous middle class into the Edwardian era. However, class divisions (although less stringent) and wage gaps from the previous era were much intact in the new era, as was the gender ideology. It was considered inappropriate for upper- and middle-class women to work. However, advances in technologies, such as in transportation and communications, had opened more doors to Edwardian women who had to work for a living.

Thus, working class and lower middle-class women continued to play an important economic role for the country. According to the statistics of Edwardian times, one of every ten women were in paid employment. Women worked as teachers, clerks, and physicians’ assistants. With advances in photography, some well-to-do women as well worked as models. However, most working women were from poor households, who toiled in gender-segregated and low-paying jobs, and struggled in bad labor conditions, barely surviving; many also worked as domestic workers.

Women march with their symbol of freedom, the bicycle (bustle.com)

Like the Victorian era, the ideal middle-class woman was the “angel in the house” with servants. The typical middle-class household would have at least one live-in domestic worker, typically a woman. Interestingly, due to the middle-class lifestyle and the rise in consumerism, middle-class families even during this period were already reducing the number of children they’d like to have. Abortion (which was illegal) was the birth control method widely used.

Nevertheless, some changes late in the Victorian period provided impetus for Edwardian women’s advancement. One example is how Victorian women were able to defy society’s mores as well as gravity by learning to ride the bicycle. This made mobility less of an issue for most Edwardian women, especially as bicycles had become affordable to the masses. The bike was revolutionary in the sense that it gave women the freedom of movement and changed restrictive fashion. The split skirt which flows open during riding allowed Edwardian women to pedal with ease. The vehicle became a symbol of women’s liberation.

Against the backdrop of British leisure, however, was rising suffrage and labor activism ...

Suffrage and Labor

Against the backdrop of British leisure, however, was rising suffrage and labor activism, which was the momentum of the Edwardian era. The suffragette movement grew stronger and louder, despite protesters being arrested and forced fed in jail if they went on hunger strikes. Socialist thoughts began to flourish and labor strikes peaked. Between 1900 and 1911, the percentage of the working-class population involved in strikes increased more than three times.

Suffragettes were also involved in labor activism. In 1903, suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst and others established the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU). The suffragette movement raised women workers’ issues, spurred rallies, and push for unionizing. Although not always on the same page with the suffragettes, women workers also advocated for suffrage, such as members of the Federation of Women Workers.

Pankhurst being arrested (Mashable.com)

In fact, in this era, there were issues raised that working women still face today. The welfare of working mothers as well as nurseries and childcare for all working women were issues already being raised at this time, particularly by suffragette and socialist, Ada Nield Chew. However, not surprisingly, the campaign did not gain much traction.

Domestic labor issues also did not find wide support due to conflict of interest between poor and wealthier women. The Domestic Workers’ Union (DWU) was established in 1909 and it campaigned for a 10-hour workday and for household work to be treated like industrial labor.

The Paradox

Moreover, anti-imperialists sentiments echoed through the era similar to today. Breaking away from Victorian values, Edwardian literature grew critical of imperialism, colonialism, and the class system.

Actually, anti-imperialist sentiments in Britain had begun in the late 19th century, but the controversial Second Boer War (1899–1902) had generated an increasingly critical view from radical liberals and socialists. In addition, the exploitation, abuse, and death occurring in indentured labor of the Indian people shipped to British colonies also sparked criticism towards the Empire until the practice finally ended in 1917.

Workers’ strikes continued throughout the era as the working class became increasingly dissatisfied with labor conditions. Between 1911 and 1914, there were over 3000 workers’ strikes; hence the period is known as “the Great Labor Unrest”. It was during this period, in 1906, that the Independent Labour Party (founded in 1893) established the Labour Representation Committee, which was then named the Labour Party.

Ready for the garden party, girls? (Pinterest.com)

During the war, suffragists took a break to focus on their support of the country. Women worked in replacement of men to support the war effort and supposedly for this contribution, they were awarded the right to vote, albeit not universal suffrage, in 1918. However, the war had destroyed an era which many cherished.

Coined the Golden Age of British life, the Edwardian era was nonetheless a hotbed of turbulence as different groups struggled against inequalities. In short, the era was a paradox of social unrest and summer garden parties.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2023)

#Edwardian #suffrage #labormovement #Britain #history #gender #labor #feminism #women

Check out my other blog, Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl for topics on gender and history.

Top image: Portrait of socialites Violet Morene and Yvonne Fitzroy modelling for Bassano, circa 1910 (npg.org.uk).

Sources:

Edgerton, David (2020) 'Britain's Persistent Racism Cannot Simply Be Explained by Its Imperial History.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/24/britain-persistent-racism-imperial-history (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Gershon, Livia (2021) ‘Who Does the Drudge Work? Answers from Edwardian Britain.’ JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/who-does-the-drudge-work-answers-from-edwardian-britain (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Harvey, Ian (2017) ‘The Most Beautiful Women of the Edwardian Era.’ thevintagenews. https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/06/06/the-most-beautiful-women-of-the-edwardian-era/ (Accessed 7 May 2023).

HistoryExtra (2023) Edwardian Women: Their Lives, Rights & Fashion. https://www.historyextra.com/period/edwardian/what-life-like-women-edwardian-britain/ (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Intriguing History (2015) Women's Roles in Edwardian Era of British History. https://intriguing-history.com/womens-roles-in-edwardian-era/ (Accessed 21 May 2023).

Manners, William (2015) ‘The Secret History of 19th Century Cyclists.’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2015/jun/09/feminism-escape-widneing-gene-pools-secret-history-of-19th-century-cyclists (Accessed 7 May 2023).

Stephenson, Andrew (2013) ‘Introduction: Edwardian Art and Its Legacies.’ In Visual Culture in Britain Vol. 14, No. 1. Taylor & Francis. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14714787.2013.750826 (Accessed 18 May 2023).

Thorpe, J.R. (2017) ‘The Feminist History of Bicycles.’ Bustle. https://www.bustle.com/p/the-feminist-history-of-bicycles-57455 (Accessed 30 April 2023).

Victorian Era (2022) Features of Edwardian Era Literature. https://victorian-era.org/edwardian-era-literature.html (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Wikipedia (2023) Indian Indenture System. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_indenture_system (Accessed 20 May 2023).

Wikipedia (2023) Great Unrest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Unrest (Accessed 20 May 2023).

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

The nineteenth to twentieth century in western Europe was a period when the intellectual community and the cultural and art movements flourished. Austria, particularly Vienna, and the Weimar Republic, particularly Berlin, were the centers of these cultural movements where the salon and coffeehouse culture grew. During this period, women enjoyed inclusion in some areas of the public sphere, while economic and political discrimination prevails. The wars, power struggles, and economic and political instabilities all played a role in women’s changing position in society at the onset of fascism.

Vienna, the multicultural city of immigrants in the 19th century, was famous for its European salon culture. Conceived by the middle and upper classes, the salons provided the medium for intellectual discussion and critical thinking. Moreover, the salons provided a space for the integration of the Jewish immigrants into society's elites. The salon culture was also a means of acculturation and emancipation for Jewish women. In Vienna and Berlin, many of these salons were hosted by educated Jewish women. The salon culture, however, was soon replaced by the more accessible and popular coffeehouse culture.

In 19th century Vienna and Berlin, coffeehouses became a meeting place for people from diverse backgrounds, including the less wealthy, and served as a place for intellectuals to exchange ideas and hold discussions. The coffeehouse culture was closely associated with the Jewish intellectual and artistic community. However, coffeehouses excluded women, supporting the conservative gender ideology of the time.

The coffeehouses grew to become an important part of Viennese multicultural urban life. Viennese coffeehouses gave birth to a new generation of movements, such as the Young Vienna modernist literary movement which was spearheaded by male Jewish intellectuals. Vienna’s intellectual community thrived to influence ideas which developed throughout Europe.

Nonetheless the inevitable was to come. The influx of immigrants crowded the city and affected the workforce, turning Vienna into a breeding ground for conservatism, nationalism, and anti-Semitism. In the last decade of the century up to 1914—known as the “Fin-de-Siècle” or turn of the century—the coffeehouse culture faced the challenge of rising anti-Semitism, while the salons continued to decline due to prevalent misogyny and antifeminism.

The golden age of liberalism ended in 1895 when conservative powers took over. This was followed by a weakening middle class and the quite death of the salons. The coffeehouse intellectuals who played an important role in the advancement of liberalism were fighting a losing battle.

Politics took another turn after the First World War. A strong labor and feminist movement grew out of the postwar crisis in Vienna and had set the motion for radical changes in policies which favored the working class, including the women. “Red Vienna”, home to migrant laborers from across the empire, became the haven for workers’ power.

Unsuspectedly too, the Great War was like a blessing in disguise for the women of the Weimar Republic (Germany in 1918–1933). Before the war, Germany was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected by adult males. After the war, with the removal of the Kaiser, Germany became a republic with representative democracy. Women were given political and economic rights. Besides gaining the right to vote, women were also granted equality in marriage and the professions.

The new independent woman of the Weimar Republic was coined the “New Woman” and she became the icon of the republic’s golden liberal era and the face of popular media. After women had a taste of economic independence when working during wartime to replace men, many continued to work and enjoyed an active social life. Women were able to do what was unthinkable just a few years before: enjoy the single life, smoke, drink, drive a car, and dance in jazz clubs. The coffeehouses were no longer a male domain as it were before the war; women were free to roam the coffeehouses unchaperoned. In Berlin, the center of Weimar culture, well-known Jewish women writers and artists were regulars at coffeehouses, such as the Romanisch Café.

However, unlike the image of the New Woman and its café lifestyle—which was sexualized and exploited by the media—in reality, women continued to face economic and political discrimination under Weimar liberalism. After supporting the workforce in wartime, the majority of working women became menial workers with the re-employment of men and then used as cheap labor. Meanwhile, in politics, women only had access to areas related to the home and family, such as health, education, and religion.

So, when politics took a different turn and the Nazis came to power—they, although rather ironically, had the blessings of the Weimar women. War reparations, hyperinflation, the collapse of the economy in 1923, and the Depression that followed had the republic on its knees. The economic crisis and a weakened government paved the way for the fascist party, which many, including the Weimar women, saw as offering the only hope for rebuilding the country. With no real political role to play, Weimar women leaders looked to Hitler to secure their political positions and thus gave their support to the Nazi party. Unfortunately, this was poor judgement.

Weimar’s fall in 1933 was followed by Red Vienna succumbing to the economic and political pressure of the conservative federal state in 1934. The end of the Weimar Republic and the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 saw an exodus of the Jewish population which had played an important role in the development of both countries. Subsequently, women were reduced to their reproductive role under fascist ideology. The crises and weakened regimes provided fascism with the means to rise to power by convincing many that it will transcend liberalism, democracy, and socialism.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2022)

Image: Painting by German artist Jeanne Mammen, 1927

#Vienna #Austria #Weimar #Germany #salonculture #coffeehouseculture #women #gender #fascism #politics #history #worldwar1 #worldwar2 #Europe

I have written about the above topics before, if you're interested, read:

More about Vienna and its coffeehouse culture: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2018/05/turn-of-century-vienna-liberalism.html

More about the Weimar New Woman: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2020/04/from-weimar-new-woman-to-mother-of.html

Sources

BBC Bitesize (2022) The Growth of Democracy in Germany, 1890-1929. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zcwxrdm/revision/2. (Accessed 29 January 2022).

Buzynski, Isabella and Kai Mishuris (2014) ‘Jewish Café Culture in Berlin.’ ArcGIS StoryMaps. https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/73fce8a685b64bb29fe87715bf72dc12 (Accessed 29 January 2022).

Galerie St. Etienne (2006) More Than Coffee was Served, Café Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna and Weimar Germany. https://www.gseart.com/exhibitions-essay/1016 (Accessed 30 January 2022).

Mann, Michael (2004) 'The Rise and Fall of Fascism.' UCLA Book Reviews. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9pg469w2 (Accessed 30 January 2022).

Schirn.de (2017) Splendor and Misery in the Weimar Republic. http://www.schirn.de/glanzundelend/digitorial/en (Accessed 30 January 2022).

Wilhelmy-Dollinger, Petra (1999) ‘Berlin Salons: Late Eighteenth to Early Twentieth Century.’ Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women. Jewish Women's Archive. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/berlin-salons-late-eighteenth-to-early-twentieth-century. (Accessed 30 January 2022).

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

The moral devastation experienced by the US after the Great War led the country to the quest of achieving a new stability. This was sought through regaining economic strength and retaining traditional values. It was during this aftermath that many American modernist writers, in search of a safe haven, emigrated to Europe. Many settled in Paris, finding the freedom that could release them from the disillusionment caused by the war.

For many years Paris was home to American modernist writers, poets, and artists during an era of postwar recovery and prefascist political power. These writers were then known as “the Lost Generation”—those who due to the war had lost their faith in the government, God, and the American dream.

Even with the economic and social independence that American women gained in the roaring '20s, the literary and art scene still offered less freedom to women. This led many American female writers and artists to join the emigration to France in the 1920s and '30s. Among these women were Gertrude Stein, Djuna Barnes, Solita Solano, and Thelma Wood, just to name a few. However, “the Lost Generation”, a term first coined by Stein, remained associated mainly with male writers, such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald—the major heroes of this generation.

In the 1920s and 30s, Paris had inspired women modernist writers and artists as the city gave them freedom to live an alternative lifestyle to that of the conservative postwar American society. These Parisian women, who led the unmarried, bohemian, and bisexual lifestyle, were later dubbed the “Left Bank women writers”, as they famously resided in this part of Paris. Their work and lifestyle quickly became a subculture within the male dominated literary and art community of American modernists.

The Left Bank women writers were less acknowledged in modernist literature than their male peers. They were eventually recognized but labeled as “women writers” or “lesbian writers”. Some writers find this separate category of recognition as derogatory. Barnes, who is well-known for her classic novel, Nightwood (1936) which was influenced by her relationship with Wood, once said, “I hate women writers!” and wanted to disassociate her work from this label. The category had emerged owing to the absence of white heterosexual male bias (albeit still predominantly white) in the works of Left Bank women writers. Despite this, arguably, the category may have kept the work of Left Bank women writers at the margins of the modernist literary movement.

The male comrades of the Lost Generation emerged from a state of cultural changes and turbulent times. Even though breaking with traditional literary conventions, they were often criticized for preserving a predominantly masculine culture; thus, contributing to modernism’s marginalization of women.

Photo: Solita Solano and Djuna Barnes in a Paris cafe around 1922 (Maurice Brange)

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2021)

#literature #Worldwar1 #womenwriters #lostgeneration #history #US #Paris #gender #women #subculture #counterculture

If you are interested in this topic, you might like to read: Unsung Women Writers of the Postwar Era https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2019/03/unsung-women-writers-of-postwar-era.html

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/

Do you think that there is a gender gap in the publishing industry? Just by reading a few sources off the internet, I found women writers claiming that they get more responses from publishers when using a male pseudonym, suggesting that the publishing industry and society in general do not take women writers seriously.

Not that women never had a prominent position in literature; if you look back, some of the earliest poets in history were women. Consider Akkadian/Sumerian poet and high priestess, Enheduanna (2285–2250 BCE), who—historians generally agree—is the first female poet, if not the first in the world. And of course we all have heard of the famous Ancient Greek poet Sappho (c. 610–c.570 BCE). Another female poet, Al-Khansa (575 to–645), was said to be the greatest Arabian poet of her time.

Other female writers over the course of history include 11th century Japanese novelist Murasaki Shikibu, Byzantine 12th century author and historian Anna Comnena, and Italian-French Christine de Pizan—the first professional female writer of the late 14th century. However, like the female poets who came before them, these women were from affluent circles or have a strong connection to them.

Even though the 18th and 19th century saw the presence of some notable women writers, such as Jane Austen and the Bronte sisters, many women still chose to write anonymously or under a male pseudonym. There were women reformers who were avid writers and who were getting published, such as English philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, and later, American novelist and lecturer Charlotte Perkins Gillman. But generally speaking, the fact that most women writers tend to hide behind male or gender neutral pseudonyms indicates that it was harder for women to be accepted as authors.

The Victorian Era, with its ideology of separate sphere, contributed much to the challenge women writers face as women writers were, well… considered silly, because men (even those who were ruled by a queen) thought women lacked intellectual capacity. However, the use of pseudonyms was instrumental for women writers to gain entrance to the publishing industry. Anonymity also made it possible for women to contribute to quarterlies on conventionally male subjects such as politics and economics, while female novelists can write without being confined to the feminine literary tradition. Nonetheless, the double standard did rule. Tuchman and Fortin’s 1989 analysis of the Macmillan publishing archive from 1867 to 1917, tells us that men enjoyed higher acceptance rate and that by the 1880’s, women were being paid less (Alexis Easley in Linda H. Peterson, 2015).

It is interesting to know that even today female students and academic writers have confidence issues as they struggle in a male dominated academic world. The “confidence gap” is experienced by many professional women, according to The Atlantic (2017). I also once read that JK Rowling was told by her publisher to use her initials because boys wouldn’t read fiction written by women. Similar to what women in the academic field face, the female writer experience of harder acceptance may be a result of a gender gap that has long existed in society.

I’ve heard some say that the issue is not of any discrimination of some sort, but just the fact that there are less talented women writers. Even if this is true, we will have to ask why and any sufficient answer would need to look at issues in the education system as well as gender socialization and stereotyping. But then again, you will have to admit that some forms of sexual discrimination are just so subtle and difficult to prove even if you know that they truly exist. This may be the case with the writers’ gender gap. Just saying.

-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2019)

#writing #gender #women #womenwriters #literature #womensliterature

POPULAR TOPICS #subculture Gurlesque: Poetics of the Bizarre, Ugly, and Feminine #films Mrs. Robinson, Countercultures, and Politics #history The Dutch Golden Age, Golden for Whom? I also write articles here: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/