Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Sisters In Battle: Five Portraits, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Review

PART TWO: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

A methodical perusal of biographical entries in encyclopedic works such as the Schweizer Lexikon ( 1998) or the Historische Lexikon der Schweiz (HLS), now in progress, brings to light a great many Swiss women who were active in the advocacy of women's equality, but who are far too little known. Some dedicated themselves to a specific issue, others were driven by a comprehensive vision of existing inequality to be remedied. They fought on a broad front against varied forms of male dominance. They hailed from the political right, center, and left, from the working class …

Equal Rights - American Style, Margot Ammann Durrer

Swiss American Historical Society Review

PART TWO: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

Awakenings and Murmurs of Protest

In the United States, the history of women's struggle for equal rights played out in many ways unique to this young developing country. The early settlers, both men and women, brought with them a burning desire for freedom to worship and govern as they chose. Existence in a new world was a dire struggle. Then came the conflict of loyalty to the King of England and the fight for Independence. Through all of this the women stood side by side with their husbands, wielding the plough and shotgun, sharing their work, …

Swiss Women's Suffrage Debated: Two Examples, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Review

PART TWO: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

To provide a taste of the thinking of Swiss people before Iris von Roten published her seminal work Frauen im Laufgitter in 1958 in Bern's Hallwag Verlag, some primary documents shall be presented. A first set reflects the parliamentary debate that was held on 12 December 1945 in the Swiss National Council, composed of the elected representatives of the cantons or member states of the Confederation. A second document is a statement of the theologian Arthur Rich (1910-1992) published in the Neue Zurcher Zeitung in November 1966. It responded to a circular which Zurich's anti-suffrage women …