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It’s no secret that life of women in Germany before 1918 faced severe restrictions: they had limited rights not only in politics but also in education, work, and civic life. However, the founding of the Weimar Republic in 1918 marked a turning point. November 12, 1918, was a significant date for women in Germany, when they finally gained the right to vote and stand for election. This marked the birth of women’s suffrage.
Just two months later, Marie Juchacz, a passionate advocate for women’s rights and a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), became the first woman to speak in the German Parliament in the Weimar National Assembly in 1919.
In her speech, she declared:
"What this government has done here with the suffrage law is not some kind of act of charity. It is simply something that was owed to women."
Another prominent figure who changed the perception of women in Germany was Rosa Luxemburg, after whom Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin is named. She was first and foremost a revolutionary thinker and an emancipated woman, and through that served as an example at a time when women were subject to heavy prejudice.
Luxemburg believed that her place was among the leaders, regardless of her gender, and she co-founded the Spartacus League, and later the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). She rejected sexist views of women and challenged bourgeois standards of morality through indulgence in passionate love affairs. Rosa Luxemburg serves as inspiration and her advocacy continues to influence feminist movements and theories today.
A close friend and ally of Clara Zetkin, Käte Duncker was a key figure in the fight for women’s rights. At the 1910 International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen, she and Zetkin proposed the establishment of Women’s Day.
Duncker was a passionate advocate for integrating women’s rights with socialist principles. She spoke at international conferences, advocating for better working conditions, child protection laws, and fairer opportunities for women. Her life’s work helped shape Germany’s feminist and socialist movements.
Helene Lange was the key figure who spearheaded the way to emancipation of women in Germany. In a society where women were largely dependent on men, she strongly advocated for women’s education.
In her political work from the 1880s and 1890s, she focused on the reform of the education of middle- and upper-class girls and women. Some of her most prominent achievements include helping establish the General German Women Teachers’ Association in 1890 and the League of German Women’s Associations in 1894.
Having lived with her husband in the working-class district of Prenzaluer Berg during the early 20th century, Käthe Kollwitz witnessed firsthand a large proportion of poverty and daily issues, exacerbated by the overpopulation of the city and the spread of diseases. As an artist, she depicted the struggles faced by women in the workforce and those taking birth control. Kollwitz advocated for maternity rights, access to contraception, and better working conditions for women.
In fact, her art resonated so deeply with the public that it became a symbol of Germany’s abortion-rights movement. Kollwitz was also the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts and awarded honorary professor status. Today, the Käthe Kollwitz Museum museum preserves her legacy, and her work can be seen there.
Hedwig Dohm was one of Germany’s most forward-thinking feminist intellectuals. She was a firm believer of the conceptualization of women’s rights as human rights, and that was reflected in her uncompromising advocacy for gender equality.
“Human rights have no gender,”
she famously said.
Dohm believed that financial independence and education were key. That’s why she was a founding member of many organizations looking to introduce sex education, women’s education, and mothers’ rights. As a writer, her bold essays were daring and gained her popularity.
Her most famous work, Die Antifeministen (The Antifeminists), challenged the ideas of leading thinkers of her time, exposing their contradictions and fears about women gaining power. Hedwig Dohm became a pioneer of the suffrage movement, inspiring later generations of feminists, such as Clara Zetkin and Helene Lange.
Minna Cauer was one of the most radical feminists in Germany at the turn of the 20th century, who was a firm believer in the women's suffrage movement, and thought it should be universal. Unlike most activists who pushed for gradual reforms, Cauer believed in immediate and full political participation for women.
One of her most distinguished achievements was the establishment of the Commercial Union of Female Salaried Employees (Kaufmännischer Verband der weiblichen Abgestellten) in 1889 — the first women’s trade union just for female white-color workers. Cauer also advocated for better educational and employment opportunities for female employees. Today, she is remembered as a fearless activist who refused to settle for anything less than full equality.
