Women and Associativism During the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Brazil, France, Italy and Portugal

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Women and Associativism During the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Brazil, France, Italy and Portugal

This project aims to analyse the origins of four women movements, all affiliated with the International Council of Women (ICW) established in Washington in 1888: the National Council of French Women (Conseil National des Femmes Françaises, CNFF, 1901), the National Council of Italian Women (Consiglio Nazionale delle Donne Italiane, CNDI, 1903), the Nacional Council of Portuguese Women (Conselho Nacional das Mulheres Portuguesas, CNMP, 1914) and the National Council of Brazilian Women (Conselho nacional de mulheres do Brasil, CNMB, 1927). The study of these organisations, which brought together the majority of women associations in each country, show that they were key political actors in the twentieth century.

Estatuto:

Proponent entity

Financed:

Keywords:

Women; Women's History; Women's Movements; Modern History

Objectivos:

The aim of this research is to write a comparative women´s history (Brasil, France, Italy and Portugal) of women's associativism regarding four countries during a period starting from the beginning of the 20th century until the Second World War. To study the strategies of women´s associations for actions and the models on which they acted. To seek to contribute to a better understanding of theirs links abroad. This research aims to be a contribution to women's history and, by the same token, to history tout court.

State of the art:

This research project arises from a context of more than 30 years of historical research in women's history. The history of associativism is an essential part of women´s history. In this regard, the importance of  English-language university writing from early 1970s onwards until today, just to give two examples is noteworthy (Richard J. Evans, The Feminists. Women´s Emancipation movements in Europe, America and Australia, 1840-1920, London, Croom Helm, 1977 and recently Karen Offen, European Feminisms, 1700-1950: A Political History, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2000). The aim is not to rewrite the history of women´s international organisations -these already have their historians like for example Leila Rupp, Worlds of Women. The Making of an International women´s movements, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1997 who illustrated the importance of the US influence on European women's movements; rather, the aim is to write a history of the national councils of women founded in Europe. More specifically, the aim is to study three particular councils in comparative perspective: the CNFF, the CNDI and the CNMP. Some works on the French feminist movement referred to the importance of the CNFF (Christine Bard, Les Filles de Marianne. Histoire des féminismes, 1914-1940, Paris, Fayard, 1995; Laurence Klejman, Florence Rochefort, L´Egalité en marche. Le féminisme sous la Troisième République, Paris, Presses de la Fondation nationale des Sciences Politiques et Editions des femmes, 1989) of the CNDI (Michela de Giorgio, Le Italiane dall´Unità a oggi, Roma, Laterza, 1993) and of the CNMP (Rosmarie Wank Nolasco-Lamas, Mulheres para além do seu tempo, Lisboa, Bertrand, 1995;  Vanda Gorjão, A Reivindicação do voto no programa do Conselho nacional das mulheres portuguesas, 1914-1947, Lisboa, CIDM, 1994; Célia Costa, "O Conselho nacional das mulheres portuguesas (1914-1947). Uma organização feminista", Dissertação de Mestrado em Estudos sobre as Mulheres", 2007) but there is not yet a comparative study of these three national councils of women.

Coordenador ICS

Anne Cova

Research Fellow

Start Date:

01/11/2004

End Date:

30/11/2009

Duração:

60 meses

Closed