Wilhelmina Carolina Benjamina "Carry" Pothuis-Smit (12 February 1872 – 30 August 1951) was a politician and feminist in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. She was the first woman elected to the

Senate of the Netherlands The Senate ( , literally "First Chamber of the States General", or simply ; sometimes ) is the upper house of the States General, the legislature of the Netherlands. Its 75 members are elected on lists by the members of the twelve States-Provi ...

on 23 March 1920.

Life

The daughter of Barend Marinus Smit and Wilhelmina Carolina Benjamina van den Honert, she was born Wilhelmina Carolina Benjamina Smit in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. She earned a teaching certificate in

Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...

when she was eighteen and then taught in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

and later in Amsterdam. In 1898, she joined the Social Democratic Workers' Party. In 1905, Pothuis-Smit founded the ("Social Democratic Women's Club") with and . She was editor of the , a socialist women's paper, from 1905 to 1940 and of , a series of books for socialist women. She attended the International Socialist Women's Conference in Stuttgart in 1907 and the second International Socialist Women's Conference in Copenhagen in 1910. She continued to be opposed to

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

even after her party changed its position. She served on Amsterdam city council from 1919 to 1924 and in the Dutch senate from 1920 to 1937. She worked to promote social services while she was a member of city council. In the senate, she supported the right of married women to work and the right of women teachers to be able to marry and keep their jobs; she also campaigned for national

disarmament Disarmament is the act of reducing, limiting, or abolishing Weapon, weapons. Disarmament generally refers to a country's military or specific type of weaponry. Disarmament is often taken to mean total elimination of weapons of mass destruction, ...

. Following the

German occupation of the Netherlands Despite Dutch neutrality, Nazi Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, invaded the Netherlands on 10 May 1940 as part of ''Fall Gelb'' (Case Yellow). On 15 May 1940, one day after the Rotterdam Blitz, bombing of Rotterdam, the Dutch forces ...

in May 1940, she decided to shut down , mainly for financial reasons. After the war, she worked for a time on the women's magazine ('We Women'). She joined the Dutch Labour Party, even though she continued to hold anti-militarist views. Pothuis-Smit also published a number of children's books, including: * Note: translations by Wikipedia * (1926) he burned pan, a story from Bergen* (1926) he hermit of Hoekelum* (1938) rust the future* (1946) ar diary of a Dutch girl* (1950) ertie and the donkeyref name=bwn/> In 1903, she married ; the couple had one son and two daughters. Pothuis-Smit died in Amsterdam at the age of 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pothius-Smit, Carry 1872 births 1972 deaths Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Amsterdam Dutch suffragists Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians Dutch socialist feminists