Marie Stritt (18 February 1855 – 16 December 1928) was a German

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and a leading force in the international and German

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

movement. She helped work towards woman's education and fought against state regulated prostitution. Stritt also worked for changes regarding divorce laws through the Woman's Legal Aid Society. She was a strong proponent of

birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

and

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

Life

Stritt née Bacon was born on 18 February 1855 in Segesvár,

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...

(today

Sighișoara Sighișoara (; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Schäsbrich'', ''Šesburχ'', or ''Scheeßprich''; ; or ) is a Municipiu, city on the Târnava Mare, Târnava Mare River in Mureș County, central Romania. Located in the ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

). She had a career as an actress at the

Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe The Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe is a theatre and opera house in Karlsruhe, Germany. It has existed in its present form and place at Ettlinger Tor since 1975. Achim Thorwald became the Theater manager, Intendant in summer 2002 and held that ...

. In 1879 she married fellow actor and opera singer Albert Stritt (1847–1908). Stritt began her work in the late 1890s. She was an activist for many groups, including the women's group reform (1891) and the Women's Legal Aid Society (1894), organizations dedicated to fighting for women's rights to education equality and legal protection. Stritt proved an important leader in the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), whose goal was to work towards

women's education Female education is a catch-all term for a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

and to oppose state-regulated

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

. Marie Stritt was one of the founders of the

International Alliance of Women The International Alliance of Women (IAW; , AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suff ...

1904 in Berlin, Germany. She was the chairperson of

Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine The Bund Deutscher Frauenvereine (Federation of German Women's Associations) (BDF) was founded on 28/29 March 1894 as umbrella organization of the women's civil rights feminist movement and existed until the Nazi Seizure of Power, Nazi seizure of po ...

from 1899 to 1910, the

Deutscher Verband für Frauenstimmrecht The Deutscher Verband für Frauenstimmrecht (German Union for Women's Suffrage) was a German women's organization for women's suffrage, active between 1902 and 1919.Richard J. Evans: The feminist movement in Germany 1894-1933 (= Sage studies in 20th ...

from 1913 to 1919, and the

from 1913 to 1920. Stritt's activism did not end with her retirement from the board of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance; she continued to write and participate in journalism fighting for feminism issues for the remainder of her life. Stritt died on 16 September 1928 in Dresden, Germany.

Literature

* ''Häusliche Knabenerziehung'', Berlin 1891 * ''Frauenlogik'', Dresden 1892 * ''Die Frau gehört ins Haus'', Dresden 1893 * ''Die Bestimmung des Mannes'', Dresden 1894 * ''Weibl. Schwächen'', Dresden 1894
''Der Internationale Frauenkongress in Berlin 1904''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stritt, Marie 1855 births 1928 deaths People from Sighișoara 19th-century German people 20th-century German people German feminists German suffragists 20th-century German women People from Austria-Hungary 19th-century German actresses