Lentl Maria Vanhouche
1. Introduction
When Professor Dhondt proposed the EUTOPIA CoLeCO project, I knew without a doubt that I wanted to be part of this year's edition. Making a historical analysis on a topic of my choice, making contacts with other students, learning about new topics, and then also having the excellent guidance of experts in the field! What more could you want? When I think back on all the experience and knowledge I gained, I can only conclude with a joyful heart that it was the best choice I could have made.
It is therefore with pride that I present to you the final product. I would once again like to emphatically thank Professor Frederik Dhondt for introducing me to this project, giving me the opportunity to participate in it, and his excellent guidance throughout the process. I would also like to express my thanks to everyone with whom I had interesting conversations about this topic during the Peak Event and, in particular, to Doctor Elisabeth Bruyère whose substantive tips and comments brought additional insight to the final product.
I leave the introduction to what may or may not be the most well-known Belgian lawyer and women's activist: Marie Popelin (1846-1913). She tells you everything you need to know before you start reading in the video below!
2. Framing the legal status of a Belgian woman in 19th century Belgium
The situation of a Belgian woman in 1830 is not something to be applauded. According to the then Civil Code, which was based on the 1804 Code Napoléon, married women were completely subject to their husband's martial power: they owed obedience to their person, their children, activities, and possessions.(1) Anno 1804, article 213 B.W. stipulated: 'The husband owes protection to his wife, the wife owes obedience to her husband'.(2) The husband, therefore, has an obligation to protect his wife. This "protection" can include, for example, that the husband can prohibit his wife from associating with certain people or even snooping through her mail to check whether or not she is in contact with people who could be a bad influence on her thinking.(3)
A married woman is legally incapacitated: she is not enabled to perform acts without the consent of her husband and is legally equated with a minor child, as it were. If she wishes to carry out an independent commercial activity or any legal act at all (buying, selling, gifting, inheriting, etc.), she needs the express consent of her husband.(4) Namely, Article 1124 of the Civil Code stated that ‘les incapables de contracter sont: les mineurs, les interdits, les femmes mariées, dans les cas exprimé par la loi.’(5) A woman could also not dispose of her assets and those of the matrimonial community without the consent of her husband or a judge.(6) If a woman worked she had to submit the wages she received or any income in full to her husband.(7)
Women were not spared discrimination in Belgium's Code Pénal either: a strong inequality can also be found in the punishment of adultery in marriage. In article 387, we read that a woman was punished for this with a prison sentence of three months to two years. In article 389, we find for the same offence only a prison sentence of one month to one year for a man and there it also had to be proved that he had a "concubine" and maintained it (indicating repetition and duration). The fact that the level of punishment is significantly higher and an additional condition is imposed for male adultery is said to be due to the fact that there was a fear that a woman would thus produce an illegitimate child.(8)
When talking about the right to vote, women are never explicitly excluded from the right to vote. The Belgian constitution of 1831 (which at the time was seen as one of the most liberal in Europe) grants the right to vote for the Chamber of Representatives to "the residents, who by the electoral law determine certain taxation". Nowhere does it specify that this would only include men.(9) However, it was taken for granted that a woman should not be allowed to vote. After the above account of the legal status of women, this does not seem so strange: she is on a legal level equal to a minor child. It is precisely for this reason that the struggle for women's right to vote cannot be separated from the general struggle for legal and economic equality for women in Belgium.(10)
3. Education: the main lever for women's emancipation
To
eliminate legal and economic inequality for women, education is essential. This
can help eliminate women's intellectual disadvantage vis-à-vis men. In 1866, a
distressing 55.5% of women were illiterate.(11)
Isabelle Gatti de Gamond (1839-1905)
Later, the Université Libre de Bruxelles (15) was the first in Belgium to open its doors to women in 1880, Ghent (16) followed in 1882, and in Leuven (17) it took until 1920. One of Isabelle's students was Marie Popelin. Later, she will bring about one of the pivotal moments in Belgian feminism. The feminist movement that emerged around 1890 often included former pupils of pioneers such as Isabelle Gatti de Gamond of Brussels and Léonie de Waha of Liège.(18)
4. Marie Popelin: the figurehead of 19th century Belgian feminism
Marie Popelin was born in Schaerbeek in 1846 and grew up in a middle-class family. She studied to become a teacher. At the time, this was the only way for girls to get a certain level of education. When she reached the age of 18, Marie Popelin went to teach at the request of Isabelle Gatti de Gamond at Cours d'instruction (later Lycée Gatti de Gamond) in Brussels. Both Isabelle and Marie express their criticism of the way teaching is imposed. However, this led to Popelin's resignation in 1875. Then, following Isabelle Gatti de Gamond's model, she opened a new primary school in Mons in collaboration with her sister.(19)
Marie Popelin began her law studies at the age of 37 at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. In 1888, she was the first female jurist in Belgium to graduate with distinction. Yet our brand new law graduate came up against an unpleasant surprise: she was refused the oath to practise as a lawyer.(20) Although no law prohibits a woman's entry to the bar, she could not practice as a lawyer.(21)
Marie Popelin (1846-1913)
“By what strange reversal of things will France - the first to proclaim liberty and equality - be the last of nations to realize it?
The question of women’s right to access the legal profession was of interest to a wide variety of nations. For example: the matter had been raised in the Italian Courts in 1884 when Lydia Poet had been denied the right to join the Turin bar.(22) And now the matter would be raised again in the Belgian Courts in 1888 in the case of Marie Popelin.
4.1. The Marie Popelin trial: a pivotal moment for 19th-century Belgian feminism
Marie Popelin appeals to all legal means to challenge this injustice. She does so with the help of Louis Frank, a Brussels-based lawyer. He also encouraged French Jeanne Chauvin to seek admission to the Paris Bar after the Popelin affair. When Jeanne too ran up against a rejected request, he supported her by publishing numerous articles and pamphlets in her favour where he attacked the injustice of the Napoleonic Code.(23) Louis Frank made explicit how the Civil Code from 1804 undercut women’s rights and was not up to date with political life. In his pamphlet “La Femme-Avocat” in 1888 (where he talks about Marie Popelin’s trial) he writes:
“The principles of the Napoleon Code with regard to the legal relation of the sexes are so inconsistent with the truth, the law, and the spirit of our times that most contemporary people have freed themselves from the prejudices of this Code to ensure that the egalitarian principles of Germanic and Angelo-Saxon law prevail in our legislation”.(24)
Louis Frank (1864-1917)
During Popelin's trial, he challenged the argument that the job of a lawyer was essentially a public function. He also argued that there was no legal provision preventing women from having access to the bar there. On the contrary, he argued that the practice of the profession by a woman was in keeping with the spirit of the Decree of 14 December 1810 on the profession of lawyer and the practice at the bar, and defended a liberal interpretation of the laws of the Civil Code, rather than a reform. He also raises arguments about the judicial organisation and cites the 1876 law on the acquisition of degrees. Louis Frank concludes that his client is entitled to at least the title and status of a lawyer.(25)
The Court of Appeal also rejected Marie Popelin's application. They dismissed her complaint as follows:
"Attendu que la nature particulière de la femme, la faiblesse relative de sa constitution, la réserve inhérente à son sexe, la protection qui lui est nécessaire, sa mission dans l’humanité, les exigences et les sujétions de maternité, l’éducation qu’elle doit à ses enfants, la direction du ménage et dans des conditions peu conciliables avec les devoirs de la profession d’avocat et ne lui donnent ni les loisirs, ni la force, ni les aptitudes nécessaires aux luttes et aux fatigues du barreau."(26)
Clearly, in the light of the prevailing ideal of the mother-married woman at the time, Marie Popelin was highly likely to have her application denied. The Public Prosecutor arguing against her had only to refer to a centuries-old tradition and to the civil law provision that, by definition, presupposes the inferiority of women to men. The ruling gives us an opportunity to be able to analyse the way the judges of the Court of Appeal reasoned. In this judgment, the counsels briefly outlined the facts, after which the judges already immediately gave their opinion: a woman is not suitable for work at the bar as she has to look after the children at home by the fireplace. Only after that did they take up the law. One could therefore argue that this indicates that they are using the legal text as a tool to justify a bias. It is also notable that the judges of the Brussels Court of Appeal assumed a married woman with children, while Marie Popelin was not a married woman.(27)
It is also extremely peculiar that Marie is viewed as too ‘fragile’ for a job in the legal profession when you start looking at the work that women at the time (without any fear of her ‘fragility’) were actually allowed to do. Let's take the example of women in the mining industry in Belgium around the time of Marie Popelin's case. From industry censuses in 1880 (eight years before the Popelin case), we can see that 12.38% of the workforce in the coal industry were women and girls. This accounts for 11,726 workers out of the total of 94,757. One can also see from the graph below that it was not uncommon for women to be employed in the coal industry. Surely, in my opinion, it is very striking that no one here is concerned about the "safety" and "fragility" of women, nor their role as mothers and married women. For a woman to take up the role of a lawyer is too dangerous, but working in the mines is perfectly fine! It seems Lady Justice is the only woman who is welcome in the legal world for now.(28)
Figure: Number of coal workers by gender (for all ages, 1846 and 1880)
"[…] Considérant que vainement la demanderesse se prévaut de ce qu’aucune disposition légale ne réserve formellement au sexe masculin la profession d’avocat […] Considérant que la loi du 20 mai 1876, prorogée par celle du 3 mai 1888, ne concerne que la collation des grades académiques et le programme des examens universitaires ; Que si cette loi, ni par son texte ni par son esprit, ne défend de conférer aux femmes le grade de docteur en droit, il ne s’ensuit pas que ce grade leur donne un titre pour exercer la profession d’avocat. […] Que quand une femme exhibe un diplôme de docteur en droit, pour être admise à la prestation de serment, la Cour d’appel ne peut pas même en examiner la régularité ; qu’elle doit l’écarter par une fin de non-recevoir préalable, savoir que, suivant la loi, un diplôme de docteur en droit obtenu par une femme ne constitue jamais un titre pour être reçu avocat." (29)
The Court rejected the Cassation appeal and basically stated that if women want to declare free professions, the legislature should just regulate it. Marie Popelin's rejection is a true turning point: it makes it clear that it will take more than better education to eliminate inequality. Gaining political rights is also extremely important for women's emancipation.(30) Marie Popelin may have lost her case, but her defeat ensured (even more than a victory could have triggered) that Belgian feminism would gain momentum.(31)
4.2. Ligue Belge du droit des femmes
The verdict was the impetus for Marie to found the Ligue Belge du Droit des Femme in 1892. She did so together with lawyer Louis Frank (the lawyer who argued her case), Isala Van Diest (the first female doctor), lawyer Henri La Fontaine, and his sister Léonie La Fontaine. This organisation focused primarily on the revision of discriminatory laws and also paid due attention to economic, political, moral, and educational reforms.(32) The League had about 300 members from the bourgeoisie and consisted mainly of free-thinking, well-to-do backgrounds.(33) In Parliament, the Ligue Belge du droit des femmes could count on support from progressive-liberal and socialist quarters.(34)
From left to right: Léonie La Fontaine, Henri La Fonteine, Louis Frank, Isala Van Diest
Other feminist organisations grew out of the French-speaking, liberal, and urban bourgeoisie. Louise Van den Plas shaped Catholic feminism by founding the Christian pressure group "Le Féminisme Chrétien de Belgique" in 1902. Also in Ghent, the socialist women's movement led by Emilie Claeys ties the women's struggle to the class struggle. Claeys also fights for political recognition and against women's economic dependence.(35)
4.3. The international activism of Marie Popelin
Inside the association, some disagreements arise: Popelin tolerates less and less that the men exert a dominant influence on important decisions to be taken. She goes so far as to throw the men out of the association and appoint herself General Secretary of the League. From that point on, she devotes all her time to fighting for equal rights for women and men. She raises awareness through all possible channels to put women's rights on the agenda: she moderates the debates of the Cercles d'Etudes and chairs the Dîners féministes. She also liaises with members of the government and chambers, prepares legislative texts, and, on top of that, takes care of the publication of the quarterly magazine associated with the Ligue.(36)
In 1897, Marie Popelin organised an International Feminist Congress on the occasion of the World's Fair in Brussels. Popelin is Secretary General and a report is also made of the Congress. Others present are Léonie La Fontaine (co-founder of the League), Maria Martin from France, Mrs. Morgenstern and Cauer from Germany, as well as women from the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Sweden, and even America! In the report, we read about the topics that were raised: for example, civil rights are discussed, situations from different countries are compared, and thoughts on economic rights are shared.(37)
Later, Popelin also goes as a delegate to international congresses on women's rights taking place abroad. Thus, she attends Paris (1896), London (1900), and Berlin (1904).(38) Such gatherings are what our theme of "connectedness" is all about coming together, sharing ideas, and drawing inspiration from what others bring to the conversation. It is thinking together about current social issues and listening to each other. It is coming from your individual desire for individual progress, moving it to an international level and replacing it with the collective idea of fighting for the same goal. Countless examples can be cited where, thanks to the exchange of these ideas, people dared to think beyond the situation they were currently living in. Thanks to knowing others' situations, you knew things could and had to be different.
List of the Organising Committee in the report of the Women's Congress in Brussels (1897)
In the last years of her life, Popelin found the Conseil National des femmes Belges (1905). It still exists today and is known to us as the National Council of Women. Popelin managed to bring together different tendencies in Belgium in this Council. In 1912, she organised her last feminist congress at the Palais des Académies and devoted it to three major themes: the economic and legal situation of women, and above all the political situation where the suffrage movement was also advocated.(39)
4.3.1. The International Feminist Congress (1897)
To expand on the previous, I will address some passages from the report of the International Congress of Women in Brussels (1897). As mentioned earlier, many issues are raised. The report neatly arranges them and divides all topics into categories. The report is the actual transcript of the speeches made at the congress. It is always indicated what it is about and who is speaking. Thus, individual situations and changes in countries are discussed, as well as general topics. Under the heading ‘economic rights’ we find a topic close to our chairwoman Marie Popelin's heart: professional freedom for women.(40) There are several speakers, each taking turns to recite their perspective and vision on the topic to the rest. Some interesting passages come from the talks by Ms. Marie Parent and Ms. Maria Martin.
Marie Parent, for example, cites that she believes it is quite striking that women are not simply excluded from every profession, but only from those professions that men ‘would find the most fun to do’ and where it would be extremely painful for men to have competition of women. She believes such thinking should be anything but encouraged and finds it barbaric and reprehensible. She also denounces that women are all too often generalised and plastered with the terms ‘impulsive and illogical’. She argues the opposite. Clearly, she wants access to all professions and fair, equal pay for women.(41)
Excerpt from Marie Parent's speech
Excerpt from Marie Parent's speech
She closes by arguing that Victor Hugo proclaimed men's rights in the 18th century. The 19th century will proclaim women's rights. She looks positively to the future and hopes that the generations to come can reap the benefits of their hard work.(42)
Excerpt from Marie Parent's speech
Next up is Maria Martin (who is also secretary for the French delegation). She stresses that with the opening of schools and universities, girls can now get the same education "as their brothers". However, they are denied the exercise, it is almost tragic how a woman is allowed to learn how to do it, but is not allowed to do it effectively. She also builds a strong argument around her desire to overturn the typical idea "of women at the hearth". For instance, she argues that it is hypocritical to always cast a woman in that same light when the same men who love to see women so much sitting by the hearth also leave their wives sitting there when they leave them abandoned and without resources. She also cites that there are a veritable number of single women between 25 and 50 who do not have a man to stay home for and are happy to earn their own living. She wants women to be able to take control of their own lives by being able to work for themselves, earn an equal wage, and decide what profession they wish to pursue.(43)
Excerpt from Maria Martins's speech
Excerpt from Maria Martins's speech
Excerpt from Maria Martins's speech
Excerpt from Maria Martins's speech
4.4. Emilie Claeys: "Het Vrouwenstemrecht"
That internationalism and connectedness bring strength and insight also recurs in Emilie Claeys' pamphlet "Het Vrouwenstemrecht" where she cites examples from inter alia New Zealand and England to shape her ideas and support her arguments. Through the connectedness that exists between the frontrunners of feminism at the time, Claeys manages to be inspired. She cites things she would like to see the same as elsewhere, but also things she would like to see differently, it gives her perspective.(45)
4.5. Conclusion
Below you can find a map where you can see the places from where women exchanged information with each other about their current status, their dreams, and hopes for themselves and the future. Even in the 19th century, information and the fight for women's rights went beyond national borders, connections grew worldwide!
It is clear that women have understood that they must turn to change their legal status: the rules do not literally exclude them, but because of their status, it is taken for granted that they will not be taken into account. They want to see a literal admission - black on white - in the law. The texts should be read differently and no longer interpreted in the way they had been for so long. The first important step was to meet and discuss the issues. The next step should be transposition into national legislation through Parliament. Marie Popelin died on 5 June 1913. Not much later, the feminist movement ceases its activities because of the 1914-1918 war. The decision to admit women to the profession of lawyer in Belgium only came in 1922 and the right to vote for women only in 1949.
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Remaining footnotes:
(2) Former article 213 Civil Code.
(5) Former article 1124 Civil Code.
(6) Former articles 217-219 Civil Code.
(7) P. GODDING, La femme sous puissance maritale (1804-1958), in : L. COURTOIS, J. PIROTTE and F. ROSART, Femmes et pouvoirs : flux et reflux de l’émancipation féminine depuis un siècle, Louvain La Neuve, College Erasme, Bruxelles, 1992, p. 26-27.
(8) P. GODDING, La femme sous puissance maritale (1804-1958), in : L. COURTOIS, J. PIROTTE and F. ROSART, Femmes et pouvoirs : flux et reflux de l’émancipation féminine depuis un siècle, Louvain La Neuve, College Erasme, Bruxelles, 1992, p. 22.
(9) M. HOOGHE, "Kiesrecht en democratisering in België, 1831-1998. De nieuwe tekst van artikel 8 G.W. in historisch perspectief”, T.B.P., 1999/9, p. 593.
(11) D. KEYMOLEN, "Vrouwenemancipatie 1844-1914", in Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, DI.XIII, 1978, Haarlem, p.66.
(13) D. KEYMOLEN, "Vrouwenemancipatie 1844-1914", in Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, DI.XIII, 1978, Haarlem, p.66.
(23) K. GAZDAR, Feminism's founding fathers: the men who fought for women's rights, Zero Books, Winchester, UK, 2016, 272p.
(25) F. DE BUEGER- VAN LIERDE, "Aan de oorsprong van de feministische beweging in België. “De zaak Popelin”, Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, vol.50, nr. 4,1972, p.1128–1137.
(26) Hof van Beroep Brussel, 12
december 1888, Pasicrisie 1889, II, p. 48
(27) D. HEIRBAUT, De vrouwen(on)rechtsgeschiedenis van Napoleon tot vandaag : een verhaal van voortdurende vooruitgang?,” in Recht en gender in België : 10 jaar later, E. Brems, P. Cannoot, and L. Stevens, Eds. Brugge: die Keure, 2021, p. 89–122.
(29) Hof van Cassatie, 11 November 1889, Pasicrisie 1890, I, p. 16.
(31) D. HEIRBAUT, De vrouwen(on)rechtsgeschiedenis van Napoleon tot vandaag : een verhaal van voortdurende vooruitgang?,” in Recht en gender in België : 10 jaar later, E. Brems, P. Cannoot, and L. Stevens, Eds. Brugge: die Keure, 2021, p. 89–122.
(32) D. KEYMOLEN, "Vrouwenemancipatie 1844-1914", in Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, DI.XIII, 1978, Haarlem, p. 68-69.
(33) D. KEYMOLEN, "Vrouwenemancipatie 1844-1914", in Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, DI.XIII, 1978, Haarlem, p. 69.
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