Women's power in the Habsburg monarchy: political action made visible

Women's power in the Habsburg monarchy: political action made visible

Wien, Österreich - On May 28, 2025, the new themed band entitled “Women as Politically acting. Contributions to the Agency in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1780-1918” will be presented in Parliament in Vienna. This volume, edited by Barbara Haiders-Wilson and Waltraud Schütz, both from the Institute for the Research of the Habsburg Monarchy and the Balkans of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), aims to make the political action of women visible in the Habsburg monarchy. The event takes place as part of the series "Parliament and Democracy - Yesterday and today" and is opened by parliamentary director Harald Dossi. Katrin Keller, who works in the parliamentary archive, will take over the moderation.

The themed band shows the diversity of political action by women in the late Habsburg monarchy. Haider-Wilson explains that it is not about presenting "heroines", but rather to illuminate political communication and action patterns within which women acted. Schütz emphasizes the difficult source situation, since the recordings of women were often attributed to the "private". These challenges illustrate the need for research that explicitly deals with the role of women in politics.

political participation and gender order

The key note is held by Gabriella Hauch, an emeritus professor of modern history as well as women and gender history at the University of Vienna. It addresses the "bourgeois gender order" of the 19th century and its effects on the political participation of women. Hauch argues that the French Revolution excluded women from this participation and that these exclusions were further solidified by restorative measures in the laws. Political participation was increasingly reserved as men, which led to the consolidation of rigid gender roles.

Women joined the political arena again in 1848, but were excluded by many political associations. The striving for emancipation remained, while the bourgeois-liberal women's movement campaigned for education. It is noteworthy that advocates of women's education often tried to avoid political arguments and instead emphasized the "practical" study of women, which underlines the ambivalence of the time.

facets of the political agency

Research has made significant progress in recent decades by enabling a source -based view of the participation of women in the 19th century. Women had different facets of political agency: they were not only direct actors in political activism, but also practiced informal influence and did public relations. These facets illustrate the crossing border of gender roles and the interdependencies in the political context of the Habsburg monarchy.

An example of the role of women at this time comes from Agnes Dietl, the chairwoman of the Wien-Favoriten women's town group, who expresses their gratitude for the recognition of their activities in a letter to co-riders in the German National Association of Südmark. According to their description, the efforts of women in the association are described as "apolitical pleasure", which reflects the ideas of gender identities and their political importance in the time.

The presentation of the collecting plant is therefore not only an appreciation of the contributions of women in the policy of the Habsburg monarchy, but also an important event to expand the historical discourse on women and their role in political processes.

For more information about the event, [ÖAW] (https://www.oeaw.ac.at/1/veranstaltungen-1/frauen-und-politik-in-habsburger monarchy) can be consulted. The complete anthology is also accessible via Persée.fr

The event promises to be a significant step in the visualization of the political history of women and invites society to actively deal with these topics. The anthology and the presentation thus make an important contribution to the visibility of the historical agency of women in the Habsburg monarchy.

Further information on this important topic can also be found on the website of [ots] (https://www.ots.at/presseaus-sung/ots_20250528_ots0165/neuer-themenband-macht-politisches-handeln-von-frauen-in-Habsburger monarchy).