CAUGHT BETWEEN STRATEGIC POSITIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF EQUALITY: FEMALE SUFFRAGE IN BELGIUM

Petra Meier

Historical Context

In Belgium, female sufffrage was granted in 1948, but the issue was on the agenda for more than 50 years, from the end of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th. During this period, the struggle for women’s sufffrage coincided with a fundamental political, economic, and social transforma- tion of Belgian society. At the international level, the period was charac- terized by major events such as World War I and World War II, as well as changes in the power relations and organization of the international political system. In the political level realm, the fijight for female sufffrage coincided with the transformation of political parties into modern mass parties, and in particular the rise of the blue-collar movement and the founding of the Socialist Party in 1885.1 This evolution is important because women’s suf- frage became a strategic issue in the parties’ fijight for political power. The rise of the Socialist Party, supported by the extension of male sufffrage to the lower classes at the end of the 19th century, reshufffled political power relations, challenging the traditional strength of the Catholic Church and its control over society. The Liberals2 sought the partnership of the Socialists in an attempt to break the supremacy of the Catholic Party.3 The Catholics nonetheless managed to stay in offfijice for more than three decades, from 1884 to World War I. From then until the achievement of female sufffrage in 1948, Belgian governments were characterized by coali- tions, mostly comprising the Catholics in combination with the Liberals

1 Several smaller regional and local socialist parties had been founded in the 1870s. In 1885, they merged and the socialist party was founded as the Parti Ouvrier Belge (Belgian Workers’ Party). 2 The Liberals were the fijirst to form a party in Belgium. The Liberal Party was founded in 1846. 3 The Catholic Party was founded in 1869, entitled Fédération des Cercles catholiques et des Associations conservatrices (Federation of Catholic Circles and Conservative Associations). Before that time, they had governed together or interchangeably with the Liberals, but without constituting a political party in the real sense of the term. 408 petra meier and/or the Socialists. The rise of the Socialists was important to the strug- gle for female franchise because they were the initial supporters of the issue, while the Catholics strategically responded to the threat repre- sented by the Socialists by taking over the cause. In the economic and social realms, Belgium experienced during this period the broad consequences of its industrialization and moderniza- tion, with all the subsequent social problems, struggles, and shifts in the organization of society. The fijirst half of the 20th century was important for the development of economic and social rights generally, although these were not equally granted to men and women. During this period, the fijirst foundations of the Belgian welfare state were laid, and the various political pillars developed strongly.4 Because of women’s structurally weak position in society, which was further hampered by larger economic trends such as the interwar depression, the women’s movement initially focused on issues other than political rights.

The Long Road to Female Sufffrage

With the establishment of Belgium in 1831, an electoral system based on taxes entitled about one percent of the adult population aged 25 and older, mainly noble, large landowners, to vote. In 1894, this right was extended. All male citizens received at least one vote, but land ownership, educational degrees, and family situation could entitle them to one or two extra votes. In 1919, in the wake of World War I, Belgium introduced the system of ‘one man, one vote’, calling it universal sufffrage even though it only applied to men. The dominant conceptualization of citizenship at that time supported such a label.5 Contrary to this gradual introduction of active sufffrage for men, all male Belgian citizens aged 256 or older were entitled to run for elections from 1831 onwards. Regarding women’s posi- tion in politics, Belgium has traditionally been a laggard.7 It was one of the last European countries to grant women political rights. While most countries now in the European Union accorded women sufffrage after

4 Witte E. and Craeybeckx J., Politieke geschiedenis van België sinds 1830. Spanningen in een burgerlijke democratie (Antwerpen: 1985). 5 Celis K. and Meier P., De macht van het geslacht. Gender, politiek en beleid in België (Leuven: 2006). 6 In 1921, the age for active and passive franchise was lowered to 21, and in 1981 to 18. 7 Woodward A., “Politische Partizipation in Belgien: die gespaltene Frau”, in Handbuch politische Partizipation von Frauen in Europa (Opladen: 1998) 17–40.