A WOMAN OF CONVICTION A WOMAN OF CONVICTION Éliane Gubin In collaboration with Catherine Jacques PUBLISHER Institute for the Equality of Women and Men Rue Ernest Blerot 1, B-1070 Brussels T ++32 2 233 42 65 – F ++32 2 233 40 32
[email protected] www.iewm.fgov.be AUTHORS Éliane Gubin In collaboration with Catherine Jacques FINAL EDITING Els Flour Geraldine Reymenants TRANSLATION Par Toutatis scri REVISION Michael Novy LAYOUT AND PRINTING www.inextremis.be RESPONSIBLE PUBLISHER Michel Pasteel, Institute for the Equality of Women and Men FILE NUMBER D/2008/10.043/4 Deze publicatie is eveneens in het Nederlands beschikbaar. Cette publication est également disponible en français. TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 7 Introduction . .11 Chapter 1. Childhood and youth . .17 An adventure-story background 19 Childhood in Ghent 21 Brussels-Liège-Brussels: troubled times 22 Return to normal life 25 Lawyer and mother 27 Chapter 2. A scientifi c and academic career. .33 The end of the 1960s and the beginning of activism 40 Equality, a fi ne aspiration? 42 The survey of female employees in Europe 43 Linking activism and teaching 47 The 1990s, the era of Women’s Studies 50 The Women’s Studies Support Centre (1990-1994) 53 A fi nal attempt, GERFES 56 Chapter 3. Equal rights for all workers (1961-1976) . .59 The context of the 1960s and 1970s 62 The eruption of feminism’s new wave 63 The beginnings of institutional feminism 66 Equal pay and Article 119 of the Rome Treaty 68 Equal pay: a historical Loch Ness monster 69 The longest strike: Herstal, February to May 1966 75 A decisive step: Defrenne versus Sabena 89 Chapter 4.