Bread and Roses

Just a few years earlier, an important encounter took place, also in Berlin, at the International Congress of Women, at which the International Alliance of Women (IAW) was founded, which still exists today. The struggle for women*'s rights is still an international issue today, though historical and local social conditions differ. It's a fitting opportunity to reflect on the beginnings of the movement. As a research trainee at the Jewish Museum Berlin, I've taken a look at our archives, as well as others.

Who were these early women*'s rights activists and where are their stories told?

What we fight for ...

On my search, it immediately became apparent to me that the origins of the women*'s movement can't be traced back to a single event or date. In the 19th century, mainly in the United States, here and there women* implemented influential labor protests for better working conditions and higher pay. A social movement grew out of these scattered uprisings, one that questioned women*'s legal inequality within the social order, and which increasingly addressed the middle classes. In this way, the focus of the demands shifted toward voting rights, access to education, and the right to employment. The motto "Bread and Roses" highlights the fact that the figures involved weren't merely interested in surviving, but living well. It comes from a 1911 speech by Rose Schneiderman:

“The woman worker needs bread, but she needs roses too.”

A poem of the same name by James Oppenheim made this sentence well known. It referenced Schneiderman directly. The poem says:

“Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew. Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.”

Today, the musical version of this text belongs to the repertoire of songs sung by women*'s movements worldwide. Very few people know about the notable originator of this idea, whose Jewish heritage played a significant role in her political action.

Socially Minded, Female, Jewish

Rose (Rahel) Schneiderman (1882–1972) was born in the Russian Empire. She belonged to a Jewish family that emigrated to the United States. Rose was just 13 when her parents died, so she had to earn her living as a textile worker. By 21 years old, she was already engaging with the Jewish-socialist United Cloth Hat and Cap Makers’ Union, and encouraging her colleagues to join.

Rising to prominence a few years later, she went from unionist to political consultant for the Roosevelt government, and as the sole female member of the National Recovery Administration Labor Advisory Board, advocating for equal pay for women* as well as including domestic workers in social security—which remains a controversial topic to this day.

Women*'s Emancipation in Germany

The pioneers of the German women*'s movement include Bertha Pappenheim (1859–1936) and Henriette Fürth (1861–1938). Their political goals for women*'s rights were in no way inferior to those of their American peers.

At the 1904 International Congress of Women mentioned above, the two also initiated the founding of the Jüdischer Frauenbund (Jewish Women's Association). Bertha Pappenheim remained its director until her death in 1936. Still very connected to the Jewish tradition, but also committed to women*'s emancipation, the association represented the interests of women* in Jewish culture, as well as those of Jews within the women*'s movement.

Henriette Fürth summed up the necessity of such a position: "We're not just women, we are Jewish women. And as long as this epithet connotes a pejorative difference, we must not refrain from struggle."—by which she meant both the struggle for women*'s rights and against anti-Semitism.

At that point in Germany, the Jewish population remained legally disadvantaged. Formal political and legal equality wasn't assured until the Weimar constitution of 1919. A few months before that, women* were able to use their voting rights at the national level for the first time to elect the German National Assembly on 19 January 1919. And so this year we are celebrating a double anniversary for emancipatory achievement.

Routine and Revolution

Alongside these exceptional figures in the German women*'s movement and their activism for pay, bread, and participation, many women* struggled for self-determination in their everyday lives, doing so in the most varied ways. At the same time, women* fought against antiquated conceptions of female roles and for the right to self-determination, which at the beginning of the 20th century could even be manifested in the choice of clothing or a haircut, in demonstrative smoking in public, or by driving an automobile.