Entangled Feminisms. Rethinking the History of the Belgian Movement for Women’s Rights Through Transnational Intersections

Abstract

The history of Belgian feminism has hitherto been written almost exclusively from within a national framework, portraying the image of a moderate and backward movement fragmented along party-political lines. Following the relational and reflexive approach of ‘entangled history’, this article argues that the transnational intersections of Belgian, Dutch and French feminisms, profoundly challenge this ‘pillarisated’ categorisation, allowing in particular for a reassessment of the socialist and the catholic wing of the movement for women’s rights. The transnational perspective brings to light, first, the introduction and persistence in Belgium of a radical left-wing feminist tradition and, second, the French-Belgian-Dutch intersections of catholic feminism. In both cases these transnational entanglements, cutting across the presumed boundaries of ideology, (class) and party-politics, demonstrate that the framework of ‘pillarisation’ cannot cover the overtones of Belgian feminism. This contribution concludes with a tentative exploration of how the First World War impacted on these transnational connections and collective identities.