Women's Strategies in the Jewish Community in Germany

Abstract

Jewish feminists challenged domination the Jewish community in Germany in the early twentieth century. No longer satisfied with honorary titles and volunteer status, they sought influence and equality in the communal structure. Their organization, the Jiidischer Frauenbund (League Jewish Women), denounced the secondary status women and demanded suffrage and leadership positions on their behalf. The JFB belonged to the mainstream the nineteenth and twentieth-century movement which tried to enlarge woman's sphere by increasing her opportunities and broadening her outlook. It attempted to improve her self-image and elevate her status. Its demands were essentially reformist, shaped not only by the position women in Judaism, but also by the situation Jews and women in Germany. The Frauenbund engaged in traditional, liberal strategies to acquire political while simultaneously developing its own alternative to male power by building an organization of women, for women. The JFB's successes and failures derived from the conflicts and