Emma Ihrer
| Emma Ihrer | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Emma Rother 3 January 1857 Glatz, Lower Silesia, Germany |
| Died | 8 January 1911 (aged 54) Berlin, Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Occupation | Feminist, socialist |
Emma Ihrer (3 January 1857 – 8 January 1911) was a German feminist and trade unionist who was active in founding societies to defend the rights of women workers.
Emma Ihrer was born at a time when women were disenfranchised, and under the reactionary Prussian Association law of 1850 were forbidden participation in political associations. The authorities could define "political" as they chose. In October 1878 the first of the Anti-Socialist Laws arbitrarily deprived members of the Social Democratic Party and those associated with it of the right of association. It was not until the Association Act of 15 May 1908 that women were allowed to take part in political activities and organisations. Working women faced opposition from working men, who saw them as unwelcome competition, as well as from the authoritarian state which denied them basic civil rights.
Emma Rother was born on 3 January 1857 in Glatz, Lower Silesia, the daughter of a shoemaker. She was given a strict Roman Catholic upbringing. At an early age she was married to Emmanuel Ihrer, an apothecary twenty-two years her senior. They moved to Berlin in 1881. Emma Ihrer found work as a milliner.
Emma Ihrer first spoke in public at a meeting on "How to raise the morality of the workers". She expressed the view that prostitution is just part of the misery of the workers, and called for the elimination of the vice squad, which was part of the problem. On 13 November 1883 Emma Ihrer founded the socialist and feminist Frauen-Hilfsverein für Handarbeiterinnen ("Aid Society for Women Manual Workers"). The goal was to encourage its members materially and spiritually, to represent the interests of its members in the workplace, to grant loans in emergencies and to pay disability benefits. Further plans to establish work places for some types of women's work, set up a reading room and a dining house did not materialise. Emma's enthusiasm declined as she saw the association engaged only in minor reforms.
On 26 February 1885, Emma Ihrer, Marie Hofmann, Pauline Staegemann and Gertrude Guillaume-Schack founded the Verein zur Wahrung der Interessen der Arbeiterinnen ("Society for the Protection of Women Workers' Interests"). The society functioned primarily as a support group in which doctors and lawyers offered their services free of charge. Ihrer was secretary of the board. A Berlin branch was founded, and similar organisations were founded by women across the Reich. The garment workers were particularly active, and it was through their influence that the Reichstag decided in favour of an official survey of wages in the lingerie and clothing industry. The association also ensured that the industrial code included provisions against usury with work materials. In April 1886 the association was banned on the grounds that it was political. Hofmann, Staegemann, Ihrer and Johanna Jagert were tried in court. When the police forcibly disbanded the club it had over a thousand members.
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