Die Staatsbürgerschaft der Frau als Verpflichtung oder politische Selbstermächtigung. 100 Jahre Frauenwahlrechtsjubila¨um in Deutschland

This article focuses on the question of who remembered the introduction of women’s suffrage in Germany, and what function this remembering had. Initially, it was women’s suffrage activists themselves who commemorated the introduction of women’s suffrage and wanted to encourage women’s political commitment. In the years after the Second World War, the political parties took over and used the commemoration to attract women voters. The 1970s witnessed a watershed in women’s history, which enabled civil society actors to use the anniversary in order to promote women’s own political demands. This changed the perspective, and women were no longer only addressed as voters. The new and self-empowering narrative of the suffrage struggle offered the possibility to remind parties of women’s political demands. This increasingly emphasised the importance of women’s role as citizens, thus integrating them into the political system, which was particularly evident in the 2018–2019 celebrations of the centennial of women’s suffrage.