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Aletta Jacobs

Aletta Jacobs

A woman who has changed the look of the Netherlands. Her name still has a familiar sound. That is right. Aletta Jacobs was the first woman in the Netherlands to visit an HBS, the first woman to complete university education, the first woman to become a doctor and the first woman to receive her doctorate. And for a quarter of a century she was the head of the Association for Women's Suffrage in the Netherlands.
You will also find a representation of the era in the Netherlands, in which women have a disadvantaged position and in which poverty and working conditions played a role in your life expectancy. Where studying and working for girls was not self-evident and women still had no right to vote.

Aletta Jacobs

Aletta H. Jacobs (1854-1929)

Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs was born on February 9, 1854 in Sappemeer, as the eighth child of a Jewish doctor’s family. Her parents were Anna de Jongh and Abraham Jacobs. At the age of thirteen she left the village school. The ladies’ school she attended thereafter became a nightmare for her, and after two weeks she […]

Jacobs’ archives

History of the Jacobs’ archive It is not absolutely clear how and when the papers described here came into the possession of Atria, Institute on gender equality and women’s history . In the preface of her Memories, first published in 1924, Jacobs writes “when I first started to read through my old letters and papers […]

War and peace – Aletta Jacobs

Jacobs detested war and viewed armed violence as an unmitigated evil. In 1898 she participated in the first international peace conference hosted by the Netherlands. At first, Jacobs did little work for pacifism, although she always accompanied her husband, Carel Victor Gerritsen (1850-1905), whenever he attended the meetings of the Interparliamentary Union. 1914 First World […]

Women suffrage – Aletta Jacobs

Despite the fact that Jacobs fulfilled all the necessary conditions for enfranchisement, she was not send a ballot like everyone else. When in 1883 her name was not on the just published new voter register, she decided to send a letter to the mayor and councillors of Amsterdam. Her request was refused, because it was […]

Travel correspondence from Africa and Asia 1913

Aletta Jacobs (1854-1929) went traveling through many countries in the years 1911 and 1912. She made this journey in order to stay informed about the position of women and to promote women’s suffrage. Throughout the duration of this trip she was accompanied by Carrie Chapman Catt, the president of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance. Jacobs’ travel letters were originally intended as […]

Isaac Israels and Aletta Jacobs

The famous painter Isaac Israels painted Aletta Jacobs at least three times. This portrait was painted in 1919. His sister, Mathilde Cohen Tervaert-Israels (1864-1945), gave it to the International Archives for the Women’s Movement (IAV) in 1936 on the occasion of its opening on December 19. Mathilde Cohen Tervaert-Israels was, among other things, president of the Vereniging Onderlinge […]

The female body graphically depicted

Dr. Aletta Henriëtte Jacobs made a very clever book with moveble parts to show the working of the female body in a comprehensive, yet understandable manner.

Aletta Jacobs’ fan

Aletta Jacobs travelled around the world together with Carrie Chapman Catt. In 1912 they visited China, where Aletta Jacobs received this beautiful fan from Sophia Chang. She was the acting president of the organization for women’s suffrage in Shanghai. The fan was handmade by Chang herself. On it one can find a verse in Chinese characters. Just before their […]

Aletta Jacobs

Aletta Jacobs

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