Wilhelmina Drucker was one of the first Dutch feminists. In terms of influence, Drucker stands side-by-side with Aletta Jacobs. Yet when we talk about the 'first feminist wave' in the Netherlands, Drucker often remains invisible. In fact, one of the few paintings made of her has been lost for years. What does (in)visibility mean for historiography?
Wilhelmina Drucker was one of the first Dutch feminists. In terms of influence, Drucker stands side-by-side with Aletta Jacobs. Yet when we talk about the 'first feminist wave' in the Netherlands, Drucker often remains invisible. In fact, one of the few paintings made of her has been lost for years. What does (in)visibility mean for historiography?
Wilhelmina Drucker (1847-1925) was the 'illegitimate' daughter of seamstress Constantia Lensing and banker Louis Drucker. Mina, as she was also called, was very politically committed and founded the influential Vereeniging voor Vrouwenkiesrecht in 1894. Drucker never got the chance to study and thus took matters into his own hands.
Drucker saw the abuses women faced as the result of economic dependency and inequality in marriage and parentage law. She argued against the ban on paternity research and the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate children. This was because her own father, refused to recognise her and her sister. As a result, she did not claim his inheritance at first and grew up in poverty. The ban on paternity research also meant she could not prove that he was her biological father. So the power lay entirely with the man to choose whether to acknowledge his children, or not. Which could have a huge impact on how you grew up.
Moreover, Drucker was in favour of free marriage as a union between two equals. Economic independence and the free availability of contraceptives were key, in her view. Otherwise, women remained dependent on men. She saw marriage then as almost the same as prostitution. Women usually could not yet make a decent living if they did not marry. So getting married was (almost) necessary for a stable life. Drucker herself never married.
Drucker was a true influencer in her time as founder of the Vrije Vrouwen Vereeniging (1889). This association heralded the beginning of the organised women's rights movements in the Netherlands. Drucker was a much discussed person in the media. Big and small news about her made the newspapers until her death in 1925. After that, too, reports about her surfaced every now and then.
She also ran her own magazine, Evolution, with her friend Theodore Haver, in which she wrote down all her thoughts in the form of social and political pieces. At conferences, she was a popular speaker for which she travelled all over the country. During her lifetime, Drucker was already identified as a 'pioneer'. It did not always go smoothly, because while travelling she was pelted with rotten apples and received a lot of criticism. She persevered.
A forgotten radical feminist?
Yet when we think of the women's rights movement in the late 19th/early 20th century, Wilhelmina Drucker is not the first to come to mind. Aletta Jacobs is often spotlighted, partly because Jacobs was a lot more visible. Drucker deliberately chose not to engage in "mutual adulation" which is why only two portraits of her were made. One of these is in Atria's possession and has become part of the Canon of the Netherlands since 14 February 2023. With this archive piece, Atria brings depth to the Canon window 'Aletta Jacobs'.
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The second portrait of Wilhelmina Drucker has been missing since 1917. According to public historians Agnes Cremers and Mark Bergsma, Drucker was at least as radical and progressive as the Dolle Mina's named after her.
"But to be remembered, you need images. If we find this painting of Drucker, it will help to commit her story to memory."
