Herstory

The foundation of RoSa was strongly embedded in the second feminist wave of the '70s, that itself had its roots in the '68-movement. Fundamental changes in society came into being due to the protest of students and minorities. They raised their voice for a more democratic society, against racism and for more individual responsibility. People also began to rethink the traditional division of roles and the balance of power between men and women. Moreover, the introduction of the contraceptive pill opened new perspectives on sexuality and family planning. Women could now control their own fertility. Being a mother became a choice. Books as 'The feminine mystique' from Betty Friedan showed women all over the world that being a woman was more than being a good housewive and mother.

As a consequence of this movement, several social and political organisations for women were founded. In Flanders we had PAG, Dolle Mina and VOK. Pluralistic Action Groups for Equal Rights of Men and Women were created in several Flemish towns during the year 1970. PAG was meant to be a pragmatic action movement, pointing at discriminatory situations and trying to abolish them. They campaigned for equal wages, political participation and for a reform of the law on marital goods. From within the PAG several women decided to launch discussion groups, which would also lead to the Women's Houses toward the end of the seventies. Also in 1970, Dolle Mina was founded. It had five clusters: Antwerp, Ostend, Leuven, Brussels and Ghent. Activities were mostly focused on family problems: a better child care, more playing grounds. They also broke taboos with action such as 'Boss in your own belly'. Then there was also the VOK or, in English, the Women's Consultation Committee, founded in 1972. It officialy represented "progressive women from Flanders", but it actually was a women's network. The VOK was and is responsible for the organisation of the Flemish Women's Day every year on November 11th.

Not only there were social movements. Within the framework of existing political parties, women started to organise themselves as well. They were aware of the fact that they had to struggle for a real policy of emancipation and equal rights. At the end of 1973, the first political feminist group was created inside the Christian's People Party. It was called Vrouw en Maatschappij (Woman and Society). Miet Smet was the great inspirer of the movement. Later in the 70's Woman and Society was followed by women groups in the socialist, liberal and Flemish-nationalist parties.

In the second half of the seventies, the mood shifted within the feminist movement. The awareness grew that legal measures were not enough, and that there was a need for a behavioural change. Women's houses were created all over the country. They held discussion groups in order to raise consciousness with different groups of women. In these houses, women got a place to stay, they got emergency aid, they could get distraction as well as education. But, in order to be able to provide education, people needed information. Furthermore, the commitment of the second feminist wave was also translated in several feminist magazines and studies.

All these evolutions made it necessary to have a documentation centre that would collect all the information and make it accessible to the public. So, Renée Van Mechelen took the initiative to start a pluralistic documentation centre called RoSa, short for 'Rol en Samenleving', which means 'Role and Society'. Chris Zwaenepoel, our director, was involved in the project from the beginning. Part of the cultural centre of Vorst (Brussels) was made available, and the Ministry of Dutch culture decided to give financial support. The centre was inaugurated on 26th October 1978. In order to make available the tens of thousands of publications gathered by RoSa, a computerised library system was used from 1990 onwards using a systemised list of subjects, the Women's thesaurus. This allows searching by author, title, keyword, among others, yields information quickly and in a user-friendly way. It is also a very complete system: it covers books, magazines, articles, press cuttings, archives... in one word, our whole collection.

From 1978 onwards, RoSa has certain aims. It aspires to be a pluralistic and politically independent centre meaning it has no ties with any sociopolitical block or political party. RoSa takes no particular position, it gives no opinion. We also aim at reaching a broad public so we make the information as accessible as possible. Therefore, we make our own publications with basic information on women.