Women's emancipation in Belgium: timeline

1864 Isabelle Gatti de Gamond opens the first college for girls.
1880 First women students admitted at the university of Brussels.
1884 Isala van Diest is the first woman to open a medical office. To allow women to practice medicine a special decree has to be voted.
1890 Legal permission to all academic occupations.
1892 The foundation of 'Ligue Belge du droit des Femmes', the first Belgian women's organisation by Marie Popelin, Louis Frank and Isala van Diest.
1900 Introduction of a law allowing women to hold a bank account, to sign an employement contract as well as to earn a salary.
1905 Foundation of Conseil National des Femmes Belges.
1914 - 1918 World War One
1920 Law of April 15th: right to vote at the local level.
1921 The Ligue Belge du Droit des Femmes founds a political party for women: Parti général des femmes.
1921 Equal salaries for male and female teachers. This is the first step towards equal pay for equal work.
1921 Marie Spaak Janson becomes the first Belgian Woman senator.
1929 Lucie Dejardin is the first woman to be directly elected as a representative to the House of representatives.
1934 Economical crisis. Women are excluded from all funtions at state level.
1934 Protest demonstration against the limited job opportunities for women. An initiative of La Porte Ouverte with Louise De Craene - Van Duuren.
1940 - 1945 World War II
1947 Foundation of the first union department for women. All major unions in Belgian soon follow this example.
1948 Right to vote at all levels is decreed by law.
1957 Ratification of the Treaty of Rome: article 119 prescribes equal pay for equal work.
1965 First Female Minister of State: Marguerite de Riemaecker-Legot becomes minister of Family and Housing.
1966 Some 3000 women at FN Herstal go on strike for equal pay. The strike lasts for three months.
1968 Stewardess Gabrielle Defrenne, sues the National Airline on the basis of gender discrimination. The airline made women retire at forty, whereas men were allowed to pursue their job until the legal term of retirement has been reached.
1969 Introduction of a law protecting women from losing their jobs when getting married or when getting pregnant.
1970 Arising of women action groups such as Dolle Mina and PAG in the major cities.
1970 The first 'Vote Women' campaign is a success: the number of elected women at the local council raises from two to seven.
1971 Introduction of the equaltity principle regarding unemployment compensations.
1971 Foundation of Vrouwen Overleg Kommitee (VOK)
1972 November 11th: First National Women's day. Ten thousands of women attend the meeting.
1974 Introduction of law on parenthood equality, which gives equal rights to mother and father for raising and fostering children.
1975 Signing of a collective agreement on equal pay.
1976 National Women's day on abortion. This causes a split with the more moderate Christian women's organisations.
1978 Foundation of RoSa, the first specialised documentation centre on feminism, equal opportunities and women's studies. In 1979 RoSa gets a French sister: Université des Femmes.
1981 March 7th: mass demonstration Women against crisis. Tenthousands of women fill the streets.
1985 Creation of a state secretary for social emancipation, thus making the equal opportunities issue an offical federal policy.
1990 Abortion no longer falls under criminal law.
1994 The law Smet-Tobback introduces a rule saying that at least one-third of all people to be presented at the elections should be women.
1995 Nomination of the first Flemish minister fo Equal Opportunities.
1995 Foundation of Amazone:the national resource center on equality between women and men. An initiative by Miet Smet.
1995 Ratification of The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women
2002 Februari 21st: Article 10 of the Belgian constitution is amended with the following: "The equality between men and women must be guaranteed".