Rev. Tania Oldenhage, study director of the Forum for Contemporary Issues, skillfully led through the evening and posed exciting questions for discussion. The topic was the ecumenical women's movement in German-speaking Switzerland, which Evelyne Zinsstag and Dolores Bertschinger illuminate in their book. Zinsstag's contribution starts with the \"Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work\" (SAFFA) in Zurich in 1958 and shows how the theologians Ruth Epting, Else K\u00e4hler and Marga B\u00fchrig positioned themselves in the emerging women's movement.<\/p>\n
Evelyne Zinsstag carefully places the women in the context of their time. They tried to reconcile different images of women and promoted a partnership between women and men on an equal footing, without wanting to provoke. The fact that provocation was not desired was shown, for example, in the speech of the Federal President at SAFFA 1958, as Zinsstag explained. There, the president praised women for their commitment to the state, but at the same time admonished them not to be too \"rebellious\".<\/p>\n
A \"woman pastor\" in Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n Rev. Magdalena Zimmermann, Deputy Director of Mission 21, gave a brief insight into the rich life of one of the personalities described in the book as a greeting. Ruth Epting comes from a \"Basel mission dynasty\" and traveled to Cameroon in 1971 on behalf of the Basel Mission to work as a theological teacher in parish training. At that time, the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon was still against the ordination of women. Ruth Epting was therefore a pioneer, Zimmermann recounted: \"At first, the pastors in Cameroon wondered if the Basel Mission was not adhering more to the Bible, which after all commanded women in the congregation to remain silent, but they soon felt that this woman pastor had much to say to them, indeed, that they could learn from her and wanted to do so.\"<\/p>\n Women pastors also had a difficult time in Switzerland. They had to be celibate in order to be allowed to practice as pastors. But Dolores Zo\u00e9 Bertschinger points out, \"The churches also offered women opportunities for development, because they provided them with money and space for their educational work.\" Bertschinger describes in the second part of the book, which is in the form of an essai, how she perceives the historical ecumenical women's movement and continues on her own emancipatory path.<\/p>\n Giving women a voice<\/strong><\/p>\n The two authors also spoke with Director of Studies Tania Oldenhage about their motivation for writing the book. It stems partly from the fact that as students at the university they only came into contact with a few texts by feminist theologians. With the book, the authors want to give a voice to the many women who, with a lot of creativity, created free space for themselves at Saffa 58 and started an ecumenical women's movement.<\/p>\n Before inviting the numerous guests to the aperitif, study leader Tania Oldenhage asked what the authors wanted for the book. They hope that more attention will be paid to the contributions of women in the historical narrative. In addition, Dolores Bertschinger would like some feminists to realize: \"Religious women are not simply old-fashioned, but they were and are a living part of the women's movement.<\/p>\n Text\/Photo: Eva Sidler<\/em><\/p>\n \u25ba The book \"Aufbruch ist eins, und Weitergehen ist etwas anderes\" Frauenr\u00e4ume von der Saffa 58 \u00fcber das Tagungszentrum Boldern zum Frauen*Zentrum Z\u00fcrich (212 pages) is due out in September 2020 in the eFeF Publishing <\/a>published.<\/p>\n \u25ba As Mission 21, we are part of an international movement for gender justice. Learn more about our Gender Equity Program.<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n