Etta Palm d'Aelders facts for kids

Etta Lubina Johanna Palm d'Aelders (April 1743 – 28 March 1799), also known as the Baroness of Aelders, was a Dutch spy and feminist, outspoken during the French Revolution. She gave the address Discourse on the Injustice of the Laws in Favour of Men, at the Expense of Women to the French National Convention on 30 December 1790 and was a founding member of the first female-only organisation in the history of France, Société patriotique et de bienfaisance des Amies de la Vérité. D'Aelders used these political platforms to instruct French citizens on the struggles of women in the public and private spheres, and to show men the harm that was being caused to the lives of women through their relative social inferiority. D'Aelders joined women like Olympe de Gouges and Théroigne de Méricourt in her resolute determination to improve the rights of women and mobilise tangible action to drive female equality forward.

Biography

Etta Lubina Johanna d'Aelders was born into a middle-class family in Groningen in April 1743. She was the daughter of Jacob Aelders van Nieuwenhuys, a wallpaper merchant and pawnbroker, and his second wife Agatha Petronella de Sitter. Aelders's father died in 1749 when she was only six years old. Her mother took over the family's business as manager of the pawnshop, a move which was protested by her family, the de Sitters, who did not believe it to be an appropriate occupation as her late husband Jacob had been of a lower social standing than her. The business is recorded to have not been particularly successful, with speculation that widespread anti-semitism resulted in discrimination against d'Aelders's mother due to her Jewish business partner. Despite this, d'Aelders's mother provided a good education for d'Aelders, allowing her to study French and also possibly some English and Italian. This education was remarkable for a girl from a non-aristocratic family at the time.

Around her later teenage years, d'Aelders met Christiaan Ferdinand Lodewijk Palm, the son of a prosecutor from Arnhem, whom she married in 1762. The marriage was not happy, there is speculation that d'Aelders was unfaithful, and Christiaan disappeared to Dutch colonies of the East Indies leaving d'Aelders pregnant. One child was born from the marriage the same year as her husband’s disappearance in 1763, named Agatha after d'Aelders's mother, but the infant passed away within three months of birth.

In 1768 d'Aelders traveled with young attorney Jan Munniks, brother of the celebrated professor of botany Wynoldus Munniks, who had been appointed consul at Messina for the Dutch Republic to France. D'Aelders left with him for Messina, but it is unclear if she ever reached Italy. According to her biographer Koppius, Munniks left d'Aelders during the trip due to impatience with illness she was facing at the time. On the way she met Douwe Sirtema van Grovestins, a former equerry to the widow of Stadtholder William IV, Prince of Orange, who introduced her in higher circles. In 1773, she moved to Paris, settling in the Palais Royal area. It is written that she secured a large income through her connections, benefitting from profits on shares in military necessities such as gunpowder and saltpeter. With this income d'Aelders was able to live in luxurious quarters and her house is said to have functioned as a salon for young intellectuals. In 1778 her diplomatic engagement started and continued until 1792.  

She often served conflicting interests, sometimes the Netherlands, sometimes Prussia and sometimes France.

Political activity

Due to d'Aelders's highly-praised espionage and diplomatic work, the financial income from her missions enabled her to move to a grander house at the Rue Favard in Paris, where she set up a salon, where many politically engaged people met.

During this time she developed a lively correspondence with many political figures including the Dutch Grand Pensionary Van de Spiegel and the French minister Lebrun. Some of her letters have been preserved and they show she was engaged in political discourse. In one letter dated 18 January 1790, de Spiegel is shown to be expounding his views to her regarding the principles of the Dutch constitution.

Revolutionary and feminist activity

During the Revolution, d’Aelders carried out remarkable activity in favour of women's emancipation and gender equality. She was closely linked to Louise-Félicité de Kéralio, editor-in-chief of the Journal d'État et du Citoyen. She also had links to Olympe de Gouges, whose ideas she supported.

By 1790, when her feminist activities took a start, she was already a well-known political figure. From the beginnings of the French Revolution in 1789, she was a loyal defender of its cause. Among her acquaintances were, for example, Robespierre and Condorcet.

D'Aelders was one of the few women to take direct political action in the French Revolution, her support for it being so great that preserved correspondence shows her urging Van de Spiegel to make reforms to the Dutch constitution in order to grant the people more power. She gained public attention for her activities in the French Revolution when she interrupted a meeting of the Amis de la Vérité (Society of the Friends of Truth, also known as Cercle social) on 26 November 1790 in order to support an exhausted orator defending the rights of women. D'Aelders's speech, titled ‘On the injustice of the law in favour of men, at the expense of women’ (French: Sur l´injustice des Loix en faveur des Hommes, aux dépens de Femmes), did not question the domestic role nor the subordination of women, but demanded the possibility for women to intervene in political life. Cercle social was a key group for those involved in Paris’s political sphere and shaped the intellectual and political debates that occurred in the city. D'Aelders became involved in revolutionary politics and was especially active in feminist circles, like the Société Fraternelle des Patriotes de l'un et l'autre sexe.

D’Aelders then decided to take more concrete action, formulating a plan in February 1791 to create a network of patriotic women’s societies across France, much like those already functioning under the leadership of men. The societies would be organised and connected by a central, federal society in Paris. As part of this ambitious agenda, d’Aelders founded a women’s equivalent to Cercle social, named Société Patriotique et de Bienfaisance des Amies de la Vérité in March 1791, which became the focal point of her feminist activities in countering prejudice against women. The society was focused on women’s rights and membership was only offered to women. Through the society, d’Aelders wanted to advance the prospects of underprivileged girls by teaching them skills. Unfortunately she never succeeded in setting up the schools or workshops to teach these skills, but she did benefit three girls by financing apprenticeships for them with subscription money paid by society members.  

As the president of Société Patriotique et de Bienfaisance des Amies de la Vérité, d'Aelders's speeches on the social and living conditions of women were read and heard widely, garnering popular support from Parisian women. As an eloquent speaker, she gained many listeners at society meetings as she spoke on politically charged topics like equal rights, better education and the right to divorce. On 1 April 1792, accompanied by a group of women, d’Aelders addressed the Assembly. The group asked the assembly to admit women to civil and military roles, that the education of girls be based on the same principles as those of boys, that women could become adults at the age of 21, and that the law on divorce be promulgated. The response of the President of the Assembly was outright refusal. However, the Assembly did later take direct action as a result of Etta’s proposals. On 20 September 1792, the first divorce decree was implemented. This decree granted divorce on a variety of grounds, including mutual consent, and marked an important step towards women’s liberation. The society survived until d’Aelders became a suspect of espionage in late 1792; the society then disappeared from the French public landscape.

Rumours of espionage were most harmful when d’Aelders was linked with the King of Prussia; although these accusations were unfounded. The shadow that was cast over her personal political allegiance stunted her developing political career as popular opinion turned against her. Despite this, the French government retained confidence in d’Aelders’s political and oratory ability, sending her on a diplomatic mission to Holland. The newly founded French Republic wished to send an ambassador to the country. However, d’Aelders was seemingly unsuccessful in this attempt as she never returned to France, and did not take up her position on the political scene again.

D’Aelders died in the Hague on March 28, 1799, and is thought to have been buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery in Rijswijk.

See also

In Spanish: Etta Palm d'Aelders para niños