by Sebastiaan Coops -
If Virginia Woolf had been Dutch, she would have been named Cécile de Jong van Beek en Donk (1866-1944). Cécile was one of the two daughters of the aristocratic De Jong family, who owned a country estate in Beek and Donk in the Dutch province of North Brabant. Together with her sister Elsa, they were planning to make a significant contribution to women's emancipation in the Netherlands.
Cécile married Adriaan Goekoop, a well-known and wealthy real estate magnate from The Hague. However, she found the name Adriaan unappealing and referred to him as Paul. Their marriage remained loveless and inspired Cécile to take action for what she wanted: women's rights.
Around 1893, Cécile began working on her monumental novel, Hilda van Suylenburg, which would become the most widely read Dutch feminist novel. In many ways, Hilda, the protagonist of the book, resembles Cécile and her sister Elsa. Hilda's life is superficial and focused on seeking amusement and a good marriage partner. She finds a friend in a female doctor, Corona van Oven, and decides to study. Cécile, who had been living in The Hague for three years, was fed up with this empty life. She also found her own female doctor, Catharine van Tussenbroek from Amsterdam, who inspired her to become more involved in the fight for women's rights. Just like Hilda, Cécile's sister Elsa was studying law at the time, and would have been the first Dutch woman to graduate from this field if she had succeeded. Unfortunately, she did not.
Everything changed during their trip to the United States in 1893. They visited the World's Fair in Chicago and discovered that there was a building dedicated to women's work. The Dutch contribution was woefully underrepresented, which gave her the insight to take action herself. Back in the Netherlands, she threw herself into the task and became the president of the National Exhibition of Women's Work, which was scheduled to take place in 1898 alongside the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina.
In August 1897, Cécile traveled to Belgium for the International Feminist Congress. She was impressed by the women speakers' elegance and saw clearly how women's rights should be addressed in the Netherlands: decently and boldly. And that's exactly what happened. Paul had organized a location and a temporary exhibition space.
Around this time, Cécile finished her paper exhibition. Hilda van Suylenburg was published and it was a huge success. Collecting stories from her own life or from friends and acquaintances over several years resulted in a monumental work that explains how women have been held back by men. The impact was felt in living rooms, newspapers, and even the House of Representatives. Emancipation was no longer ridiculed or eccentric but was increasingly accepted by society as a whole.
On July 9, 1898, the National Exhibition of Women's Work opened in The Hague. Coaches with coats of arms drove up and down to drop off the 600 guests. Representatives from the royal family, the government, the city council of The Hague, the Papal nuncio, diplomatic envoys, military authorities, sympathizers, admirers, and even the Prince of Soerakarta were present. In her opening speech, Cécile said that most women present didn't know what work means because they confuse work with helpfulness and enthusiasm, due to their refined upbringing.
Cécile has awakened people with her book and exhibition. "Here lies the didactic novel that women's movement has been waiting for! Only now can feminism penetrate into the rooms of young women who are still sleeping behind thick curtains" was written in Belang en Recht. Cécile herself used the same wake-up metaphor for her exhibition: "Awaken people, stir them to investigate and empathise, to investigate and think critically – that is what we want!"
Sebastiaan Coops is a historian specialised in colonial and world history. While studying history and Asia studies at Leiden University, he focused on Dutch colonial history, with a particular interest in material history. You can therefore call him a real collector, which can be seen at his home, where he has a large collection of old prints on historical subjects.
Image: Cécile Goekoop-de Jong van Beek en Donk (ca. 1895-1925) Photographer Unknown. Photocollection Diepenbrock, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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