Ode to Aletta Jacobs | Things that are perfectly normal now, but unheard of in your time

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Dear Doctor Jacobs,

From the future, I, Lize korpershoek, write you this letter. I do this from an Amsterdam where, as a twenty-something, I had an abortion because I was mentally and financially not ready to be someone's mother. I do this from an Amsterdam where, as a graduate and unmarried thirty-something, I bought a house to live in alone. Things that are dead normal now. But unheard of in your time.

Today, it is some 145 years back that you were the first woman in Dutch history to complete a degree and obtain a PhD. It is some 142 years back that, as an Amsterdam general practitioner, you introduced the pessary in the Netherlands, giving, mainly, poor women and sex workers self-determination over reproduction for the first time.  And it is some 105 years ago that women in the Netherlands got the right to vote and we mainly have you to thank for that.

I admire you because at a time when nobody seemed to care about women's underprivileged place in society, you thought things should be different: that equal treatment was something to strive for instead of accepting its lack. I admire you despite bullying during your studies, angry letters from fellow GPs (who were secretly heartily curious about the diaphragm when they spoke to you one-on-one) and a system that constantly worked against you, kept doing what you did.

But 100 years after your death, unfortunately, we are far from there. Mayor Halsema regularly gets misogynistic remarks thrown at her head, when I signed for the house I bought, the buyer was described as him in the purchase contract (‘Sorry, ma'am that's just the way it is’) and abortion is still included in the penal code.

Therefore, the fighting continues into your future. Where you started with the rights of rich, white women, we fight not only for women's rights but also for the rights of non-binary people, we block highways for a better climate, we occupy railway stations to revolt against the extermination of a people in another continent, we take to the streets because we disagree with the current housing policy and we put red heels on Dam Square to draw attention to femicide. We are fighting because you showed that fighting makes a difference, that perseverance pays off.

Thank you for that. 

Kind regards

Lize korpershoek