40 Facts About Corry Tendeloo

Nancy Sophie Cornelie "Corry" Tendeloo was a Dutch lawyer, feminist, and politician who served in the House of Representatives for the Free-thinking Democratic League from 1945 until 1946 and then for the newly-formed Labour Party until her death in 1956.

Corry Tendeloo became politically active in the 1930's and was elected to the Amsterdam City Council for the VDB in 1938.

In 1946, the VDB merged with other parties into the PvdA, which Corry Tendeloo represented in parliament.

Corry Tendeloo sat on two select committees and spoke in favour of women's rights issues.

Corry Tendeloo helped secure universal suffrage for the Dutch colonies Suriname and Curacao in 1948.

Corry Tendeloo died in October 1956, before any of the women's rights issues she fought for became law.

Corry Tendeloo was largely forgotten after her death, even during the second wave of feminism in the 1960s and 1970s.

Nancy Sophie Cornelie "Corry" Tendeloo was born on 3 September 1897 in Tebing Tinggi, on Sumatra, part of the Dutch East Indies.

Corry Tendeloo attended primary school in Amersfoort and secondary school in Leiden.

In 1919, Corry Tendeloo began reading law at Utrecht University, graduating in 1924.

Corry Tendeloo encountered cases involving women's inequalities while working pro bono for Vereniging Ons Huis, an association to promote social housing.

Corry Tendeloo volunteered as secretary for the Dutch Women's Club, a position she held until 1937.

Corry Tendeloo lived in the housing cooperative The New House, an apartment complex for unmarried women in Amsterdam, serving as its president.

Corry Tendeloo joined the Free-thinking Democratic League, a political party founded in 1901 on a platform emphasising universal suffrage.

Corry Tendeloo joined the Association of Women with Higher Education and was appointed to a leadership role in 1933.

Corry Tendeloo joined the Association for Women's Interests and Equal Citizenship and became president of its youth committee.

Corry Tendeloo was elected to the Amsterdam City Council in 1938 and remained active in the VVGS, campaigning for men to see women as equals in the workforce who could contribute to the progress of society, not just family life.

Corry Tendeloo said that once society's view of women changed, the discriminating, outdated laws would be rewritten.

Corry Tendeloo was chosen to take the seat of Betsy Bakker-Nort, a feminist she admired who had been elected member of parliament in 1922 after campaigning for women's suffrage, and who did not return to parliament after having been interned in Nazi concentration camps.

Corry Tendeloo continued her legal practice while serving on the City Council and in national politics.

Corry Tendeloo resigned from the Amsterdam City Council in September 1946.

Corry Tendeloo started a regular column called "Parlementaria" in the monthly magazine of the VVGS, writing about political news events; she continued to do so until April 1956.

In 1946, Corry Tendeloo criticised the Ministry of Social Affairs for commissioning research into the shortage of female workers, arguing that before the war the government had actively dissuaded women from taking part in the workforce on the grounds that a women's place was at home.

Corry Tendeloo concluded that the government changed its stance on women in the workplace based on the needs of the labour market.

In 1947, Corry Tendeloo unsuccessfully tried to stop a ministerial ruling put forward by Minister of Internal Affairs Louis Beel, asking ministries to restrict the hiring of married women.

Corry Tendeloo served as deputy chair of the Justice Select Committee until October 1956, working on a new civil code.

That same year, Corry Tendeloo was granted a Knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.

In March 1955, Corry Tendeloo debated equal pay in the House of Representatives.

Corry Tendeloo argued that the convention did not require an immediate closure of the pay gap.

The government claimed it was up to the private sector to prioritise equal pay; Corry Tendeloo argued that anything involving women's rights would end up at the bottom of the priority list.

Corry Tendeloo submitted a motion, with six others, calling on the government to ratify and execute the Equal Remuneration Convention as quickly as possible.

In September 1955, Corry Tendeloo moved the "Motie Corry Tendeloo" for the end of mandatory dismissal of female civil servants once they married.

Corry Tendeloo raised the issue of inequality in the workplace throughout her tenure in parliament; in September 1955 she forced an interpellation during a discussion about a proposed law for teachers.

Corry Tendeloo argued that the government's position on maintaining mandatory dismissal of married teachers, albeit with more exemptions than before, was out of touch with society.

Corry Tendeloo ended her speech urging the government to revise its position with the advice "a fault confessed is a fault redressed".

Corry Tendeloo was instrumental in ending marital power in the Netherlands.

In January 1956, Minister of Justice Leendert Donker unexpectedly died; Corry Tendeloo urged Prime Minister Willem Drees to appoint Julius Christiaan van Oven because of van Oven's views on equal legal rights for women and men and couverture in particular.

Corry Tendeloo argued against the amendment, saying it was this very notion that was the root of the issues the new legislation was addressing.

Corry Tendeloo died of cancer on 18 October 1956 in Wassenaar before any of her motions had been translated into law.

Corry Tendeloo said she could only be taken seriously in parliament if she used this technique.