Dealing with the Issue of Prostitution; Mobilizing Feminisms in France, Switzerland and Belgium (1875–1920) (work in progress)

From the end of the nineteenth century, several major figures from Belgian, French and Swiss feminist movements, inspired by Josephine Butler’s ideas, have contributed to the arguments about state‐regulated prostitution and the trafficking of women. If, at a national level women did not have the vote, nevertheless in both the national and international arena they brought the issue of how to control prostitution to the fore. How did feminists view the State’s role and its involvement with prostitution? What was the impact of these debates on the boundaries between ‘private’ and ‘public’ spheres?