Foundation and early years Towards the end of the 19th century, numerous mothers', daughters', and support associations, as well as
Elisabeth, workers', and teachers' associations emerged in Catholic regions and mixed-denominational
cantons of Switzerland. An attempt to integrate these Catholic organizations into the previously male-only
Swiss Catholic Popular Association (SKVV) was considered unsuccessful by 1907. A first federation established in 1906 found no support. In 1912, representatives of Catholic women's organizations made a second attempt and founded the Swiss Catholic Women's Federation as an umbrella organization on the initiative of the SKVV. The leadership of the federation, which counted around 26,000 members at its founding, was entrusted to female relatives and family members of Catholic politicians, association leaders, and church dignitaries. The goal of the SKF was to promote religious life in families, communities, and the state, as well as social-charitable activities by women. In its early years, the SKF focused primarily on moral and ethical themes and war relief during
World War I. In 1918, it opened a social-charitable women's school in
Luzern (later the Social Women's School, taken over by the Association School for Social Work Luzern in 1961, and transformed into the Higher Technical School for Social Work Luzern in 1990).
Political engagement and women's suffrage At the
Saffa (Swiss Exhibition for Women's Work) 1928, the SKF worked actively with bourgeois women's organizations for the first time. However, after the Catholic women took a position against
women's suffrage in 1929, further rapprochement was discontinued. During
World War II, the SKF's dependence on the official church increased through its integration into
Catholic Action. In 1945, the SKF voted for the first time against episcopal instruction for abstention on women's suffrage at a conference. Some members from the supporters' camp subsequently founded the Civic Association of Catholic Swiss Women. By 1957, the SKF was already active in the Working Group of Women's Associations for Women's Political Rights. In 1958, it established the relief organization Saint-Elisabeth for women in the so-called
Third World.
Modern developments In the 1960s and 1970s, the LSFC continued to defend conservative political positions on issues such as women's equality and abortion. In 1976, challenging the so-called “time limit” solution to abortion, it created a solidarity fund for expectant mothers in need. Increased attention was now paid to pastoral lay work. In the 1980s and 1990s, the SKF placed new emphasis on
continuing education, which took place from 1996 in the association's own education center in
Schwarzenberg (sold in 2009). At the beginning of the 21st century, the SKF often took progressive positions in social and political discourse that did not align with the official church. Among other things, it advocated for
same-sex marriage,
women's priesthood, and
climate justice. In 2019, cooperation was agreed upon with
Protestant Women Switzerland. == Leadership ==