Irma Szirmai (24 December 1867 – 6 May 1958) was a Hungarian pacifist and women's rights activist. One of the founding members of the Feministák Egyesülete (Feminist Association), she led its Mother and Child Protection Committee from 1907. She served on the press committee from 1906 to 1913 and was the chair of the interpreters organized to facilitate the Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), held in Budapest in 1913. She also worked as a deputy for the Board of Wards of the state and visited the orphanage and maternity hospital to assist patients and help them with needed services. A committed pacifist, she joined the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) when the organization was formed in 1915. In addition to her work in Hungary, Szirmai attended numerous international congresses of the IWSA and WILPF and served on international committees dealing with women's nationality and unmarried mothers. From 1925, she co-chaired the but resigned in 1927 when her daughter died. She returned to co-chair the organization in the 1930s. The organization was banned during World War II but was revived by Szirmai in 1946. It was forced by the government to dissolve again in 1949, but continued to operate clandestinely with Szirmai at the helm until her death in 1958.
Early life and education
Irma Reinitz was born on 24 December 1867 in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, to Pauline (née Prager) and Dr. József Reinitz. Her family was Jewish. She married Oszkár Szirmai (1858–1943), director of the oil refinery at Fiume. They had two sons, József (1891–1971) and Olivér Szirmai (1899–1972), and a daughter Julia (died 1927).
Activism
The Feministák Egyesülete (Feminist Association) was created in 1904 as an affiliate of the International Council of Women (ICW). Szirmai joined the organization shortly after its founding, and in 1907 became chair of the Mother and Child Protection Committee. Until the advent of the twentieth century, as there was no official organization running orphanages or providing for foundlings in the country, care was provided by private associations. The first child protection legislation was passed in Hungary in 1901, stipulating that the state must care for minor children. In 1903, the first manager of the (State Children Asylum) was appointed and a government-led orphanage was founded in Budapest. Construction started in 1905 and the facility opened in 1906. Szirmai worked as a deputy for the Board of Wards of the state and visited the orphanage and maternity hospital regularly. Her work on the Mother and Child Protection Committee dovetailed with her board work, as the committee kept detailed records on the patients they visited. In addition to counseling new mothers and training nurses, the committee offered services such as legal counseling, job placement, day care stipends, foster care placement, and short-term housing for displaced women.
Initially the were not interested in women's suffrage. At both the 1907 and 1908 annual meetings creating a suffrage committee was rejected. Rosika Schwimmer presented a lecture on the need for women to vote, and a suffrage committee aligned with the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA) was approved at the 1909 general meeting. Szirmai and Mrs. Alexander Szegvary both served to prepare reports for the suffrage committee. Szirmai also served on the press committee from 1906 to 1913. The Seventh Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was held in Budapest in 1913. Szirmai served as one of the members of the executive committee which organized the congress and was the chair of the interpreters. She sent a letter of support to the inaugural congress of the Women at the Hague in 1915, explaining that her work with the maternity homes was too demanding for her to attend. The Hungarian delegates who did attend listed her among the founding members of the Hungarian pacifist committee which became affiliated with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).
Szirmai attended numerous international women's congresses as an official delegate, including the 1921 WILPF meeting in Vienna, the 1923 IWSA gathering in Rome, and the 1926 WILPF congress of Dublin. From 1925 until 1927, Szirmai was co-chair of the with Vilma Glücklich. Glücklich died in 1927 and that year, Szirmai's daughter died and she took leave of the chair. Thereafter, Eugénia Meller headed the organization, but in the 1930s shared the chair with Szirmai.