User:Vanspil/Alice Schalek

Alice Therese Emma Schalek (Vienn a, 21 August 1874 – New York, 6 November 1956) was an Austrian journalist, photographer, writer, lecturer and globe-trotter.

Alice Schalek was raised in a liberal Jewish family in Vienna. Her father was Heinrich Schalek, merchant and owner of an advertising agency, and her mother was Clara Schalek Ettinger. She attended secondary school for girls (Mädchen-Lyzeum) initiated by the Wiener Frauenerwerbsverein, the first large economic oriented Austrian women's association. This association aimed to prepare Viennese women for their working life by offering both theoretical en practical education. In secondary school Schalek learned to speak multiple foreign languages and already at a young age she was interested in other countries. She converted to Protestantism in 1904.

Writer
In 1902 she published her first novel, called Wann wird es tagen, under the pseudonym Paul Michaely. In this book she criticized the outdated system (according to her) of raising and educating women in the Austrian society. In her other books, she also focused on theme's related to the emancipation of women, such as the socioeconomic position of women, the possibilities for intellectual development, choice of partner, and marriage. Furthermore, she wrote about the deteriorating position of Jews in the Austrian society, a society in which antisemitism increased. All books that were published after her first came out under her own name in stead of her pseudonym.