Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk was a remarkable woman who made a lasting impact on Czechoslovakian society. Born in Brooklyn in 1850, she met her future husband Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk in Leipzig, where she was studying music. After they married in 1878, they moved to Vienna and then Prague, where Charlotte learned Czech and became involved in the women’s movement.
During WWI she remained alone in Prague, while her husband and daughter Olga lived in exile, and daughter Alice was even imprisoned in Vienna for a time. When T.G. Masaryk was named Czechoslovakia’s first president she became the new state’s first First Lady, pushing for the 1920 Czechoslovak Constitution to include complete gender equality, including suffrage for women.
Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk was a trailblazer for gender equality and a beloved figure in Czechoslovakian society. Her legacy lives on in the country’s commitment to gender equality and her husband’s lasting admiration for her.