1905: First Habilitation

Elise Richter is one of the three female students who enrol at the University of Vienna in 1897. In 1901, she is the first woman to get a doctorate in Romance languages, and 1905 finally the first woman at the University of Vienna to habilitate. Nevertheless, she does not receive the right to teach (“venia legendi”) that is usually part of a habilitation. She finally receives it from the education ministry in 1907 after a hard fight. That makes her the first female private lecturer in Austria. Her lectureship remains unpaid.