In 1883 Dr. Aletta Jacobs (the first woman doctor in the Netherlands), acting on the advice of the well-known jurist--and later Minister--van Houten, requested an Amsterdam magistrate to enter her name on the list of municipal electors. As a taxpayer she was entitled to this right. At the same time she requested Parliament to grant her the suffrage in national elections. Both requests were summarily refused. In order to make such requests impossible in the future, parliament inserted the word "male" in the election law.[66] These occurrences aroused in the Dutch women an interest in political affairs; and in 1894 they organized a "Woman's Suffrage Society," which soon spread to all parts of the country. The Liberals, Radicals, Liberal Democrats, and Socialists admitted women members to their political clubs and frequently consulted the women concerning the selection of candidates. The clubs of the Conservative and Clerical parties have refused to admit women. At the general meeting in 1906 a part of the members of the "Woman's Suffrage Society" separated from the organization and formed the "Woman's Suffrage League" (the _Bond voor Vrouwenkiesrecht_,--the older organization was called _Vereeniging voor Vrouenkiesrecht_). Both carry on an energetic propaganda in the entire country, the older organization being the more radical. In 1908 the older organization made all necessary preparations for the Amsterdam Congress of the Woman's Suffrage Alliance, which resulted in a large increase in its membership (from 3500 to 6000), and resulted, furthermore, in the founding of a Men's League for Woman's Suffrage (modeled after the English organization). The question of woman's suffrage has aroused a lively interest throughout the Netherlands; even the _Bond_ increased its membership during the winter of 1908 and 1909 from 1500 to 3500.