Eight years before the first issue of Frauendienst appeared, the Evangelischer Diakonieverein (Evangelical Charitable Association) was founded (1894). It aimed at «granting suitable professional training, employment, and security, and thus a necessary meaning in life as well as support» for women. Due to a fast development of and an apparent need for such an association, soon no longer every event could be given the attention it deserved. Therefore, D. Zimmer decided in 1902 to publish a new periodical. Basing his intention on the opinion that «the natural profession for a woman» is that of a spouse, mother, and housewife, he soon came to the conviction that a woman «not married» also should follow an occupation which would not only provide her with financial security but would also give the necessary meaning to her life. After all, «it is for certain that 1. in the long run a woman's nature can be satisfied with no less than with a personal service of kindness. And 2. that this field still offers an immense amount of work for endlessly many women – work which men could not possibly take off their shoulders... In one word: work through which women will serve and which will also serve women, work which will turn their needs into their happiness.».

The issues were published on a monthly basis up until 1905. They focused less on the technical than on the social and professional side of the service «to » women (education, professional training, protection) as well as of the service «through» women (activity in the fields of care, education, and housekeeping). In addition to essays on the history and the different kinds of female welfare the periodical also offered a regular platform for individual questions and answers.