Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - First part - III. Constitution and Administration - 5. Social Movements - The Woman Question, by Miss Gertrud Adelborg, Stockholm
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
274
iii. constitution and administration of sweden.
of Medicine engaged in the practice of their profession, as well as a lady Doctor
of Laws (appointed lecturer at the university of Uppsala). Incidentally it may
be mentioned that the Stockholm Private University was the first in Europe to
appoint a woman (Mrs. Kovalevski) professor. — Since 1864 women have been
admitted to the Central Gymnastic Institute. In the Postal and Telegraph
services women have received appointments since 1863, and in the railway service
since 1869. The number of women in banks, counting-houses, and Government
offices is largely on the increase, and in the ranks of common-school teachers
women form a constantly increasing majority. For the training of sicknurses a
most extensive activity has been carried on in later years, about which work
see above under the heading Hygiene and Care of the Sick.
Unmarried women, and, under certain conditions, married women too, have the
right to carry on trade and manufacture, mechanic art, and other business, and
there is no law restricting their right to engage in factory or professional work.
Peculiar to Sweden is the law of Woman’s suffrage that entitles
her, under certain conditions, to vote at communal elections. Already
in the eighteenth century, women possessed of real property had this
privilege, which was then, however, of small importance, and since 1862
women paying taxes to community vote on the same conditions as men.
The number of votes depending on the amount of taxes (see page 250),
the women, however, in general remain in the minority, and have
therefore only slightly been able to make their influence of any validity.
At all events, however, this is a privilege which, in Europe, Swedish
women only have shared with those of England and Finland. Quite
lately a similar privilege has in Norway been granted to women, —
here still more extended than in the countries just mentioned.
Through their participation in communal elections the women of Sweden
indirectly elect also members of the First chamber of the Riksdag — a
circumstance quite unique in Europe, even though it be of little practical importance
as long as voting women are so few in number. More important is that since
1889 women can be elected as members of School Boards and as Poor Law
Guardians. In private associations of all sorts a continually increasing number
of directorships are filled by females.
Swedish woman develops a considerable activity in charity work
as e. g. within the Charity Organization Society and the Association for
children’s workshops, as well as through various societies tending
towards the preservation of public morality etc.
Women themselves have considerably contributed to the by no
means despicable results achieved in the sphere of the »Woman
Question» by means of an energetic and well-directed agitation.
During 1873/96 the Society for vindicating the proprietary rights of
married women worked assiduously to improve the position of woman.
In 1896, Swedish Women’s National Council was founded, by means of
which Swedish agitation to promote the interests of woman has put
itself into communication with similar exertions in other countries;
this society, namely, constitutes the Swedish section of the International
Council of Women, founded in 1888.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
