Suffrage, gender and citizenship in Finland – A comparative perspective

• Main Author: Irma Sulkunen
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 2007-01-01
• Series: NORDEUROPAforum - Zeitschrift für Kulturstudien
• Subjects: Finland; Women's Movement; Nations; Civil Society
• Online Access: http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/nordeuropaforum/2007-1/sulkunen-irma-27/PDF/sulkunen.pdf

Finland was the first European country where women gained the full political rights. The reform, carried out in a political inflammable situation after the great strike in 1905, was pioneering: it gave women not only the right to vote but also to stand as candidates for Parliament. In Finland, as well as in other young nations, the early suffrage of women was connected with strong national aspirations and in these nations democracy also emerged rapidly. Furthermore the right to vote was the most salient vehicle to regulate the limits and contents of citizenship including a new notion of genders. Due to the cultural background, which was strongly bound with agricultural tradition, the relationship between genders in Finland contained some peculiar features. This, associated with a favourable political situation, enabled the early entry of Finnish women into Parliament.