Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1916-12-14
Sweden.

| frage association has just concluded
| it's annual convention at Stockholm,
and as a result of it's deliberations the
| women of Sweden are more confident
than ever that they will be granted
| the same suffrage rights as those now
! enjoyed by the men. Sweden is the
| most backward" of the Scandinavian
| nations with respect to woman's suf-
frage, and it is not believed that the
| complete enfranchiSement of the Swe-
dish women will be realized within
J five years. According to the press re-
| ports of the Stockholm convention,
| there are nearly 1900 women enrolled
in the association and some 200 branch
organizations. Particularly gratifying
| to the leaders was the report Of a
growth of interest among the country's
clergymen, as we'll as among men gen.
| orally. Mems associations for woman
suffrage were formed during the year
at Christianstad and Malmo, and some
of the best-knOwn Swedish men are
beginning to interest themselves &C.
| lively in the movement. Most of this
| progress is the work of only IA years,
although efforts to improve the posi-
| ton of women generally were begun
at an early period, Sweden standing
in the front rank of European coun-
tries in this respect. 1t was not until
| 1902, however, that a definite organ
| lied movement to secure votes for
women was begun. The impetus for
this was given by u man, Burgomaster
{. A. Lindhagen of Stockholm. Bur-
| gOmaStCr Lindhagen, who was also
member of the second chamber of the
fikSdag, presented woman suffrage
bill in the lower house. 1t was de-
feated by i'll to Ga. The first notable
victory was in 1906, when both cham
berS of the parliament decided to pc
titiOn the government to investigate
the subject of woman suffrage. This
| report was submitted to the riksdag in
| 1911. In the meantime 09O7), univer-
sal franchise had been granted the
Swedish men, and the first use they
made Of it was to elect a liberal gov
eminent, in which n. A. Staaf was
premier. Staaf presented woman
suffrage bill in 1912 as a government
bill, and it was supported by the con-
Stitutional committee of the riksdag.
The upper chamber defeated it. So to
81, but the lower chamber gave 140
votes for to 66 against A further I'M
awaiting effort was made this year to
induce Herr HammarskjOld present
premier 70 make government meas
ure of the bill. A change of the ma
ture proposed involves an amendment
to the constitutions and hence must be
adopted by both houses of two success
SiVc pariiamentS. The riksdag session
early in 1917 will be the last session of
the present parliament, and, although
conditions have apparently not altered
since the last unsuccessful attempt,
the women see themselves compelled
to make another effort to secure the
passage of political equality meas
urc. The bin will probably be pre-
Sented as a SoCial-Democratic party
measure. But even in the unlikely
, event of its passage, woman'S suffrage
could not come into effect in Sweden
until the autumn Of 1921, so there Is
still Il long fight ahead. At least two
of til" principal obstacles are the OPP
position of the men and the fact
anomalous as it may seem-that wom-
en- already enjoy the communal fran
chiSc. Their possession of the COM
munal franchise OblgeS women eXer
, cising it to be regularly enrolled with
, their party. The conservatives oppose
woman suffrage. That means that the
conservative women are faced with the
choice of breaking away from their
party or else of opposing suffrage for
themselves, and thus far the party call
and incidentally their allegiance to
the men of their families--has proved
the stronger. The fact that of all Sean
dinavian countries, Sweden is the only
one where the women do not enjoy the
same right of franchise as the men, is
due to variety of causes. The Fin
nish women secured the vote mainly
: as a result of the important part they
= took in their country's struggles for
liberty more than Il decade ago. Their
acknowledgements came in 1906. The
Norwegian women took an active part
u in the events leading up to the sepa-
= ration of Norway and Sweden When
1 they were denied participation in the
referendum held ut that time they con-
: Quoted referendum of their own An
other factor throwing light on the sit
; uation in the Scandinavian countries
is that here alone in the world is liter
allure uniquely and closely associated
with the woman's movement. But
while Bjornson and Ibsen in Norway
: and other prominent literary charac-
y tiers in Denmark, championed the
l" cause of women, Strindberg Sweden 5
foremost literary light and the man
u who has more powerfully influenced
y his countrymen than has any other
I writer, was an embittered misogynist
, hating woman and all her works
Woman suffragists declare that Strind
berg's writings have been one of the
e most powerful weaponS i'm the hands