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 REIMBURSEMENT of the Swe-
dish women will be realized within
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
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 ac.
| 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 definite organ
| lied movement to secure votes for
women was begun. The impetus for
| this was given by man, Burgomaster
| L. a. Lindhagen of Stockholm. Bur-
| gomaster 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 $500, univer-
sal franchise had been granted the
| Swedish men, and the first use they
made Of it was to elect IA liberal gov
| eminent, in which X. A. Staaf was
| premier. Staaf presented q woman
| suffrage bill in 1912 rs a government
bill, and it was supported by the con-
stttutional committee of the riksdag.
The upper chamber defeated it, Sc to
SO, but the lower chamber gave 14O
votes for to G6 against. A further I'M
awaiting effort was made this year to
induce Herr Hammarskjol present
premier, to make a government meas
ure of the bill. A change of the ma
| ture proposed Involves an amendment
to the constitution, and hence must be
adopted by both houses of two success
Sive parliamentS. 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 II political equality meas
| urC. The bill 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 the principal obstacles are the OBJ
position of the men and the fact
anomalous as it may seem-that wom-
en- already enjoy the communal fran
chlSP Their npSSpSSinp nf tho pom-
munal franchise obliges women eXer-
clSlng 1t 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 familes-has proved
the stronger. The fact that of all Scan
dinavian countries Sweden is the only
one where the women do not enjoy the
same right of franchise as the men, Is
due to Il variety of causes. The Fin
nish women secured the vote mainly
as result of the important part they
took in their country's struggles for
liberty more than decade ago. Their
acknowledgements came in 1906. The
Norwegian women took an active part
in the events leading up to the sepa-
ration Of Norway and Sweden. When
they were denied participation in the
referendum held ut that time they con-
Quoted a 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-
> tiers in Denmark, Championed the
cause of women, Strindberg, Sweden's
foremost literary light and the man
who has more powerfully influenced
, his countrymen than has any other
writer, was an embittered misogynist,
hating woman and all her works.
Woman suffragists declare that Strind-
berg'S writings have been one of the