Anna Johansson-Visborg (10 November 1876 – 7 August 1953) was a Swedish trade

union leader The ''New Hampshire Union Leader'' is a daily newspaper from Manchester, the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. On Sundays, it publishes as the ''New Hampshire Sunday News.'' Founded in 1863, the paper was best known for the conse ...

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

activist and politician with the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

Biography

Anna Sofia Johansson-Visborg was born to a farming family at Beateberg parish in

Töreboda Municipality Töreboda Municipality (''Töreboda kommun'') is a municipality in Västra Götaland County in western Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Töreboda and it includes the population centers of Älgarås and Moholm. The present municipality ...

Västra Götaland County Västra Götaland County ( sv, Västra Götalands län) is a county or '' län'' on the western coast of Sweden. The county is the second most populous of Sweden's counties and it comprises 49 municipalities (''kommuner''). Its population of 1 ...

, Sweden. She was married in 1919 to Sven Gylfe Visborg (1885–1957). She worked as a domestic servant in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

from 1893–1897 and a brewery worker in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

from 1897–1904, and an office clerk at an insurance company from 1904–1918. In 1914, she began her own real estate business and became a cinema owner which resulted in considerable wealth. This led to the foundation of the Anna Johansson-Visborg Foundation () with the task of providing full-time or partially-needed housing in Stockholm.

Policial career

In 1901, she was one of the founders of the first Swedish trade union for brewery workers. Johansson-Visborg was chairperson in the Swedish Industrial Brewery Workers' Union () from 1904–1953; chairperson of the Cooperative Women's Association () from 1907–1938; chairperson of the Stockholm central worker's unions women's branch from 1911–1953; member of the Stockholm City Council from 1916–1950; member of the board of the

Social Democratic Women in Sweden The Social Democratic Women in Sweden ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska kvinnoförbund ), or "S-women" ( ), is the women's wing of the Swedish Social Democratic Party. It was established in 1920 by representatives from 120 local Social Democratic ...

from 1920–1924; member of the board of the

Stockholm Municipality Stockholm Municipality or the City of Stockholm ( sv, Stockholms kommun or ) is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. It has the largest population of the 290 municipalities of the country, but one of the smallest areas, maki ...

from 1929–1933. She was also a leading force in the Social Democratic women suffrage movement. While the Social Democratic women did not have their own separate women's suffrage organisation, they worked actively alongside the National Association for Women's Suffrage. As a politician and activist, she always worked to abolish all legislation opposite to gender equality. Johansson-Visborg was described as brusque, energetic and with a great administrative talent: her lack of diplomacy somewhat damaged her politician career, but she was also appreciated for it, and referred to by her followers as "Brewer-Anna" ().

Awards

She was awarded the

Illis Quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gust ...

in 1945.

References

Other sources

* Ragnar Amenius
Anna S Johansson-Visborg
(urn:sbl:12170, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, hämtad 2015-05-30)

External links

Anna Johansson-Visborgs Stiftelse website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johansson-Visborg, Anna 1876 births 1953 deaths People from Töreboda Municipality Politicians from Stockholm Socialist feminists 20th-century Swedish businesspeople Swedish landowners Swedish women's rights activists Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Swedish trade unionists 20th-century women landowners 19th-century Swedish women politicians 19th-century Swedish politicians 20th-century Swedish women politicians 20th-century Swedish politicians Recipients of the Illis quorum 20th-century Swedish businesswomen