Anna Stenberg (25 July 1867 – 21 February 1956) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician and suffragist who represented the

Social Democratic Workers' Party of Sweden 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-de ...

from 1911 to 1918. She was the chairwoman of

Malmö kvinnliga diskussionsklubb Malmö kvinnliga diskussionsklubb ('Malmö Women's Discussion Group') was a Social Democratic association for working women in Malmö in Sweden between 1900 and 1922.Anne-Marie Lindgren & Marika Lindgren Åsbrink: Systrar kamrater! Arbetarrörelsens ...

, and the first woman to serve on the Malmö town council.

Life

Anna Stenberg was born on 25 July 1867 in ,

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Abandoned by her mother Cecilia Bengtsdotter at an early age, she was raised in , a small town in the north-west of Hässleholm by her foster parents. In the late 1880s, she had moved to

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...

, where she became a nurse at a psychiatric hospital. In 1892, she married Lars Olsson Stenberg, who was an

orderly In healthcare, an orderly (also known as a ward assistant, nurse assistant or healthcare assistant) is a hospital attendant whose job consists of assisting medical and nursing staff with various nursing and medical interventions. The highest ro ...

at the hospital. The couple had three daughters together. Working amidst poverty, suffering, and horrific conditions at the hospital, she sought to improve the poor living conditions of people. In 1900, Stenberg became a member of the

(Women's Discussion Group), which served as a political platform for discussions about

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

, education, health, and other societal conditions. The group later joined hands with the Malmö Workers' Cooperative that was founded in 1901, and Stenberg was elected to the workers' cooperative. During the periods 1907–1909, 1912–1913, and 1923–1926, she served on its board. The Women's Discussion Group was subsequently renamed to the Malmö socialdemokratiska kvinnoklubb (Social Democratic Women's Club). Stenberg served as its chair from 1915 to 1916. During this time, she was active in Malmö's workers' movement. In connection to municipal politics after 1910, she became the first woman to serve on the Malmö town council. From 1911 to 1918, she was a representative of

. At the 1919 election, she was re-elected and remained on the Malmö town council until 1926. She was an active campaigner for women's suffrage, serving on the Föreningen för Kvinnans Politiska Rösträtt (Society for Woman Suffrage) for several years. Stenberg died in Malmö, on 21 February 1956.

Life

References

Further reading