Hulda Flood (25 September 1886 – 18 November 1968) was a Swedish politician (

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist. Flood was born in Eda församling, Värmlands län. She was born in a poor family, and worked as farmhand, a domestic maid and in a tailor workshop. Early on, she became active in Trade unionist work, the Social Democratic movement, and women's rights. As a Trade unionist, she was active within the

Arbetarnas bildningsförbund Arbetarnas bildningsförbund (ABF) (the Workers' Educational Association) is the educational section of the Swedish labour movement. ABF conducts seminars, classes and study circles on a variety of subjects, including workshops, languages and mu ...

. As a women's activist, one of the most important issues for her was to protect women by organising them in Trade Unions. As a Social Democrat, she was active in organising local Social Democratic women's clubs around the country, which in organised women in Trade Union work and voiced their rights within the labour movement. She also made study journeys to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Flood was Chairman of the Social Democratic Women's Club in

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 65,856 inhabitants in 2020 with 95,167 inhabitants ...

in 1910–1912, Secretary of the Social Democratic Women's District of

Värmland Värmland () also known as Wermeland, is a '' landskap'' (historical province) in west-central Sweden. It borders Västergötland, Dalsland, Dalarna, Västmanland, and Närke, and is bounded by Norway in the west. Latin name versions are ''Va ...

in 1915–1922, Member of the City Council of Karlstad in 1919–1922, Dispatcher 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 ...

in 1925–1929, Co-Party Secretary of 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 ...

in 1928–1948, Board Member of the Social Democratic Women in Sweden in 1928–1944, and Member of Parliament of the

Upper Chamber An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricte ...

in 1948–1949.Anne-Marie Lindgren & Marika Lindgren Åsbrink:
Systrar kamrater! Arbetarrörelsens kvinnliga pionjärer
'. Stockholm 2007 She also served as a

Lay judge A lay judge, sometimes called a lay assessor, is a person assisting a judge in a trial. Lay judges are used in some civil law jurisdictions. Lay judges are appointed volunteers and often require some legal instruction. However, they are not perman ...

, and was the first woman Board Member of the

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

. In 1939, she published ''Den socialdemokratiska kvinnorörelsen i Sverige'' (literary: 'The Social Democratic Women's Movement in Sweden'), which was republished in 1960 and used in University studies. Hulda Flood was married to the tailor Karl Andersson and had no children.

References

* Hulda Flood,socialist,agitator, kvinnopionjär, Idéhistoriska skrifter 18, Marianne Swedmark, Umeå Univ.1993.

References

Further reading