Jutta Bojsen-Møller born Bojsen (1837–1927) was a Danish

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

proponent, a

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 a member of the

Danish Women's Society The Danish Women's Society or DWS ( da, Dansk Kvindesamfund) is Denmark's oldest women's rights organization. It was founded in 1871 by activist Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer; Fredrik was a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Peac ...

which she headed from 1894 to 1910.

Biography

Born in

Store Heddinge Store Heddinge is a Danish town in Region Sjælland. It is the administrative seat of Stevns Municipality, and has a population of 3,668 (1 January 2022).Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

, Jutta Kunigunde Bojsen was the daughter of Frederik Engelhardt Boisen (1808–1882), a parish priest, and the writer Eline Birgitte Heramb (1813–1871). In 1857, she married the parish priest Otto Ditlev Møller (1814–1892) with whom she had eight children. One of a family of 11, she was brought up in Skørpinge near

Slagelse Slagelse () is a town on Zealand, Denmark. The town is the seat of Slagelse Municipality, and is the biggest town of the municipality. It is located 15 km east of Korsør, 16 km north-east of Skælskør, 33 km south-east of Kalundborg and 14 km ...

where her father was appointed as parish priest shortly after her birth. Together with her siblings, she was educated at home by private tutors with an emphasis on

Grundtvig Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig (; 8 September 1783 – 2 September 1872), most often referred to as N. F. S. Grundtvig, was a Danish pastor, author, poet, philosopher, historian, teacher and politician. He was one of the most influential peo ...

ian principles. After her husband died in 1892, she became the matron at the folk high school in

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site of ...

, adopting the same position from 1905 to 1909 at

Rødkilde Højskole Rødkilde Højskole is a folk high school just south of Stege on the Danish island of Møn. Founded in 1866, it is one of the older folk high schools in Denmark. Renamed Teaterhøjskolen Rødkilde (Theatre High School Rødkilde), it now offers bot ...

on the island of

Møn Møn () is an island in south-eastern Denmark. Until 1 January 2007, it was a municipality in its own right but it is now part of the municipality of Vordingborg, after merging with the former municipalities of Langebæk, Præstø, and Vordingbo ...

, founded by her brother Frede Bojsen. Thanks to her friendship with the poet

Jens Christian Hostrup Jens Christian Hostrup (20 May 1818 in Copenhagen – 21 November 1892 in Frederiksberg) was a Danish poet, dramatist and priest. Comforting and encouraging the people, he created poems that filled the hearts of his compatriots. His precise person ...

and his wife Elisabeth, both of whom were active in the Danish Women's Society, she became increasingly interested in the women's movement. In 1894, encouraged by Astrid Hostrup who was active both as a folk high school matron and as a member of the Women's Society, Bojsen-Møller joined the organization and was immediately elected president, a post she kept until 1910. She took an early interest in

women's voting rights 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 ...

, becoming a member of the Women's Society's Voting Rights Committee when it was founded in 1898. Only in 1906 did she and

Louise Nørlund Marie Sørine ''Louise'' Nørlund (1854–1919) was a Danish feminist and pacifist. She was the founder and chairman of the Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund or DKV (the Danish Women's Society's Suffrage Union) in 1898–1907 and 1908–1 ...

succeed in making women's suffrage an official item on the organizations agenda. She did much to extend the interests of the Women's Society over the whole of Denmark. Under her remit, membership increased from 1,000 to 7,000 and in 1915, women obtained the right to vote. Jutta Bojsen-Møller died in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

on 12 January 1927 and is buried in Lynge's old cemetery.

Awards

In recognition of her services, in 1925 she was honoured with the gold

Medal of Merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal of M ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bojsen-Moller, Jutta 1837 births 1927 deaths People from Stevns Municipality Danish women's rights activists 19th-century Danish educators Danish women educators Danish suffragists Recipients of the Medal of Merit (Denmark) 19th-century Danish women educators