Maria Sofia Paaso-Laine (13 November 1868 – 5 May 1945) was a Finnish politician. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

, she was elected to Parliament in 1907 as one of the first group of female MPs. She remained an MP until the following year.

Biography

Paaso-Laine was born in Ii in 1868.Maria Paaso-Laine
Parliament of Finland She attended industrial school and worked as a maid and seamstress in Helsinki. Between 1900 and 1902 she was secretary of the Social Democratic Women's League. She was a course director for the Ideal Union and headed the youth section of the Temperance movement. Between 1903 and 1905 she lived in Sweden. Paaso-Laine contested the 1907 elections on the Social Democratic Party's list in Tavastia South and was one of 19 women elected to parliament. However, she lost her seat in the

1908 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1908. Africa *1908 Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council election Australia * 1908 Adelaide by-election * 1908 Queensland state election Europe *1908 Bulgarian parliamentary election *1908 Croatian ...

. During her time in parliament she sat on the Committee on Legal Affairs, and attracted attention and criticism for dressing in an upper-class style.The first women Members of Parliament in Finland, 1907-1908
University of HelsinkiEnsimmäisen eduskunnan naiset: Maria Laine ja Mimmi Kanervo
Areena, 12 April 2011 During the Finnish Civil War she was a member of the Red Food Command. Following the war she was briefly imprisoned at Hämeenlinna prison camp. She later ran a paper shop in Helsinki, where she died in 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paaso-Laine, Maria 1868 births 1945 deaths People from Ii Politicians from Oulu Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1907–1908) Women members of the Parliament of Finland People of the Finnish Civil War (Red side) Prisoners and detainees of Finland Finnish expatriates in Sweden 20th-century Finnish women politicians Finnish temperance activists