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Martha Ottomine Steen Tynæs (5 November 1870 – 8 January 1930) was a Norwegian
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 ...
,
social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
and politician. She was one of the pioneering members of the
Norwegian Labour Party's Women's Federation The Norwegian Labour Party's Women's Federation ( no, italic=no, Arbeiderpartiets kvindeforbund) was established in Christiania in 1901 and extended to cover the whole of Norway in 1909. Initially concerned with working conditions and voting righ ...
which she chaired almost without interruption from 1904 to 1920. From 1901 to 1918 she served as the only woman on the Labour Party's central committee and chaired Christiania's city council from 1908 to 1919. In 1909, she became the first Norwegian women to become a parliamentary candidate when she stood in the constituency of
Hammersborg St. Hanshaugen (Norwegian for St. John's Hill) is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. Area It has a triangular shape, with its northern border just north of the buildings of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation and Ullevål University Hos ...
, although she was not elected.


Biography

Martha Ottomine Steen was born on 5 November 1870 in
Florø is a town and the administrative centre of the municipality of Kinn, Vestland, Norway. The town was founded by royal decree in 1860 as a ladested on the island of Florelandet, located between the Botnafjorden and Solheimsfjorden. Florø is No ...
on the west coast, the daughter of Ole Olsen Steen, a merchant, and Karen Martine Hauge. In 1894, she married Lars Larsen Tynæs, a house painter, who died while she was still young in 1910. She became one of the most influential women in the Norwegian women's movement, clearly stating her case at the Labour Party's congress in 1899 when she asked: "Why are women so lethargic and indifferent about the workers' movement and their social conditions?" Her talents as a public speaker and activist served her both in the party and in the Women's Federation. She was able to impact municipal policy-making in a variety of areas, including schools, living conditions, and facilities for children and the elderly. She contributed in particular to developing legislation for children born outside of wedlock. Widowed while still young, she was left with the responsibility of raising three children. In the Women's Federation, she helped to build up membership by establishing six new affiliates in the various districts of Christiania, leading to hundreds of new supporters. The organization's annual meeting in 1909 extended the organization's mandate to cover the whole of Norway. One of her most important political successes was in achieving full voting rights for women in 1913. Tynæs was above all concerned with issues related to the working classes rather than those differentiating women from men, inspired by the writings of
Ferdinand Lassalle Ferdinand Lassalle (; 11 April 1825 – 31 August 1864) was a Prussian-German jurist, philosopher, socialist and political activist best remembered as the initiator of the social democratic movement in Germany. "Lassalle was the first man in Ger ...
,
August Bebel Ferdinand August Bebel (22 February 1840 – 13 August 1913) was a German socialist politician, writer, and orator. He is best remembered as one of the founders of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Germany (SDAP) in 1869, which in 1875 mer ...
,
Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...
and
Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (; russian: link=no, Пётр Алексе́евич Кропо́ткин ; 9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist, socialist, revolutionary, historian, scientist, philosopher, and activis ...
. Her goal was always to involve women in the fight for political socialism. In 1921, she left the Labour Party to join the newly established
Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway The Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway (in Norwegian ''Norges Socialdemokratiske Arbeiderparti'') was a Norwegian political party in the 1920s. Following the Labour Party's entry into the Comintern in 1919 its right wing left the party to ...
(which in fact merged with the Labour Party in 1927). Tynæs began to cut back on her responsibilities from 1918 owing to failing health, resigning from her chairmanship of the Women's Federation in 1920. Together with Gunhild Ziener and a number of the other early members, she founded Norway's Social Democratic Women's Federation (''Norges Sosialdemokratiske Kvinneforbund'') in 1922. After a long illness, Martha Tynæs died on 8 January 1930 in Oslo. She was widely recognized for her intelligence, kindness and collaborative skills.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tynaes, Martha 1870 births 1930 deaths Labour Party (Norway) politicians Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway politicians Norwegian feminists People from Flora, Norway Norwegian women in politics Socialist feminists