Suzanna "Suze" Groeneweg (born 4 March 1875 in Strijensas - died 19 October 1940 in

Barendrecht Barendrecht () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, near Rotterdam, South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. The municipality of Barendrecht also includes Barendrec ...

) was a Dutch politician ( Social Democratic Workers' Party - SDAP). She was the first woman to be elected into the Dutch parliament. Groeneweg was a teacher in Rotterdam. She was active in the work for people's education, and also for gender equality, although she did not participate in separate women's groups but preferred to work from within the party. She was also active within the temperance union and the pacifist movement. Groeneweg was a member of the central committee of the social democratic party, SDAP, in 1917, when partial woman suffrage was introduced: women could be voted into office, but not vote themselves. In 1918, when the first elections after women's suffrage was held, she was elected to parliament as the first woman and sat in the chamber alongside 99 men. As of 1 January 1920, women in the Netherlands got the right to actively vote as well (which right they could first use at the 1922 elections). Suze Groeneweg was re-elected the same year, and six other women joined her in the house of representatives. Groeneweg stayed member of the

House of Representatives of the Netherlands The House of Representatives (, pronounced ; commonly referred to as the ', literally "Second Chamber of the States General") is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General, the other one being the Senate. ...

until June 1937. She was also member of the municipal council of

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

between 1919 and 1931, and the States-Provincial of

South Holland South Holland ( nl, Zuid-Holland ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.7 million as of October 2021 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely ...

between 1919 and 1937.

Decorations

* In 1937 she was awarded Knight of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

References

*
Parlement.com biography
1875 births 1940 deaths Dutch feminists Dutch pacifists Pacifist feminists 20th-century Dutch women politicians 20th-century Dutch politicians Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Members of the Provincial Council of South Holland Municipal councillors of Rotterdam Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church People from Strijen Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands) politicians Dutch socialist feminists {{Netherlands-politician-stub

Decorations

See also

References