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 ...
.
See also
*
List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...
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