Emilie Rathou,

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

''Gustafsson'' (8 May 1862 – 12 October 1948) was a Swedish journalist, newspaper editor and elected official. She was a temperance and women's rights activist. On

International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also known as Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every year on 1 May, ...

in Stockholm 1891, she was the first woman in Sweden to demand the right for

women suffrage 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 ...

in a public speech. She was the founder of the Swedish branch of the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

Life

Maria Sandström was born in

Blekinge County Blekinge County ( sv, Blekinge län) is a county or '' län'' in the south of Sweden. It borders the Counties of Skåne, Kronoberg, Kalmar and the Baltic Sea. The capital is Karlskrona. It is the smallest of the present administrative countie ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. She was the daughter of the businessman Albert Gustafsson and Anna Svensdotter. She never married, but changed her surname to Rathou in 1882. She was educated as a teacher in

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

. Rathou taught during the period of 1882–85, she was a speaker for the

International Organisation of Good Templars The International Organisation of Good Templars (IOGT; founded as the Independent Order of Good Templars), whose international body is known as Movendi International, is a fraternal organization which is part of the temperance movement, promotin ...

in 1885–1900. She was the owner and editor of the paper ''Dalmasen'' from 1890 to 1895.

Temperance

She founded the

Östermalm Östermalm (; "Eastern city-borough") is a 2.56 km2 large district in central Stockholm, Sweden. With 71,802 inhabitants, it is one of the most populous districts in Stockholm. It is an extremely expensive area, having the highest housing p ...

branch of the

, ''Vita Bandet'' (The White Ribbon) in 1900, and served as its chairperson in 1900–1935, as well as vice chairperson of the Swedish national Temperance Union in 1902–03, and its secretary in 1903–1947. The Östermalm branch of the

was, in fact, the first Swedish branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union: a first Swedish temperance society for women had been created in 1897, but it had in fact no affiliation with the international Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Rathou was therefore the actual founder of the Swedish branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and she also organized local branches all over Sweden. In 1911–1912, she was a member of a governmental temperance committee.

Women's rights

Emilie Rathou regarded alcohol and the repression of women as linked, and her engagement in gender equality was linked with her activity in the temperance movement. She supported sexual equality and agitated against both social injustice as well as sexual double standards. During her tours as a speaker for the temperance union, in 1888 she became the first woman in Sweden to speak in public about the introduction of woman suffrage, over ten years before the foundation of the National Association for Women's Suffrage. In 1891, she was the first Swedish woman to do the same in the capital of Stockholm. In 1893, it was as a representative for the

Swedish Social Democratic Party The Swedish Social Democratic Party, formally the Swedish Social Democratic Workers' Party ( sv, Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti ; S/SAP), usually referred to as The Social Democrats ( sv, link=no, Socialdemokraterna ), is a social-d ...

that she became the only female elected to the ''Folkriksdagen'' (People's

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

), an assembly in Stockholm held 1893–96 to work for the introduction of

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...

. Politically, she was initially engaged within the Social Democratic working class movement. In 1892, she founded the Social Democrat women's club '' Stockholms allmänna kvinnoklubb'', which quickly organized several social democratic women such as

Alina Jägerstedt Alina Josefina Rosalie Jägerstedt (3 June 1858 – 3 November 1919) was a Swedish social democrat and trade unionist. She was the only female member at the congress of 1889, where the Swedish Social Democratic Party was founded. She participated ...

Kata Dalström Anna Maria Katarina "Kata" Dalström, née Carlberg (18 December 1858 – 11 December 1923), was a Swedish socialist and writer. She belonged to the leading socialist agitators and leftist writers in contemporary Sweden, and has been referred to as ...

Anna Sterky Ane Cathrine "Anna" Sterky née Nielsen (1856–1939) was a Danish-Swedish politician (Social Democrat), trade union organiser, feminist and editor, chiefly active in Sweden. Sterky worked as a seamstress in Denmark, where she was active in th ...

Anna Lindhagen Anna Lindhagen (7 April 1870 in Stockholm – 15 May 1941 in Stockholm) was a Swedish politician (Social Democrat), social reformer and women's rights activist. In collaboration with Anna Åbergsson, she was a leading force in the introduction of ...

and Amanda Horney. A known radical, she was however never quite involved within the organized women's movement, which she criticized for being dominated by upper class ladies, nor did she work for women's issues within the working class movement, which she criticized for not acknowledging the importance of feminist issues, and therefore made her feminist opinions known through the temperance movement.

Award

She was awarded the Swedish Royal Medal ''

Illis Quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It"), is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gust ...

'' in 1918.

References

Other Sources

* Bengtsson, Åsa (2010) ''Emilie Rathou och Vita Bandet: Rabiata och radikala kvinnoröster'' (Stockholm: Svensk Presshistorisk Förening, p. 28–44, Ellinor Melander, ed)