Emma Asson (13 July 1889 – 1 January 1965), was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n politician (

Social Democrat Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

). She was the first woman to be elected to the

Estonian parliament The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Jus ...

. Asson participated in the creation of the first constitution of the independent Estonia, particularly within the fields of education and gender equality. She also wrote the some of first history textbook in the

Estonian language Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,0 ...

in 1912.

Biography

Emma Asson was born in

Vaabina Vaabina is a village in Antsla Parish, Võru County, in southeastern Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from ...

Parish,

Võru County Võru County ( et, Võru maakond or ''Võrumaa''; vro, Võro maakund) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga County and Põlva County and is the only Estonian county bordering two countries - Latvia (Alūksne Municipality and ...

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

, part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

, as the daughter of a teacher. She studied at the A. S. Pushkin Girls' School in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

and graduated in history at the

Bestuzhev Courses The Bestuzhev Courses (russian: Бестужевские курсы) in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia. The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Konst ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

in Russia in 1910. She was then employed as a history teacher at a girls' college in Tartu. Emma Asson was active in different women's organisations for social and education issues. In 1919, she was elected to the

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

city council as well as to the first national parliament of the independent Estonia for the social democrats. She was the first woman. In 1920 the women of Estonia were given full political rights under a new constitution. Two women were consulted over this constitution and they were Minni Kurs-Olesk and Asson. She was a member of the Education Ministry in 1919–21, secretary for the Estonian Women's Association and Head of the Education Department in 1925–1940. She was married to the politician Ferdinand Petersen from 1921 to 1941.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asson, Emma 1889 births 1965 deaths People from Antsla Parish People from Kreis Werro Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party politicians Members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly Members of the Riigikogu, 1920–1923 20th-century Estonian women politicians Women members of the Riigikogu University of Tartu alumni