The Kvindelig Fremskridtsforening (KF), or Women's Progress Association, was a Danish women's association which was founded in 1885 by

Matilde Bajer Pauline Matilde Theodora Bajer (4 January 1840 – 4 March 1934) was a Danish women's rights activist and pacifist. Life Pauline Matilde Theodora Schlüter was born on 4 January 1840 in Frederikseg, Herlufmagle Sogn, Næstved Municipality, Denma ...

and Elisabeth Ouchterlony. They had both been co-founders of the

Danish Women's Society The Danish Women's Society or DWS ( da, Dansk Kvindesamfund) is Denmark's oldest women's rights organization. It was founded in 1871 by activist Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer; Fredrik was a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Peac ...

(Dansk Kvindesamfund) in 1871 but now wanted an organization which included specific attention to

women's 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 municipal and national elections, an issue which was not on the agenda of the apolitical Women's Society. The organization also addressed women's involvement as peace activists and as members of the workforce. In 1888, with the support and involvement of

Johanne Meyer Johanne Marie Abrahammine Meyer née Petersen (1838–1915) was a Danish suffragist, pacifist and journal editor. A pioneering member of various women's societies, from 1889 she served on the board of the pacifist organization '' Dansk Fredsforeni ...

, KF arranged the first meeting of the Nordic Women's Movement (Nordisk Kvindesagsmøde) which was held in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in connection with the Nordic Exhibition. Open to both men and women, it attracted 700 participants from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland. KF was restricted to women. Members came mainly from the political left and the trade unions, creating opposition to the Women's Society. Bajer was the first president of the KF from 1886 to 1889, after which she served on the board. Ouchterlony, a journalist, contributed to the organization's journal ''Hvad vi vil'' (What We Want). She was also an effective public speaker. From 1888, Meyer was editor of ''Hvad vi vil'', to which she contributed many articles. She became president of KF in 1889. In 1889, many members of the KF left to set up the

Kvindevalgretsforeningen Kvindevalgretsforeningen (KVF), or the Women's Suffrage Association, was a Danish organization established by Line Luplau in 1889 specifically to promote women's suffrage. The association not only organized meetings on voting rights but participat ...

(Women's Suffrage Association) which, as its name implies, was even more strongly focused on suffrage. As a result, interest in the KF diminished and it was dissolved in 1893.

References

{{Authority control Women's organizations based in Denmark Organizations established in 1885 Organizations disestablished in 1893 1885 establishments in Denmark Organizations based in Copenhagen Women's suffrage in Denmark Voter rights and suffrage organizations