Miina Sillanpää (originally Vilhelmiina Riktig, ) was a Finnish politician. She served as Deputy Minister of Social Affairs in 1926-1927. She was

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

's first female minister and a key figure in the workers' movement. In 2016, the Finnish government made 1 October an official flag flying day in honour of Sillanpää. She was involved in the preparation of Finland's first Municipal Homemaking Act.

Life

Sillanpää was born in Jokioinen, during the famine years, to peasants Juho and Leena (née Roth) Riktig, who had nine children. She started her work career at the age of twelve at the

Forssa Forssa is a Cities of Finland, town and municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located almost in the centre of a triangle defined by the three largest major cities in Finland (Helsinki, Turku and Tampere), in the Tavastia Prop ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

factory, and later in the Jokioinen nail factory. At the age of 18 she moved to

Porvoo Porvoo (; ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located on the south coast of the country, on the Gulf of Finland. Porvoo lies in the eastern part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Porvoo is approximately , while the Porvoo sub-region, sub-re ...

to work as a maid and changed her name from Vilhelmiina Riktig to Miina Sillanpää. In 1898 she started and three years later she became the director of the ''Servants' Association''. She held this position for about 50 years. From 1900 to 1915, she worked as caretaker of the Helsinki Household Workers' Association's Servants' Home and Employment Agency. During this time in 1906 Finland became the first European country to allow all women to vote and the first country in the world to allow women to run for office. In 1907 she became one of the first 19 women in Finland to be elected to parliament, effectively the first 19 elected women parliamentarian in the world. Sillanpää worked as inspector of eateries and cafés of Osuusliike Elanto from 1916 to 1932 and as secretary of the Social Democratic Party Working Women's Association from 1932 to 1936. Sillanpää did not have much of a school education – she had only received instruction from itinerant teachers (Finnish , literally "itinerant schools") and at a factory school. Sillanpää was awarded the honorary title of '' talousneuvos'' in 1939, and in 1949 she received the Finnish Cultural Foundation's award for merit for her life's work from President Paasikivi.

As a social democrat

Miina Sillanpää was not a political theoretician, instead she was active in social democratic association activity. She especially campaigned for the rights of working and single women. In the 1930s, she was very active in establishing women's shelters (''ensikoti''). She was a member of the party activity group of the Social Democratic Party from 1918 to 1919 and from 1933 to 1940, and also worked as chairwoman of the Social Democratic Women's Association and the Social Democratic Working Women's Association. Miina Sillanpää did not participate in the

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

of 1918; together with Väinö Tanner and Matti Paasivuori she opposed both the Red and White Guards and urged for peace in Finland..

Member of parliament

Miina Sillanpää was one of the first nineteen female members of the

Parliament of Finland The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral and Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that ...

, who were elected in 1907. She served as a member of parliament for a total of 38 years: 1907–1911, 1913–1917, 1919–1933 and 1936–1948. Upon election as the deputy Minister of Social Affairs in the Väinö Tanner government of 1926–1927, she became Finland's first female minister. Sillanpää acted as an official elector of the President of Finland in 1925, 1931, 1937, 1940 and 1943.

Legacy

Sillanpää died in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

, aged 85. In 2016 The Finnish government made 1 October an official day to raise the Finnish flag in honour of Sillanpää.

Journalistic career

Sillanpää was also a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

. She worked as editor of the ''Palvelijatar'' ("female servant") magazine from 1905 to 1906, in the '' Työläisnainen'' ("working woman") magazine from 1907 to 1916, and in the ''Toveritar'' ("female comrade") magazine from 1922 to 1943.

Literature

* * Oma Mäkikossa: ''Yhteiskunnalle omistettu elämä. Miina Sillanpään elämän ja työn vaiheita.'' ( Tammi 1947) * Martta Salmela-Järvinen: ''Miina Sillanpää, legenda jo eläessään.'' ( WSOY-Porvoo 1973) * ''Miina Sillanpään bibliografia.'' (Publications of the Miina Sillanpää foundation A:1. Vammalan Kirjapaina 1989)

References