Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg and the International Council of Women: the Finnish feminist's international success and national adversity, 1888–1911

Abstract

In 1911, Finland became one of the last northern European countries to join the ICW. The formation of a national chapter was preceded by an almost twenty-five-year crusade by one woman, Baroness Alexandra Gripenberg, who was the most internationally recognised Finnish feminist of her time. By focusing on her correspondence, this article sheds light on an important chapter in the history of international feminism in Finland. It discusses Gripenberg's successful career in the ICW from the 1880s and her national attempts to gather the various women's movements under one umbrella organisation that would be eligible for the full membership of the ICW. The article also suggests that universal suffrage in 1906 had an ambivalent impact on women's organising in Finland: as women's activism was channelled into political parties, the Finnish women's rights organisations lost some of their previous appeal.