With all parties in favor of giving the full suffrage to women and public sentiment favoring it the bill was caught in the maelstrom of agitation for a revised or new constitution and the Rigsdag refused to consider it separately. Finally the bill for a new constitution including woman suffrage passed the Lower House by a vote of 95 to 12. It was sent to the Upper House, referred to a committee and there it remained while the controversy raged over the constitution. This was still the situation when the World War broke out in 1914 and it was April, 1915, before an entire new constitution passed both Houses by an enormous majority. It provided for universal suffrage with eligibility for men and women, no taxpaying qualifications, the age to be 29 with gradual reduction to 25. A general election at once took place on this issue, the new Rigsdag immediately adopted the constitution the required second time and on June 5 it was signed by the King. The women voted for the first time at a general election in 1918 and nine, representing all parties, were elected to the Rigsdag, five to the Upper and four to the Lower House. They voted a second time in 1920 and eleven were elected. They have obtained laws for equal pay, the opening of all positions to women and equal status in marriage.
ICELAND.
Iceland was a dependency of Denmark with its own Parliament, the Althing. In 1881 a bill was passed, presented by Skuli Thorvoddsen, a member and an editor, giving to widows and spinsters who were householders or maintained a family or were self-supporting, a vote for parish and town councils, district boards and vestries, at the age of 25, which became law in 1882. In 1895 the Woman's Alliance was formed and a petition of 3,000 women was collected and sent to the Althing asking it to consider suffrage for married women and increased property rights, which it ignored. In 1906 Mrs. Briet Asmundsson, the leader of the woman's movement, attended the congress of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Copenhagen, and, returning to Reykjavik, the capital, organized in January, 1907, the Association for Women's Rights. In four months 12,000 signatures had been obtained to a petition for full suffrage for women and eligibility to all offices. Mr. Thorvoddsen introduced the bill, which was not considered, but one was passed giving the Municipal franchise and eligibility to all women in the Reykjavik and one other district, which became law Jan. 1, 1908. The association carried on a vigorous campaign and four women were elected to the council of Reykjavik. Its president then made a two months' tour of the country and organized five branches. At all political meetings the women had resolutions presented for equal suffrage and eligibility, which were usually carried unanimously. On April 15 a law was passed extending Municipal suffrage and eligibility to all women.
In 1911 women were made eligible to all State offices, including those of the church, and a constitutional amendment was passed granting the complete franchise. It had to pass a second Althing and political questions arose which were all absorbing until 1914. Then the amendment passed but a compromise had to be made fixing the age for women at 40, to be lowered annually, under much protest, but Premier Eggers refused to submit it to the King of Denmark for his sanction. It had to wait until another took the office and finally was signed June 19, 1915, two weeks after the women of Denmark were fully enfranchised. In 1918 a referendum was taken, in which women voted, on making Iceland an independent State having a personal union with Denmark and the same King, which resulted favorably. A new Althing was elected Nov. 15, 1919, and a new constitution adopted which gave to women full suffrage at 25, the same age as to men.
SWEDEN.
The story of Sweden is especially interesting as the women were the first in Europe to have the Municipal vote and among the last to have the Parliamentary. In 1862 widows and spinsters who had paid taxes had a vote for all officers except members of the Parliament. In 1909 they were made eligible for the offices. Later this franchise was enlarged to admit married women, and in 1918 it was made universal for men and women of 23 without taxpaying requirements. This chapter is indebted for much of the information in it to Mrs. Anna B. Wicksell, who was a delegate from Sweden to Berlin in 1904, when the International Woman Suffrage Alliance was formed and is now a vice-president. Mrs. Wicksell gained international fame when her Government appointed her a delegate to the League of Nations meeting at Geneva in 1920-21 and she was placed on the Mandates Commission.
The first bill to give women full suffrage and eligibility was presented in the Second Chamber by F. D. Borg, an enlightened member, in 1884 and ridiculed by Parliament and press. In 1902 Carl Lindhagen offered a bill calling on the Government to investigate the subject. The first organized movement among the women was the forming of a society in Stockholm this year and an address to Parliament with 5,641 signatures urging this bill. It was rejected by 111 to 64 in the Second Chamber (Lower House) and without a division in the First. In 1904 his bill, endorsed by 30 members, received 115 noes, 93 ayes and no vote in the First Chamber. In 1905, endorsed by 57, it had 89 noes, 30 ayes in the First Chamber and the Second rejected it by 109 to 88. The suffrage societies had multiplied and now there were 63.
A National Suffrage Association was formed in 1904, which still exists. It carried on the work for seventeen years, under the presidency of Miss Anna Whitlock, Dr. Lydia Wahlstrom, Miss Signe Bergman and Dr. Karolina Widerström. When success finally crowned its efforts it had 240 branches and 15,000 members. With the great difficulties of securing names in this country of widely scattered people the petitions collected and sent to Parliament were remarkable, the last one in 1914 having 350,000 signatures. Among the women who were conspicuous in long and arduous service besides the presidents were Mrs. Ann M. Holmgren, Dr. Gulli Petrini, Mrs. Frigga Carlberg and Mrs. Gloria Hallberg. Miss Selma Lagerlöf assisted on great occasions. Men who for years were most valuable workers were Stockholm's burgomaster, Carl Lindhagen, and the three Prime Ministers, Karl Staaf, Nils Edén and Hjalmer Brantung. Two of the most conspicuous opponents were Mr. Lindeau and Mr. Trygger, through fear that the Social Democratic Party would gain.
The years 1905-1906 saw much advance, as the separation from Norway took place and the question of the enlargement of male suffrage was to the fore. The women made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to have the Parliament include women but the bill for men was rejected. It did, however, by a majority even in the Upper House, order an investigation of woman suffrage where it existed. Societies were organized from the Sound to Lapland. King Oscar received a deputation and in answer to the address of Miss Gertrud Adelborg expressed his sympathy but said the Government could not endanger the desired suffrage for men. In 1907 a petition from 142,128 women was presented to the Parliament. The Labor Party made woman suffrage a part of their program, the Lindhagen group supported it, a number of bills were brought in but all was in vain. At a woman suffrage mass meeting in 1908 in Stockholm thousands were turned away. Meetings were held throughout the country. The Liberals and Social Democrats put woman suffrage in their programs. At the opening of Parliament the King's speech contained a few favorable words. Leading members conferred with the Executive Committee of the National Suffrage Association, with the result that it arranged a meeting at the Grand Hotel with many members of Parliament present, who were addressed by prominent women and seemed much impressed, but all suffrage bills were lost.
The well-organized suffragists then went actively into the campaign and worked to defeat their opponents. As a result a majority was elected to the Second Chamber in favor of giving the suffrage to women. A deputation of 35 was granted an audience by the new King, Gustav V, and he expressed the hope that the time was near when their claims could be regarded. In February, 1909, the Government's bill embodying universal suffrage for men finally passed both Chambers and it included eligibility to the municipal offices for the women who could vote for them, which the suffrage association had worked for. The next April the first woman suffrage bill was passed by the Second Chamber. In 1910 37 women were chosen for the councils in 34 towns, which partly elect the First Chamber.