Prominent women and pioneers

Many women were active in the struggle for knowledge, as teachers and as the founders of schools. A number of them are presented here, as are some of the first women to gain their doctorates.

Other significant persons:

Anna Ahlström, 1863-1943, matriculated at the Wallin girls’ school in Stockholm in 1885. Studied at Uppsala University and gained her B. A. in 1891, became the first woman to gain a doctorate in the Romance languages in 1899. In 1902 she founded the Nya Elementarskolan för flickor (New Elementary School for Girls) in Stockholm, and she was its first Principal (”föreståndarinna”) up until 1943 (the Swedish title "rektor" was reserved for men). Took the initiative in 1904 to the formation of the Akademiskt Bildade Kvinnors Förening (The Association of Academically Educated Women).

Hilma Borelius, 1869-1932, literary historian, active in the women’s rights and suffrage movements. She grew up in Lund and matriculated as a private pupil at the Cathedral School (Katedralskolan) in 1891. She was accepted at Lund University as one of only fourteen women during the 1890s. Chairwoman of the Lunds kvinnliga studentförening (The Lund University Association of Women Students) in 1900-1903, and in the Lund section of the FKPR, Föreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt (The National Association for Women’s Franchise) in 1903-1908. Gained her doctorate in 1909, as the first woman at Lund University. The title of her thesis was "Erik Gustaf Geijer: åren före affallet". She became the first woman senior lecturer in literary history the same year. Despite this, she was not given an appointment, since women were considered to be unsuitable as university teachers. In 1922 she was given a temporary appointment as professor in literary history, and in 1923 a six-year senior lecturer bursary, after discussions and conflicts. Member of Fredrika Bremer-förbundet (The Fredrika Bremer Association), regular contributor to Hertha.

Sonja Kovalevsky, 1850-1891, Russian mathematician. Came to Sweden in 1883 and became the first woman professor in this country, in higher mathematical analysis. Her salary was 4,000 kronor per year, whereas men professors received 7,000 kronor per year. Many protested against her appointment, among them August Strindberg. In 1888, Kovalevsky won anonymously the Bordin prize in the French Academy of Science competition. Based on the quality of the work, the sum of prize money was raised from 3,000 to 5,000 francs, the most eminent scientific distinction to be awarded to a woman up to that time. Kovalevsky worked in Sweden for seven years. She also wrote fiction, for example "Ur ryska lifvet: systrarna Rajevski" (Russian lives: the Rajevski sisters) and "Vera Vorontzoff: berättelser ur ryska lifvet" (Vera Vorontzoff: tales from life in Russia).

Hulda Lundin, 1847-1921, handicrafts pedagogue, founder of a training college for teachers of handicrafts in Stockholm.

Valfrid Palmgren Munch-Petersen, 1877-1967, library pioneer and language pedagogue. Pupil and later teacher at the school founded by her father: the Palmgren School in Stockholm, Sweden’s first coeducational grammar school for boys and girls. In 1905 she was given an appointment at The National Library of Sweden (Kungliga Biblioteket), as Sweden’s first woman library assistant. There she organised courses for library staff, the first of their kind in the country. Palmgren was intensely involved in adult education, which she thought should be carried out through the public libraries. In 1910 she was voted on to the Stockholm City Council, and thereby given the opportunity of working on library issues politically. Even earlier, she had been appointed as the sole investigator to the government on the public library system. In her report, produced in 1911, she suggested that the state should contribute to school libraries, adult education classes and peripatetic libraries, amongst other things. She also suggested that a state library agency, employing consultants, should be established. Her suggestions were adopted almost in their entirety and they came to play an important part in the development of the Swedish public library system.

Eva Rodhe, 1836-1919, pedagogue. Leader of the Uddevalla elementarläroverk för flickor (Uddevalla Elementary School for Girls), 1862-1878. Travelled abroad after that to study the school system in Germany, France and Italy, above all teaching methods in the lowest classes. In 1881 she started the Praktiska arbetsskolan (School for Practical Work) in Gothenburg, for which she was the principal until 1904. The school also accepted children who were not yet of school age, the idea of coeducation was put into practice, and handicrafts and needlework were important subjects. On Rodhe’s initiative, cookery teaching was introduced at the public elementary schools in Gothenburg and in 1892-1910 she was the Inspector for schools. Member of the board of the general elementary schools in Gothenburg (Göteborgs allmänna folkskolestyrelse) in 1890-1910, and of the child welfare committee (barnavårdsnämnden) in 1908-1910.1908-1910.

Sigrid Rudebeck, 1831-1924, , pedagogue. Attended Cecilia Fryxell’s teachers’ training college in Kalmar, studied abroad, private tutor after that. In 1866 she became the principal of the Majornas elementarläroverk för flickor (Majorna Elementary School for Girls) in Gothenburg. In 1869 she founded Sigrid Rudebecks elementarskola för flickor (Sigrid Rudebeck’s Elementary School for Girls), that she owned and led until 1904. The school was top of the league when it came to the pedagogical development of the girls’ schools. Rudebeck attached great importance to practical subjects, needlework was important from the start, in 1880 woodwork was introduced, and in 1887 household economy with clothes production, with which the school was the first in Sweden. New teaching methods were also applied in theoretical subjects.

Karolina Widerström, 1856-1949, M.D. in 1888, and the first woman doctor to hold a diploma in Sweden. Gynaecologist in Stockholm, worked to improve women’s social conditions, involved in the campaign against regulated prostitution. Honorary Doctorate in medicine at the Karolinska institutet in 1933. Active in the Akademiskt bildade kvinnors förening (The Association of Academically Educated Women) and its chairwoman in 1911-1918. Chairwoman for the Landsföreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt (The National Association for Women’s Franchise) in 1918-1921, vice-chairwoman of the Fredrika Bremer-förbundet (The Fredrika Bremer Association) in 1921-1935. Widerström was a liberal and had a seat in the municipal council in Stockholm from 1912 until 1915.

Further literature by and about these women and men is available through the databases KVINNSAM och LIBRIS.