The Danish Women's Society or DWS is Denmark's oldest women's rights organisation. It was founded in 1871 by Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer, a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The association stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive liberal feminism, and advocates for the rights of all women and girls and LGBT rights. It publishes the world's oldest women's magazine, Kvinden & Samfundet, established in 1885. The Danish Women's Society is a member of the International Alliance of Women and is a sister association of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights and the Icelandic Women's Rights Association.
The modern-day character and the historical status of women in Denmark has been influenced by their own involvement in women's movements and political participation in the history of Denmark. Their mark can be seen in the fields of politics, women's suffrage, and literature, among others.
Helga Charlotte Norrie, née Harbou, was a Danish nurse, women's rights activist and educator. She was a major contributor to the development of nursing as an acceptable profession for women and also campaigned for women's rights, especially voting rights.
Elisabeth Kirstine Frederiksen (1845–1903) was a Danish pedagogue, writer and women's activist. Thanks to study trips to the United States, she was a pioneer of visual pedagogy in Denmark, publishing Anskuelsesundervisning, Haandbog for Lærere in 1889. She was also an active contributor to the women's movement, chairing the Women Readers' Association from 1875 to 1879, and the Danish Women's Society from 1887 to 1894.
Mathilde Johanne Malling Hauschultz (1885–1929) was a Danish lawyer and a pioneering female politician. She was one of the first four women to be elected to the Folketing in 1918.
Theodora (Thora) Frederikke Marie Daugaard was a Danish women's rights activist, pacifist, editor and translator. In 1915, she attended the International Women's Conference in The Hague, together with Clara Tybjerg. Thereafter she established and later headed the Danske Kvinders Fredskæde or Danish Women's Peace Chain which became the Danish branch of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She is also remembered for organizing assistance for Jews and their children in Nazi-occupied Denmark during the Second World War.
Louise Gustave Dorothea Hildegard Wright née Bauditz (1861–1935) was a Danish philanthropist, feminist and peace activist. From 1913, she headed the philanthropic Præmieselskabet for Plejemødre, an association for foster mothers which supervised over 600 foster children. She was also an active member of Danske Kvinders Nationalråd where she served as vice-president. In 1915, she was one of the founding members of the Danske Kvinders Fredskæde, the Danish chapter of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, serving as a board member (1921–1924).
Estrid Hein was a Danish ophthalmologist, women's rights activist and pacifist. She practised in Copenhagen from 1898, opening her own clinic in 1906. She was also a prominent figure in the women's movement, chairing the Copenhagen chapter of the Danish Women's Society from 1909, later serving on the society's central board. In 1915, she became an active member of Danske Kvinders Fredskæde (DKF), the Danish arm of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. The same year she joined the Scandinavian Family Law Commission where she was effective in furthering progress on women rights as spouses. From 1933 she participated on the executive board of Denmark's Women's Council.
Johanne Elisabeth Münter née Johnson (1844–1921) was a Danish writer and women's rights activist.
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 Fredsforening and became the influential president of the progressive suffragist organization Kvindelig Fremskridtsforening (KF). From 1888, Meyer was editor of KF's journal Hvad vi vil, to which she contributed many articles.
The Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgsretsudvalg was established in 1898 by Louise Nørlund, with support from Line Luplau, in order to work towards obtaining the vote for women. In 1904, the organization's name was changed to Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund (DKV) or the Danish Women's Society's Suffrage Union.
The Kvindelig Fremskridtsforening (KF), or Women's Progress Association, was a Danish women's association which was founded in 1885 by Matilde Bajer and Elisabeth Ouchterlony. They had both been co-founders of the Danish Women's Society in 1871 but now wanted an organization which included specific attention to women's suffrage 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.
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 participated in electoral meetings, asking candidates how they felt about women's participation in provincial and national elections. The first meeting was held on 15 February 1889 with 1,500 participants. In addition to Luplau, Louise Nørlund and Johanne Meyer, there were also some prominent gentlemen in the audience, including Fredrik Bajer and Jens Christian Hostrup.
Vibeke Ingeborg Salicath née Frisch (1861–1921) was a Danish philanthropist, feminist and politician. From the 1890s, together with her sister Gyrithe Lemche, she was an active member of the Danish Women's Society where from 1901 she edited Kvinden & Samfundet.
Ane Marie Louise Dagmar Hjort née Harbou (1860–1902) was a Danish schoolteacher, writer and women's rights activist. A member of the Danish Women's Society, she was particularly interested in achieving women's voting rights and became a member of the Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsudvalg when it was established in 1898. She called not only for equality of the sexes in social, economic and political spheres but for women's liberation from family ties to the home. In addition to the articles she contributed to journals and newspapers, she compiled a history of the women's rights movement in North America. Published posthumously as Kvinderetsbevægelsen i Nordamerika (1906), it was widely used in orienting development of the women's movement in Denmark.
Anne Kirstine Bruun (1853–1934) was a Danish schoolteacher and women's rights activist. An early proponent of equal pay for male and female teachers, in 1900 she became the first woman to serve on the central committee of the Danish Union of Teachers. She was an enthusiastic member of the Danish Women's Society and a frequent contributor to their magazine Kvinden og Samfundet which she edited for a time in the mid-1890s. Bruun was an early supporter of the Women's Society's direct involvement in the fight for women's voting rights.
Tegne- og Kunstindustriskolen for Kvinder was a private Danish educational establishment in Copenhagen. From 1875, it aimed to provide better facilities for women to develop competence in visual arts and handicrafts at a time when they were unable to enter the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The school continued to operate until 1967 when it was merged with the Kunsthåndværkerskolen to form Skole for Brugskunst, later known as Danmarks Designskole.
Charlotte Bolette Klein née Unna (1834–1915) was a Danish educator and women's rights activist. A motivated teacher, from the mid-1870s until 1907 she was the principal of the Arts and Crafts School for Women in Copenhagen. Klein was a member of the Danish Women's Society and a strong supporter of women's suffrage. Shortly before her death, she published her ideas in Hvad jeg venter af Kvinderne.
Julie Frederikke Ramsing née Vallentin (1871–1954) was a Danish pacifist, feminist and philanthropist who is remembered above all for organizing three-month convalescence trips to Denmark for malnourished German children after the end of the First World War. As chair of the Committee for Schleswig Children's Holiday Trips from 1919 to 1948, every year she arranged for children from Southern Schleswig to stay with families in the Danish countryside. She also contributed much to maintaining the cultural identity of Danish families living in Germany.
Meta Kristine Hansen (1865–1941) was a Danish women's rights activist and politician. In 1893, she became the first woman to graduate in political science from the University of Copenhagen. She co-founded Denmark's Political Women's Association in 1904, later chairing it when it became the Copenhagen Women's Suffrage Association. From 1907, she served as secretary of the National Association for Women's Suffrage, writing articles in the organization's magazine Kvindevalgret. Hansen was also a board member of the Danish Women's Society from 1906 to 1924. Representing the Danish Social Liberal Party, she was a candidate for Frederiksberg's Municipal Council in 1917 but was not elected.
