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 (What We Want), to which she contributed many articles. [1] [2]
Born on 1 July 1838 in Aalborg, Johanne Marie Abrahammine Petersen was the daughter of the customs officer Lauritz Petersen (1802–1856) and Sophie Frederikke Lundberg (1799–c.1863). In 1858, she married Emil Lauritz Meyer (1833–1917), a Jewish merchant who converted to Christianity. After living in Nyborg until 1867, the couple moved to Copenhagen where her husband became a licensed retailer and she ran a small private school. [1]
In 1885, she began writing articles on English pacifism for the political journal Social-Demokraten. As a result of the women's strike at Ruben's textile factory in 1886, she became a committed socialist, supporting equal rights for women and universal suffrage. In July 1888 at the Nordic Women's Meeting (Nordiske Kvindesagsmøde) held in Copenhagen, she campaigned energetically for women's voting rights. [1] [3] It had been convened by the Kvindelig Fremskridtsforening (KF, Women's Progressive Society) where she was president from 1889, defining the organization's objectives. She also edited the women's movement's journal Hvad vi vil, becoming its most productive contributor. [1] [4]
In 1889, together with Louise Nørlund and Line Luplau, she founded Kvindevalgretsforeningen (KVF) which was set on achieving voting rights for women. [1] From the early 1890s, she became increasingly involved in pacifism, becoming the vice-president of the Danish peace society, Fredsforeningen. [4] She continued to push for women's voting rights both in the KVF and by giving a considerable number of lectures. [1] In 1911, she attended the Universal Race Congress as the delegate of the Peace Society of Copenhagen. [5] In later life she became increasingly religious, founding the Theosophical Society of Denmark. [6]
Johanne Meyer died in the Copenhagen district of Frederiksberg on 4 February 1915. [1]
Line Luplau (1823–1891) was a Danish feminist and suffragist. She was the co-founder of the Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund or DKV and first chairperson in 1889-1891.
Anna Olivia Nielsen, née Christensen, (1852–1910) was a Danish trade unionist and politician. Under her leadership, the Danish Women Workers Union (KAD) gained prominence as agreements resulted from effective strike action. Founded 1901, Nielsen chaired the organisation until her death in 1910.
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.
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Ida Mariette Helene Falbe-Hansen born Hansen was a Danish educator, philologist and women's activist. A pioneer in the teaching of Swedish, she published textbooks and promoted Swedish literature in Denmark. She was also active on the board of the Danish Women's Society and chaired the Danish Women's Council.
Marie Nicolina Theodora Rovsing née Schack (1814–1888) was a pioneering Danish women's rights activist. From 1871 to 1888 she was a board member of the Danish Women's Society, serving as president from 1883 to 1887. Interested in allowing women to practise crafts and manual work traditionally reserved for men, on her death she left a legacy which among other things allowed two women to be the first in Denmark to qualify as carpenters.
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.
Ester Henriette Carstensen née Hansen was a Danish women's rights activist and journal editor. She was one of the most active members of the Danish Women's Society, editing its journal from 1908 and becoming its vice-president in 1913. She later headed the Copenhagen chapter of the Women's Society.
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.
Marie Thora Frederikke Pedersen (1875–1954) was a Danish teacher, school inspector and women's rights proponent who was active in the Danish Union of Teachers and the Danish Women's Society. As a representative of these organizations on the parliamentary salary commission established in 1917, she was instrumental in achieving progress on civil servants' pay. Her efforts led to the Pay Act (Lønningsloven) of 1919 which introduced equal pay for men and women. She also succeeded in introducing improvements for Danish schools based on her international experience in education.
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.
The Danske Kvinders Forsvarsforening (DKF), or Danish Women's Defence Association, was a Danish women's organization established in 1907 to improve the readiness of the Danish armed forces as tensions increased across Europe. With a membership of some 50,000, it was one of the largest Danish women's organizations up to the First World War. Politically neutral, it had chapters throughout the country. With a view to making Denmark's neutrality more convincing, it sensitized politicians to the need for more effective armed forces while encouraging men to take renewed interest in defence. In 1913, a collection from its membership provided funding for ammunition and uniforms for the voluntary shooting corps. After women had obtained voting rights in 1915, it was decided future progress on defence should be based on their political involvement. The organization was therefore dissolved in 1921.
Johanne Elisabeth Grundtvig (1856–1945) was a prominent Danish women's rights activist, parliamentary stenographer, leading member of the Danish Women's Society and editor of the organization's periodical Kvinden og Samfundet. In the 1880s, she was behind heated discussion on sexual morality calling for unmarried women to uphold their chastity.
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.
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.
Rigmor Stampe Bendix (1850–1923) was a Danish baroness, writer and philanthropist. In 1898, she became editor of Kvindernes Blad, a supplement to various daily newspapers, developing it as an organ for the women's movement. She is remembered in Denmark for her biographies of the sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen, Baronesse Stampes Erindringer om Thorvaldsen (1912) and of her godfather Hans Christian Andersen, H.C. Andersen og hans nærmeste Omgang (1918).
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.
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