Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Address of the women's rights activist Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir on the Austurvöllur , 1915.

Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir (born September 27, 1856 on the farm Böðvarshólar, Vesturhóp , Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla , Iceland ; died March 16, 1940 in Reykjavík ) was an Icelandic journalist, editor, women's rights activist and politician.

Life

Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir as a young woman, around 1880

Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir was born as the eldest of six siblings on September 27, 1856 on the Böðvarshólar farm in the Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla district (closer Vesturhóp area ), Iceland . Two of her siblings died early. In 1863 her brother Sæmundur Bjarnhéðinsson (1863–1936) was born, who later became a professor. Her parents were poor, but came from long-established, “good” families, something Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir was proud of.

Her early upbringing was typical of that of a country child of intelligent parents at the time: Before she could read, she was taught to retell Biblical stories, and later she took on the role of telling sermons, fairy tales, and other stories for her younger siblings she knew. At that time there were no schools for rural children, but the father read a lot and discussed news that he brought with him from outside with the members of his household.

When the girl was 13 years old, her mother became very sick and was bedridden for the next four years. Bríet had to take responsibility for the household. While her younger brother was consulted by her father in making decisions, she never did; At that time girls only had the option of getting married or living as servants, as there were no girls' schools. It was not until 1874 that the first girls' school was opened in the capital and two more in the country in the following years.

When her father died, her mother gave up farming and Bríet moved to the capital to live with a cousin and his wife. He was a clergyman, also a well-known politician and very well read, so that the young woman now had access to a library. A loan made it possible for her to go to school for one winter. She took her final exam, which was scheduled for the end of the second year, after the first and graduated in 1880 as the best student. Longer education was not available to women in Iceland at the time. She had thus acquired the right to teach and began working as a teacher in 1887.

In 1888 she married Valdimar Ásmundsson, editor of the newspaper Fjallkonan , with whom she had two children. In 1902 her husband died suddenly.

Her grave is in the Hólavallagarður cemetery in Reykjavik.

Professional background

Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir, between 1896 and 1900

In 1885 Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir wrote the first newspaper article written by a woman in Iceland at the age of 29 in Fjallkonan . She used the pseudonym AESA for her articles in which she campaigned for women's rights. In 1888 she married Valdimar Ásmundsson, the editor of the newspaper, and from 1895 to 1926 published a women's magazine called Kvennablaðið (German 'women's magazine'). In it she campaigned for the rights of women in the home and in education. The magazine found wide circulation.

In 1897 she co-founded a journalists' association and was responsible for the publication of a children's magazine between 1898 and 1903.

Political activity

In 1887 she was the first woman to give a public lecture on women's rights. He was well received by the press and the public.

In 1894 she was one of the founders of a women's association in the capital that pursued the goal of political equality for women. After the death of the main responsible Þorbjörg Sveinsdóttir in 1903, the association had given up its political goals and the political women's newspaper '' Framsókn '' (German for 'progress') ceased its publication. A political vacuum was created.

Between 1902 and 1904 Bríet traveled to the USA as well as to Sweden , Denmark and Norway , where she came into contact with the international women's movement . She networked with activists all over the world, including Anita Augspurg . In 1906 Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir took part in the conference of the International Alliance of Women in Copenhagen .

Inspired by Carrie Chapman Catt , Bríet founded the country's first Icelandic women's electoral organization, Kvenréttindafélag Íslands , in 1907 . She was its first president and headed the organization from 1907 to 1911 and from 1912 to 1927. She rode from place to place for two months, setting up offices there, giving speeches on women's suffrage and promoting the topic. In December 1887 she organized a conference on the living conditions and rights of women, at which she advocated women's suffrage.

In 1908, in Iceland, married women were given equal rights to active suffrage in local elections. For the city council elections in Reykjavík in 1908 there was an all-women nomination list without party affiliation, on the four names were, including Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir. This list was supported by all women's organizations in the city and received the most votes with 22 percent and all four women were elected to the city council, which had 15 members. Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir was a city councilor from 1908 to 1912 and from 1914 to 1920.

A number of improvements had since been made: in 1911 all schools, grants, and government posts were accessible to women on the same terms as men. In 1919, three laws were passed that regulated the status of illegitimate children, as well as marriage and divorce, and municipal suffrage was won. The editor of the women's magazine Kvennablaðið decided to discontinue its publication.

But the struggle for women's suffrage at the national level continued: On August 5, 1916, Iceland's women could for the first time participate in the elections for the Althing at national level . Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir was elected as the first and only woman in these elections, but only as a substitute parliamentarian; she could never take office. In 1926 she again unsuccessfully applied for a seat in the Icelandic parliament,

Unrestricted universal suffrage for people aged 25 and over was not introduced in Iceland until 1920.

Honors

In 2012 streets in Reykjavik were renamed after the four women who won their first seats on the city council in 1908. The former Skúlagata east of the Snorra bride Bríetartún is now reminiscent of Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir.

literature

  • Ártöl and áfangar í sögu íslenskra kvenna, Kvennasögusafn Íslands, Reykjavík 1998.
  • Manntal á Íslandi 1910, V2 Reykjavík; Ættfræðifélagið, Reykjavík 2003.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e f g h i j k l Kvennasögusafn Íslands - Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir (1856-1940), suffragette. Retrieved January 8, 2020 .
  2. Böðvarshólar - Iceland Road Guide. Retrieved January 8, 2020 (German).
  3. a b Martin Pfaffenzeller, DER SPIEGEL: Women's strike in Iceland: The revolution of the red stockings - DER SPIEGEL - history. Retrieved January 8, 2020 .
  4. Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir. In: findagrave.com. Retrieved January 8, 2020 .
  5. a b c d e f g Jad Adams: Women and the Vote. A world history. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870684-7 , page 192.
  6. ^ Women in Parliament. Retrieved January 8, 2020 .
  7. Caroline Daley, Melanie Nolan (Eds.): Suffrage and Beyond. International Feminist Perspectives. New York University Press New York 1994, p. 350.
  8. a b Streets are becoming female. In: Iceland Review. October 12, 2012, accessed January 8, 2020 (American English).