Alexandra Gripenberg, also known as Alexandra van Grippenberg, (1857 – 24 December 1913) was a Finnish social activist, author, editor, newspaper publisher, and elected politician, and was a leading voice within the movement for women's rights in Finland at the turn of the 20th century.[1] She was also known as a Fennoman.
Gripenberg was born in 1857, and her family were Swedish-speaking nobles. She was instrumental in the establishment of the first official women's rights organization in Finland, the Suomen Naisyhdistys (Finnish Women's Association), in Helsinki in 1884 and became one of its active members. She served as the president of the association for two terms, 1889–1904 and 1909–1913. Between 1887 and 1888, she traveled in England and the United States, to study lessons from the women's movements of those countries. The tour inspired her book A Half Year in the New World published in 1889. The same year she also founded one of the earliest Finnish women's magazines, Koti ja Yhteiskunta, which was published until December 1911.[2] Gripenberg was also the editor-in-chief of the magazine which acted as the organ of the Suomen Naisyhdistys.[2] She served as the treasurer of the International Council of Women from 1893 to 1899.[3]
Finland granted women's suffrage in 1906.[4] Gripenberg was one of the nineteen women elected in 1907, making her one of the first women to get elected into the Parliament of Finland.[3] She was elected through the conservative Finnish Party,[3] which proved somewhat difficult for her at times as she was Swedish-speaking and the party was Finnish-speaking with strong grass roots support in the Finnish countryside. Gripenberg remained a member of the party until 1909.[3] She died in 1913.[5]