Agda Georgina Dorothea Alexandra Montelius (; 23 April 1850 – 27 October 1920) was a Swedish philanthropist and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

. She was a leading figure of the Swedish philanthropy, active for the struggle of women's suffrage, and chairwoman of the Fredrika Bremer Association in 1903–1920.

Biography

Montelius was born in

Köping, Sweden Köping is a locality and the seat of Köping Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden. It had 17,743 inhabitants in 2010. It is known for the television series '' I en annan del av Köping''. Etymology ''Köping'' means merchant place. I ...

in 1850, the daughter of the government defence minister and noble

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Alexander Reuterskiöld and Anna Schenström. She was educated at the fashionable girls' school '' Hammarstedtska flickskolan'' in Stockholm. On 20 September 1871, she married the Swedish archaeologist and professor

Oscar Montelius Gustaf Oscar Augustin Montelius, known as Oscar Montelius (9September 18434November 1921) was a Swedish archaeologist who refined the concept of seriation, a relative chronological dating method. Biography Oscar Montelius refined the conce ...

(1843–1921). She was described as diminutive, calm, kind and thoughtful, dutiful and always busy with her many projects. She had bad eyesight and eventually became blind in one eye. Her own personal ideals was simple and strict. Montelius was regarded as a central figure and an ideal among the women of the higher middle class in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Lydia Wahlström Lydia Katarina Wahlström (28 June 1869 – 2 June 1954) was a Swedish historian, author and feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, ...

often engaged her as an exam witness for the students of the girls' school ''

Åhlinska skolan Åhlinska skolan (Åhlin School), or Åhlinska flickskolan (Åhlin Girls' School), was a girls' school in Stockholm, Sweden. Active from 1847 to 1939, it was one of the first schools in Sweden that offered serious academic education to female stu ...

''.

Philanthropic work

Montelius was the leading figure of the Swedish philanthropy in the early 20th century. Her principle was to help people help themselves. She was member of the committee (1885–1901) of the women's society ''

Nya Idun ('New Idun') is a Swedish cultural association for women founded in 1885, originally as a female counterpart to ('the Idun Society'). Its aim was to "gather educated women in the Stockholm area for informal gatherings". Activity was founded ...

'' (New Idun) and its chairperson (1900–1901); the Maria skyddsförening (Maria Protection Society) 1879–1892, co-founder and chairperson of ''Föreningen för välgörenhetens ordnande'' or FVO (Society of Organised Charity) in 1889–1911 as well as managing director of the FVO central committee in 1911–1920. She was a member of the central committee in the ''Sällskapet för uppmuntran av öm och sedlig modersvård'' (Society for the Encouragement of Tender and Decent Motherly Care) in 1901–1920, co-founder and committee member of the ''Centralförbundet för socialt arbete'' (Central Committee of Social Work) or CSA in 1903–1909 and ''Svenska fattigvårdsförbundet'' (Swedish Poor Care Society) in 1909–1920.

Women's rights activism

Through her philanthropic work, she also became involved with the work for women's rights. She was a supporter of

Difference feminism Difference feminism is a term developed during the equality-versus-difference debate in American feminism to describe the view that men and women are different, but that no value judgment can be placed upon them and both sexes have equal moral s ...

and believed it to be important for women to participate in politics and the organization and formation of society on order to protect the rights of the sick, the weak and needing and to make society a home. In 1886, Montelius officially became a member of the women's rights organisation of

Sophie Adlersparre Carin Sophie Adlersparre (née Leijonhufvud; 6 July 1823 – 27 June 1895), known by her pen-name Esselde, was a Swedish feminist, writer and publisher who was one of the pioneers of the 19th-century women's rights movement in Sweden. She wa ...

: the Fredrika Bremer Association or FBF. Two years prior, she had been one of its co-founders. Formally, the FBF was headed by Hans Hildebrand because Adlersparre thought it necessary for the society to be headed by a male for it to be taken seriously. In reality, however, Adlersparre functioned as its chairperson, and upon the death of Adlersparre in 1895, she was succeeded by Montelius. Montelius was initially called vice chairman, but in 1903, she formally became chairman, officially the first female chairperson of the FBF. The goal of the FBF was to work for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

, but previously, it had not worked for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

. In 1899, a delegation from the FBF presented a suggestion of women's suffrage to Prime Minister Erik Gustaf Boström. The delegation was headed by Montelius, accompanied by Gertrud Adelborg, who had written the demand. This was the first time the Swedish women's movement themselves had officially presented a demand for suffrage. In 1902, the Swedish National Association for Women's Suffrage (''Landsföreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt'', LKPR) was founded. Montelius never became a formal member, probably because of her chairmanship of the FBF, but she was informally active for the LKPR. She performed many tasks for the LKPR, she made the resources and the members of the FBF available for service in the LKPR, and she made the paper of the FBF, '' Dagny'', the spokes organ of the LKPR until 1911. In 1911, when the LKPR abandoned its political neutrality by a resolution of boycott against political parties opposing woman suffrage, she stopped the use of the FBF's paper ''Dagny'' as the paper of LKPR. She was a consultant in the governmental committee for the reformation of the marriage rights law in 1912, which eventually (in 1920) led to husband and wife being given equal rights within marriage.

Peace activism

Montelius was also active within the peace movement, during which FBF again collaborated with the LKPR. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the LKPR took the initiative for a peace organisation formed by women of the neutral countries with the aim to form pressure on the neutral governments to act as mediators between the warring parties. The Peace Movement was formed by the LKPR with members also from the Fredrika Bremer Association, KFUK, the social democratic women's organisations among others, with

Anna Whitlock Anna Whitlock (13June 185216June 1930) was a Swedish reform pedagogue, journalist, suffragette and feminist. She was co-founder and twice chairperson of the National Association for Women's Suffrage. She was also the co-founder of the women's ...

, Emilia Broomé and

Kerstin Hesselgren Kerstin Hesselgren (14 January 1872 – 19 August 1962) was a Swedish politician. Hesselgren became the first woman to be elected into the Upper House of the Swedish Parliament after female suffrage was introduced in 1921. She was elected by sugg ...

as leading members. A great peace manifestation was to take place 19 February 1915 organised by the Swedish women with support and participation also from the women of Denmark and Norway. However, on 18 February, Montelius was called to meet with Queen Victoria of Baden, who demanded a stop of "The foolish presumption of women" to involve in politics. King Gustav V of Sweden interrupted and said that women were of course entitled to present demands to the government, but that the present situation made it difficult. The king referred the matter to Knut Wallenberg, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who warned them that such an action could damage Swedish neutrality. The action was therefore silenced in Sweden and Norway as well as in Denmark. However, the Swedish Peace Movement did send 16 delegates to the International Congress of Women at

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

in April 1915.

Award

She was awarded the Swedish Royal Medal ''

Illis Quorum ''Illis quorum'' (''Illis quorum meruere labores'') (English: "For Those Whose Labors Have Deserved It") is a gold medal awarded for outstanding contributions to Swedish culture, science or society. The award was introduced in 1784 by King Gusta ...

'' in 1910.

References

Other sources

* Österberg, Carin et al. (1990) ''Svenska kvinnor: föregångare, nyskapare'' (Lund: Signum) (Swedish) * Barbro Hedwall; Susanna Eriksson Lundqvist (2011) ''Vår rättmätiga plats. Om kvinnornas kamp för rösträtt'' (Stockholm: Förlag Bonnier)