Anna Kleman at the International Congress of Women in 1915 Anna Sofia Kleman (1862–1940) was a Swedish insurance officer and feminist. She is remembered for her work as a

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 ...

activist and

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ''a ...

, especially in regard to

voting rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

. She participated in the 1911 Stockholm Women's Suffrage Conference and represented Sweden at the 1915 International Women's Peace Conference in

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 ...

. When the charity

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

was formed in 1919 she was on the board of the Swedish counterpart Rädda Barnen. Eventually she would become the chair of the board.

Biography

Born in

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to ...

in 1862, Anna Sofia Kleman was the daughter of Commander Carl Kleman (1820–1872) and Johanna Augusta Grahm (1825–1904). Her younger sister, Ellen Kleman (1867–1943), was also active in the women's movement. By 1895, she was working for the Thule insurance company 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 ...

. From 1903, she was active in ''Studenter och Arbetare'' (Students and Workers Association) and from 1906 to 1911, she served on the board of '' Landsföreningen för kvinnans politiska rösträtt'' (Association for Women's Political Rights). In 1907 she was elected to the committee of the women's organisation

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 ...

. She was also a proponent of women's voting rights, becoming an active participant at the 1911 Stockholm Suffrage Congress. She also participated in the Women's Peace Congress in the Hague (1915) and the

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) is a non-profit non-governmental organization working "to bring together women of different political views and philosophical and religious backgrounds determined to study and make kno ...

congress in

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

(1919). As a writer, she contributed articles in support of women's suffrage to the journal ''Rösträtt för kvinnor'' (Voting Rights for Women) from 1916. Kleman became increasingly involved as a peace activist, chairing the Swedish chapter of the

from 1915 to 1918. In 1925, she attended the

International Council of Women The International Council of Women (ICW) is a women's organization working across national boundaries for the common cause of advocating women's rights, human rights for women. In March and April 1888, women leaders came together in Washington D.C ...

convention organized by the

National Woman Suffrage Association The National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was formed on May 15, 1869, to work for women's suffrage in the United States. Its main leaders were Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. It was created after the women's rights movement spl ...

in Washington, D.C., reporting on the discussions in '' Hertha'', a magazine devoted to the women's movement. Anna Kleman died in 1940 in Stockholm.

Biography

See also

References

Further reading