Jenny Maria Upari (30 January 1882 – 9 April 1948) was a Finnish trade unionist and politician. A member of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, she was elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1907 as one of the first group of female MPs. She was the youngest member of the first parliament, and also the first to take maternity leave. She remained an MP until the following year.

Biography

Upari was born Jenny Maria Kilpiäinen in

Vyborg Vyborg (; , ; , ; , ) is a town and the administrative center of Vyborgsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies on the Karelian Isthmus near the head of Vyborg Bay, northwest of St. Petersburg, east of the Finnish capital H ...

in 1882.Jenny Upari
Parliament of Finland She worked as a weaver and married Villehad Nuotio, a policeman,
University of Helsinki taking his surname. The couple had two children. She also became secretary and treasurer of the Federation of Women Workers.
University of Helsinki She contested the 1907 elections on the Social Democratic Party's list in Kuopio East and was one of 19 women elected to parliament. She was the youngest member of the first parliament, and was also pregnant when taking office, becoming the first woman to take maternity leave while in parliament. However, she lost her seat in the

1908 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1908. Africa *1908 Southern Rhodesian Legislative Council election Australia * 1908 Adelaide by-election * 1908 Queensland state election Europe *1908 Bulgarian parliamentary election *1908 Croatian ...

. During her time in parliament she sat on the Finance Committee and the Grand Committee. After marrying Juho Aleksi Upari in 1918, she took his surname. She died in

Sipoo Sipoo (; ) is a municipality of Finland. It is part of the Helsinki metropolitan area. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The administrative center of the municipality i ...

in 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Upari, Jenny 1882 births 1948 deaths Politicians from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1907–1908) Finnish trade unionists Women members of the Parliament of Finland 20th-century Finnish women politicians