Maria (Maikki) Elisabeth Friberg (5 January 1861 – 6 November 1927) was a Finnish educator, journal editor, suffragist and peace activist. She is remembered for her involvement in the Finnish women's movement, especially as chair of the Finnish women's rights organisation
Suomen Naisyhdistys and as the founder and editor of the women's journal ''
Naisten Ääni'' (Women's Voice). She travelled widely, promoting understanding of Finland abroad while participating in international conferences and contributing to the foreign press.
Biography
Born on 5 January 1861 in
Kankaanpää
Kankaanpää () is a List of cities and towns in Finland, town and Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Kankaanpää was founded in 1865, became a township in 1967 and finally a town in 1972. It is located in the crossroads of Häm ...
, Maria Elisabeth Friberg was the daughter of Karl Arvid Friberg and Fanny Adelaide Boijer. After her father's early death, her mother moved with the children to
Tampere
Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...
where she opened a guest house. Friberg attended the Swedish School for Women in
Helsinki
Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
where she matriculated from the teacher training class.
[
In 1883, Friberg obtained a teaching post in Helsinki's ]folk high school
Folk high schools (also ''adult education center'') are institutions for adult education that generally do not grant academic degrees, though certain courses might exist leading to that goal. They are most commonly found in Nordic countries and i ...
which she held until 1912. She studied in Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and 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 ...
, graduating from the University of Bern
The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...
in 1897 with a thesis on Nordic folk law. Thereafter she attended lectures on economics at the University of Brussels, becoming fluent in German, French and English. Until 1906, she made frequent study trips around Europe, perfecting her experience of teaching methods. She also became acquainted with other Scandinavians, especially Danes.[
While travelling in 1906, Friberg became interested in the women's movement, attending various conventions and congresses, where she frequently represented '' Kvinnosaksförbundet Unionen'' (the Union Women's Association). In 1906, at the ]International Alliance of Women
The International Alliance of Women (IAW; , AIF) is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suff ...
meeting in Copenhagen, her views on voting rights were particularly welcome as that year Finnish women had gained the right to vote. At this stage, she was especially interested in pacifism and temperance. She nevertheless continued to spread knowledge about Finland, giving lectures about Finnish and Sámi
Acronyms
* SAMI, ''Synchronized Accessible Media Interchange'', a closed-captioning format developed by Microsoft
* Saudi Arabian Military Industries, a government-owned defence company
* South African Malaria Initiative, a virtual expertise ...
schools in Germany, Austria and Denmark, including the Russian government's policy of limiting Finnish autonomy.[
With 30 years of increasingly wide teaching experience, in 1912 Friberg applied for the position of Deputy Inspector of the Helsinki Folk Schools but the appointment was given to Guss Mattsson of the Helsinki City Council, the authority organizing the selection. She was so upset that she decided to give up teaching, preferring to devote her time to women's issues.][
A member of the Finnish Women's Association from 1889, serving on the board from 1907 to 1924, and of the Union Association, which she co-founded in 1892 and chaired from 1920 to 1927,] Friberg was also active in the Finnish peace association '' Finlands Fredsförbund''. She also contributed articles to Finnish and foreign newspapers and founded her own magazine ''Naisten ääni'' (Women's Voice) in 1905 which she edited until her death.[ In 1909 in ''Naisten ääni'', she published an account of the International Alliance of Women congress in London.]
Maikki Friberg died in Helsinki on 6 November 1927.[
]
See also
* List of peace activists
This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated Diplomacy, diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usua ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friberg, Maikki
1861 births
1927 deaths
People from Kankaanpää
20th-century Finnish journalists
Finnish women journalists
Finnish magazine founders
Finnish women editors
19th-century Finnish women writers
20th-century Finnish women writers
Finnish feminists
Finnish women's rights activists
Finnish suffragists
Finnish pacifists
Pacifist feminists
Expatriates in Switzerland
University of Bern alumni
Finnish temperance activists
Suffragists from the Russian Empire
People from the Grand Duchy of Finland
Finnish expatriates in Switzerland