Editing Women's suffrage (section)

==== Finland ====
[[File:Women in Finnish Parliament (1907).jpg|thumb|13 of the total of 19 female MPs, who were the first female MPs in the world, elected in [[1907 Finnish parliamentary election|Finland's parliamentary elections in 1907]]]]

The area that in 1809 became [[Finland]] had been a group of integral provinces of the [[Kingdom of Sweden]] for over 600 years. Thus, women in Finland were allowed to vote during the Swedish [[Age of Liberty]] (1718–1772), during which conditional suffrage was granted to tax-paying female members of [[guild]]s.<ref name="Karlsson-Sjögren 1866">* Åsa Karlsson-Sjögren: ''Männen, kvinnorna och rösträtten : medborgarskap och representation 1723–1866'' ("Men, women and the vote: citizenship and representation 1723–1866") (in Swedish)</ref>  However, this right was controversial. In [[Vaasa]], there was opposition against women participating in the town hall discussing political issues, as this was not seen as their right place, and women's suffrage appears to have been opposed in practice in some parts of the realm: when [[Anna Elisabeth Baer]] and two other women petitioned to vote in Turku in 1771, they were not allowed to do so by town officials.<ref name="books.google.se">Heinonen, Jarna and Vainio-Korhonen, Kirsi (2018) ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=tnlTDwAAQBAJ&dq=civil+code+1734+sweden+women&pg=PT153 Women in Business Families: From Past to Present]''. Routledge. {{ISBN|9781351796583}}.</ref>

The predecessor state of modern [[Finland]], the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]], was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of [[autonomy]]. In 1863, taxpaying women were granted municipal suffrage in the countryside, and in 1872, the same reform was implemented in the cities.<ref name="jstor.org"/> 
The issue of women's suffrage was first raised by the women's movement when it organized in the [[Finnish Women's Association]] (1884), and the first organization exclusively devoted to the issue of suffrage was [[Naisasialiitto Unioni]] (1892).<ref>Aura Korppi-Tommola (toim.): Tavoitteena tasa-arvo. Suomen Naisyhdistys 125 vuotta. SKS, 2009. ISBN 978-952-222-110-0</ref>

In 1906, Finland became the first province in the world to implement racially-equal women's suffrage, unlike Australia in 1902. Finland also elected the world's first female members of parliament [[1907 Finnish parliamentary election|the following year]].<ref name="eduskunta.fi" /><ref name="web.archive.org" /> In 1907, the first general election in Finland that had been open to women took place. Nineteen women were elected which was less than 10% of the total members of parliament. The successful women included [[Lucina Hagman]], [[Miina Sillanpää]], [[Anni Huotari]], [[Hilja Pärssinen]], [[Hedvig Gebhard]], [[Ida Aalle]], [[Mimmi Kanervo]], [[Eveliina Ala-Kulju]], [[Hilda Käkikoski]], [[Liisi Kivioja]], [[Sandra Lehtinen]], [[Dagmar Neovius]], [[Maria Raunio]], [[Alexandra Gripenberg]], [[Iida Vemmelpuu]], [[Maria Laine]], [[Jenny Nuotio]] and [[Hilma Räsänen]]. Many had expected more. A few women realised that the women of Finland needed to seize this opportunity and organisation and education would be required. Newly elected MPs Lucina Hagman and [[Maikki Friberg]] together with [[Olga Oinola]], [[Aldyth Hultin]], Mathilda von Troil, [[Ellinor Ingman-Ivalo]], Sofia Streng and [[Olga Österberg]] founded the [[Finnish Women's Association]]'s first branch in Helsinki.<ref name=list>{{Cite web|url=https://naisliittohelsinki.fi/index.php?k=225852|title=Suomalainen Naisliitto – Historia|website=www.naisliittohelsinki.fi|language=fi|access-date=2020-01-18}}</ref>  [[Miina Sillanpää]] became Finland's first female government minister in 1926.<ref name="finland.fi_female">{{cite web|url=https://finland.fi/life-society/real-bridge-builder-became-finlands-first-female-government-minister/ |title=Real bridge-builder became Finland's first female government minister |publisher=Finland.fi |date=2018-12-31 |access-date=2021-10-07}}</ref>