The Finnish Women’s Association Steps Up
At the same time as legal aid was discussed in the newspapers, the women’s movement was also involved in the matter. The Finnish Women’s Association (Suomen Naisyhdistys) was founded in 1884 with the goal of improving girls’ educational opportunities and enhancing the position of women in society.
More specifically, it sought the right to obtain academic degrees and the same offices as men, equal pay, and—most importantly— giving women the same voting rights as men. The organisation of the Finnish women’s movement coincides with a period of organised activity including the rise of the labour movement, the temperance movement, and the youth movement which developed in the 1880s. Political movements also gained momentum, such as the Fennoman movement which strove to improve the position of the Finnish language and culture.[498] Members of the Women’s Association—and their husbands—belonged to the educated class and many had connections to the Fennoman move- ment.[499] The first chairwoman of the association was Elisabeth Lofgren (nee Avellan, 1851-1931). Her father was a treasurer at the Senate (Fi. senaatιnkamreeri) and after her schooling she worked as a copyist at the Senate—at that time, a very uncommon job for women—and as a teacher and translator. In 1871, she married Viktor Lofgren (1843-1909), the editor-in-chief of Uusi Suometar, a nation-wide newspaper which promoted the Fennoman agenda. Elisabeth Lofgren also contributed to the newspaper anonymously, often writing about the women’s cause.[500]In April 1884, soon after the Finnish Women’s Association’s founding, it began discussing the question of employing an advocate for the poor in Helsinki. Elisabeth Lofgren explained that there had been a suggestion that the association should take initiative in the matter.
From the records it is not clear whether this idea came from within the association or if it was a result of Lofgren’s discussions with people outside the association. In the meeting, Lofgren highlighted the fact that such an advocate would improve the legal situation of poor women and referenced experiences from Gothenburg. Members of the association then debated whether they should pursue the matter. One of the members, Ella Kurten, said that legal aid was a purely philanthropic question and, therefore, fell outside the purview of the Women’s Association. The others, however, felt that it was very relevant for their cause, because legal aid would specifically benefit poor women. Even if some men ended up getting help as well, that did not diminish the importance of the issue for women. Therefore, the decision was made to take action.[501]The association sent chairwoman Lofgren and member Adelaide Ehrnrooth (1826-1905)—an author and leading figure of the women’s movement—to discuss the matter with the chairman of the Helsinki town council, Baron Max af Schulten (1847-1899). According to the records of the Women’s Association, the meeting had gone well: af Schulten had seemed interested, and to further acquaint himself with the issue, he had kept all the documents the women had given him. He also agreed to discuss the matter with some lawyers. In their next meeting, the members of the Women’s Association debated whether they should rely on chairman af Schulten to take the matter further within the town council or whether they should continue to be active themselves and make a petition. Hanna Heikel (1847-1929) felt that they should not rely on af Schulten but should contact individual town councillors, and that they should also ensure favourable attitudes by contacting newspapers and letting them lay the ground in the matter. Alma Hjelt (1853-1906), secretary of the association, in turn, opined that af Schulten should decide the most opportune time for contacting the newspapers.
In the end, they decided to get back in touch with af Schulten, while also pursuing the matter themselves.[502]Thus, the Women’s Association directly contacted Helsinki newspapers. Years later, the association praised Helsinki newspapers for publishing many of its discussion points, thus raising public awareness.[503] Moreover, next to chairwoman Lofgren, at least two of the association’s founding members, Adelaide Ehrnrooth and Alli Trygg (1852-1926), wrote for Helsingfors Dagblad[504] Two weeks after the Women’s Association held its meeting, Helsingfors Dagblad published the above-mentioned editorial, highlighting the importance of legal aid. It seems likely that the association was involved in having this editorial published, especially as the piece was expressly directed towards Helsinki town councillors trying to sway them in favour of such a plan.
In May, the Women’s Association, with the help of some townspeople, wrote a petition in support of appointing two advocates for the poor. It decided to give the petition to the Helsinki town council when the time was opportune considering the town budget—either during the summer or autumn. On 6 October 1884, the association decided to contact town councillors personally to discuss the matter and began collecting signatures for the petition. The petition began by stating that “a fundamental characteristic of Swedish-Finnish legislation is that everyone is equal before the law and the protection of the law shall be the same for all, rich and poor alike.” At the end of the month, the association noted that the petition which had been signed by 42 townspeople would soon be given to the town council.[505] A couple of weeks later, upon receiving the petition, the Helsinki town council appointed a committee, consisting of three lawyers, to investigate the matter further.[506]
It took the committee a year to finish its report which recommended the employment of one poor’s advocate. The report made extensive reference to the practice of the Gothenburg poor’s advocate and highlighted that also the Stockholm council had recently decided to establish this office.
The experiences from Sweden were positive, and the poor’s advocates there had been able to respond to the legal needs of poor people. The committee also stated that a similar need existed in Finland. The committee followed the Gothenburg practice closely and recommended appointing one advocate for the poor as well as establishing a dispute settlement board (Sw. forlikningsnamnd) to oversee the practice of the poor’s advocate and providing a means to settle legal aid cases outside of court. Whereas the petition had asked for two advocates to be employed, the committee felt that one would suffice. Clients could get help for free or for a small fee. The poor’s advocate would receive compensation of 2000 marks per year and an additional 500 marks for expenses.[507] The town council followed the committee report, but reserved completely free assistance only to those in “especially moving circumstances.”[508] The Women’s Association did not discuss the matter during the year the committee was working, but in December 1885, it noted with satisfaction that a poor’s advocate would be appointed. However, the decision to limit the group of people who could receive aid completely free of charge was a disappointment. By 1886, the association no longer discussed the issue.[509]In light of the Finnish Women’s Association’s records, it seems clear that the association had an important role in having an advocate for the poor appointed in Helsinki. Still, one searches in vain trying to find any mention of the Women’s Association’s initiative in the records of the Helsinki town council. The minutes of the town council’s meeting on 11 November 1884 mention that a petition concerning legal aid had been received, but there is nothing on who had initiated this petition.[510] The same is true for the meeting in November 1885 where the town council decided on appointing an advocate for the poor.[511] Neither do the printed annual reports of the town of Helsinki make any reference to the input of the Women’s Association.
When the newspapers reported that Helsinki was appointing a poor’s advocate, they mentioned the petition that was signed by townspeople, but remained silent on the Women’s Association’s involvement.[512] In March 1887, VasMadet—a newspaper in the old, Swedish-speaking coastal town of Vaasa—reported that a poor’s advocate was appointed in Helsinki at the initiative of the Finnish Women’s Association. This was the only time when the association was credited with this accomplishment.[513] If the town council and the newspapers largely neglected to bring up the Women’s Association, the association itself did not do much to blow its own horn, either. The publications in honour of the association’s history devote minuscule attention to this achievement. The 90th anniversary publication very briefly mentions the motion to organise legal aid, and the 125th anniversary publication is even briefer, laconically stating that between the years 1884 and 1893 “Helsinki got a poor’s advocate and an employment office was founded [.].”[514] The 25th, 40th, and 100th anniversary publications have no mention about the issue.Certainly, the Finnish Women’s Association did not act in a void, but was influenced by impulses in Finland and abroad. As mentioned before, the association referenced experiences on legal aid from Gothenburg as it had gained access to the records of the Gothenburg dispute settlement board. Indeed, the Finnish Women’s association’s records on another matter reveal that it was in contact with the local women’s association in Gothenburg (Goteborgs Kvinnoforening). The Gothenburg association was founded in October 1884, but it is possible that unofficial contact took place earlier that year.[515] Moreover, the Finnish Women’s Association also looked across the Atlantic. The Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 had inspired the women’s movement in the Nordic countries in the 1850s and 1860s. When the women’s movement in the U.S.
was planning the first international women’s congress in the late 1880s, Elisabeth Lofgren and Minna Canth (1844-1897), an author, businesswoman, social activist, and women’s rights advocate, were invited. As neither could attend, Aleksandra Gripenberg (1857-1913) and Alli Trygg, two other key figures of the Finnish women’s movement, were sent instead. The Finnish Women’s Association immediately became a member of the International Council of Women, which was founded during the congress in WashingtonD.C.[516] The fact that women’s organisations in the U.S. had played an important part in organising legal aid since the 1860s[517] may well have been known by the members of the Finnish Women’s Association and may have been one inspiration for trying to establish legal aid in Finland. Another example comes from Germany, where women’s associations were active in promoting so-called legal protection centres for women.[518] It seems clear, thus, that the Finnish Women’s Association’s involvement was part of a larger international phenomenon: the late-nineteenth-century women’s movement showing concern for the possibilities of women obtaining access to justice.