Annie Furuhjelm

Annie Fredrika Furuhjelm (11 December 1859 – 17 July 1937) was a Finnish journalist, feminist activist, and writer. She was a member of the Parliament of Finland from 1914 to 1924 and again from 1927 to 1930, representing the Swedish People's Party of Finland (SFP). She was the first enfranchised woman in Europe to serve as a delegate to the International Women Suffrage Alliance and the first elected female legislator to speak before the British Parliament. She was awarded the Order of the White Rose of Finland for her service to the nation.

Annie Fredrika Furuhjelm was born on 11 December 1859 at Rekoor Castle in Sitka on Baranof Island in the Russian Colony of Alaska. Her father, Johan Hampus Furuhjelm, was the penultimate Russian governor of Alaska and her mother Anna von Schoultz was the daughter of a Swedish-Finnish adventurer. When Alaska was purchased by the United States, the family left in 1867 for Russian Siberia, where they spent six years in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur before returning to Helsinki. In 1870, Furujhelm was sent to Dresden for schooling before rejoining her family in Helsinki in 1872. She was highly educated and fluently spoke English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Swedish, having completed studies at the girl's gymnasium in 1876 and post-graduate college in 1887.

After completing her schooling, Furuhjelm lived on her family's estate and founded a school. She worked as a nurse for many years in the local community, but grew tired of the isolation and decided to become a journalist in 1890. She founded a newspaper called New Tide (Swedish: Nutid), which would become the mouthpiece of the Finnish women's organization. In 1899, Furuhjelm met with other likeminded women, including Lucina Hagman, Alli Nissinen (), and Sofia Rein, to help Hagman organize the Martha organisation, a humanitarian organization to help women manage their homes. Since assembly was banned at that time by the Finnish government, the women met clandestinely in different members homes. Furuhjelm served as the first secretary of the organization.

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