Female Red Guards of the Finnish Civil War

Women's Red Guards
Helena Aalto (b. 1898) and Elli Vuokko (b. 1890) of the Turku Women's Guard, both executed in May 1918.
Active	February–May 1918
Allegiance	Red Finland
Branch	Red Guards
Role	Combat units and Support services
Size	2,000 members
Engagements	Finnish Civil War

Female Red Guards were all-female units of the paramilitary Red Guards in the 1918 Finnish Civil War. More than 15 Female Guards units were established between February and March 1918, with the total number of women serving coming to approximately 2,000. The Guards were composed of young industrial workers, maids, and servants, with an average age of about 20, but including members as young as 14 years of age. The women served in the service corps as well as in the combat units. At least 755 Red Guard women died in the war; 70–130 were killed on the battlefield, 420–460 were executed by the Whites, 80–110 died in the prison camps, and 180 went missing. Captured women who were armed were usually shot soon after combat and often raped before the execution.

Finnish working-class women had been active in society since the late 1800s. The suffrage movement began in the 1890s and since the beginning of the 1900s, women were a part of the movement against the Russification of Finland, organizing conscription strikes. Female labourers also played a major role in the 1905 general strike. Although Finnish women gained the right to vote in 1906 (second in the world) women's social status still lagged behind men. For example, married women were under the authority of their husband and were not allowed to have a job without his permission. The condition of working-class women was much worse than the role of middle-class women. The situation for maids and servants was especially poor. Because of the 1865 Imperial Servant Act, they lived in slave-like conditions often resulting in sexual abuse. Child labour was also legal in Finland up to the 1920s.

When the Finnish Civil War started in late January 1918, women were recruited to the Red Guards to perform supportive tasks like nursing, cooking and sewing. These jobs were usually done by elderly working-class women with a trade union and labour movement background. While the men were fighting in the front, the women secured their families' livelihood with a salary paid by the Red Guards. As a result, some younger labour women were willing to form units of their own, as they could not assist the troops otherwise.

The first Women's Guards units were born in the early days of February in Helsinki, Vyborg and Valkeakoski. The model came from the Women's Battalions of the 1917 Russian Revolution. At first, the Red Government and the Red Guard staff opposed the women's units, as did the antimilitarist Social Democratic Women's Union. On 13 March, the Red Government finally approved the guards already founded, but ended the establishing of new units. This order, however, was not strictly followed and some new units were still formed in late March and early April in the largest towns and industrial communities of the Red controlled part of Finland. With a couple of exceptions, they were not established in the rural areas. Some women served in combat units, others were assigned to support duties. The armed women were given a short military training by the leading Red Guard personnel. At first they did guard duty, but in late March, the first ones were sent to the frontline.