Sophie Adlersparre

Sophie Adlersparre
Sophie Adlersparre, photograph by Bertha Valerius (1860s)
Born	6 July 1823 Helgerum, Västrum, Kalmar County, Sweden
Died	27. June 1895 (1895-06-28) (aged 71) Ström, near Södertälje
Other names	Sophie Leijonhufvud, Esselde
Occupation	publisher, editor and writer
Known for	Women's rights activist. Founded the Fredrika Bremer Association (Fredrika-Bremer-förbundet), the oldest women's rights organisation in Sweden (1884).
Spouse(s)	Axel Adlersparre

Carin Sophie Adlersparre née Leijonhufvud (6 July 1823 – 27 June 1895) was one of the pioneers of the 19th-century women's rights movement in Sweden. She was the founder and editor of the first women's magazine in Scandinavia, Home Review (Tidskrift för hemmet), in 1859-85; co-founder of Friends of Handicraft (Handarbetets vänner) in 1874-87; founder of the Fredrika Bremer Association (Fredrika-Bremer-förbundet) in 1884; and one of the first two women to be a member of a state committee in Sweden in 1885. She is also known under the pen-name Esselde.

Sophie Adlersparre was the daughter of lieutenant colonel Baron Erik Gabriel Knutsson Leijonhufvud and Sofie Emerentia Hoppenstedt. She was educated privately at home, and then spent two years at a finishing school, the fashionable Bjurström Pension (Bjurströmska pensionen) in . In 1869, she married the nobleman commander Axel Adlersparre (1812–1879) and became the stepmother of his five children. Her husband was described as supportive of her social reform work.

Sophie Adlersparre was an admirer of feminist author Fredrika Bremer and became engaged in feminist issues through her friendship with Rosalie Roos, who returned to Sweden with an interest in women's rights in 1857 after spending several years in the United States. During this time, there was a public discussion in Sweden about women's rights that was prompted by Fredrika Bremer's 1856 novel Hertha. The discussion resulted in the abolition of guardianship over unmarried women and the granting of legal majority to women (1858–63) and the establishment of the first state school for women, the Royal Advanced Female Teachers' Seminary (Högre lärarinneseminariet) in 1861.

In 1859, Sophie Adlersparre and Rosalie Roos founded Home Review (Tidskrift för hemmet), the first women's magazine in Scandinavia, with the financial support of salon hostess Fredrika Limnell. It was the first regular platform for the debate on women's rights, gender roles, and feminism in Sweden, and it was an immediate success. Adlersparre and Roos shared the position of head editor until 1868, when Roos retired and Adlersparre continued as the sole editor-in-chief. As a journalist, she became known under her pen-name "Esselde". In 1886, Home Review was cancelled and replaced with the new women's magazine Dagny. Adlersparre worked as editor-in-chief of Dagny from 1886 to 1888 and remained on the paper's board until 1894.