Annie Furuhjelm (1859–1937)

Annie Furuhjelm was born on the island of Sitka, Alaska, where her father, Johan Hampus Furuhjelm, from a Swedish-speaking noble Finnish family in the Russian service, was the governor. After a few years, her family moved to Dresden, where she started school, and then returned to Finland. After completing her schooling, she lived on her family's estate in Urdiala, founding a school and a library for the people in the local community. In 1890, she moved to Helsinki and launched her career as a journalist working for the Nya Pressen (New Press). In 1901, she founded and edited a monthly newspaper called Nutid (New Tide), and in 1919, she started Astra, a women's magazine. A fervent women's rights advocate, she served as vice president of the Union of Women's Affairs in Finland, and from 1913 as its chairman. From 1907 until her last years, she was chairman of the Swedish Women's Association. From 1909 to 1920, she was Vice President of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA).
In 1913, Furuhjelm was elected to the Parliament of Finland, one of the first women elected after Finland became the first nation to grant full women's suffrage. She served 1913 to 1924, and was reelected as a representative of the Swedish People's Party of Finland from 1924 to 1930. When Furuhjelm retired from politics, she was awarded the Order of the White Rose of Finland.
She published two best-selling volumes of memoirs in the 1930s, Människor och öden (People and Destiny) and Den stigande oron och Gryningen (The Rising Unrest and Dawn).