Lucina Hagman

Finland's 1906 parliamentary reform was the first anywhere to give women the vote and the right to stand for a national parliament on the same terms as men, and the effect was immediate: 19 women were elected in March 1907. Hagman, a teacher who had founded the Unioni women's rights association in 1892, was among them, and used her seat to push bills on married women's property and employment. The Finnish case is the clearest early proof that when eligibility and a mass campaign arrive together, women do get elected.