Frigga Carlberg

Frigga Carlberg and others demonstrating for women's suffrage in Gothenburg, June 1918.

Frigga Carlberg née Anna Fredrika Lundgren (Falkenberg 10 August 1851–1925), was a Swedish writer, social worker and feminist. She was a member of the central comity of the National Association for Women's Suffrage 1903–21 and chairman of the Gothenburg branch of the Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage in 1902–21.

Life

Frigga Carlberg was born in a wealthy family but had great difficulty to persuade her father to allow her to study. She moved to Gothenburg after her marriage to the post official Andreas Carlberg in 1876.

Social work

Carlberg engaged in women's issues and social work from her arrival in Gothenburg, and became an important member of the first women's association in Gothenburg, Göteborgs Kvinnoförening, which was founded in 1884. She founded Sällskapet Myrornas barnhem, an organisation who provided homes for healthy children to parents infected with tuberculosis, chaired an organisation for female social workers and became a member of the Swedish Poor care association.

Suffrage work

Frigga Carlberg became the central figure within social and politically interested women's circles in Gothenburg, and when the Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage was founded in 1902, she took the initiative for the establishment of its Gothenburg section, and was elected as its chairman for its entire duration. She was well informed about in particular the British and American suffrage movement, and once invited Sylvia Pankhurst for a lecture. She also represented Sweden at several international conferences of women suffrage: first as a member of the Swedish Society for Woman Suffrage, and the last time, in Rome in 1923, as the representative of the Swedish government.

Writer

As an author of novels and plays, she described both women's issues and the living conditions of the poor, which influenced policy. Her novel "För rättfärdighets skull" are, alongside Elin Wägners "Pennskaftet", considered the most notable novel of the Swedish suffrage movement.

Sources

• Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (1927)
• Svenska män och kvinnor: biografisk uppslagsbok (Bonnier, 1944)
• Christina Florin: Kvinnor får röst (Atlas, 2006)
• Barbro Hedvall (2011). Susanna Eriksson Lundqvist. red. Vår rättmätiga plats. Om kvinnornas kamp för rösträtt. Förlag Bonnier. ISBN 978-91-7424-119-8