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Resisting Democratisation : Arguments Against Female Enfranchisement Among Members of the Swedish Parliament 1866–1918

Brunnström, Pål and Olofsson, Magnus LU orcid (2024) In Gender and Politics p.37-61
Abstract
In this contribution, we analyse the parliamentary minutes debating the issue of women’s voting rights in Sweden from the start of the two-chamber parliament in 1866 until 1918, when women were finally granted voting rights on the same terms as men. We find that most arguments belonged to one of two broad categories: those that were against women’s suffrage as a matter of principle, and those that could accept women’s right to vote but not at the present time. The arguments of principle were without exception used by conservatives, and while some liberals did occasionally use postponement arguments, this was also the realm of conservative argumentation. Not a single social democrat argued against female voting rights in the analysed... (More)
In this contribution, we analyse the parliamentary minutes debating the issue of women’s voting rights in Sweden from the start of the two-chamber parliament in 1866 until 1918, when women were finally granted voting rights on the same terms as men. We find that most arguments belonged to one of two broad categories: those that were against women’s suffrage as a matter of principle, and those that could accept women’s right to vote but not at the present time. The arguments of principle were without exception used by conservatives, and while some liberals did occasionally use postponement arguments, this was also the realm of conservative argumentation. Not a single social democrat argued against female voting rights in the analysed minutes. Furthermore, we find that the conservative arguments of principle were remarkably stable and essentially did not change during the 52 years our analysis covers. The postponement arguments varied more over time as some of the more common ones, such as the need for further investigation, lost credibility. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
host publication
Suffrage and Its Legacy in the Nordics and Beyond : Gender, Institutional Constraints and Feminist Strategies - Gender, Institutional Constraints and Feminist Strategies
series title
Gender and Politics
editor
Erikson, Josefina and Freidenvall, Lenita
pages
37 - 61
publisher
Palgrave Macmillan
external identifiers
  • scopus:85187415895
ISSN
2662-5814
2662-5822
ISBN
978-3-031-52359-5
978-3-031-52361-8
978-3-031-52358-8
DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-52359-5_2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
94267565-a919-4faf-a892-6f0bc90fdc25
date added to LUP
2024-03-05 07:50:46
date last changed
2024-11-08 11:11:31
@inbook{94267565-a919-4faf-a892-6f0bc90fdc25,
  abstract     = {{In this contribution, we analyse the parliamentary minutes debating the issue of women’s voting rights in Sweden from the start of the two-chamber parliament in 1866 until 1918, when women were finally granted voting rights on the same terms as men. We find that most arguments belonged to one of two broad categories: those that were against women’s suffrage as a matter of principle, and those that could accept women’s right to vote but not at the present time. The arguments of principle were without exception used by conservatives, and while some liberals did occasionally use postponement arguments, this was also the realm of conservative argumentation. Not a single social democrat argued against female voting rights in the analysed minutes. Furthermore, we find that the conservative arguments of principle were remarkably stable and essentially did not change during the 52 years our analysis covers. The postponement arguments varied more over time as some of the more common ones, such as the need for further investigation, lost credibility.}},
  author       = {{Brunnström, Pål and Olofsson, Magnus}},
  booktitle    = {{Suffrage and Its Legacy in the Nordics and Beyond : Gender, Institutional Constraints and Feminist Strategies}},
  editor       = {{Erikson, Josefina and Freidenvall, Lenita}},
  isbn         = {{978-3-031-52359-5}},
  issn         = {{2662-5814}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  pages        = {{37--61}},
  publisher    = {{Palgrave Macmillan}},
  series       = {{Gender and Politics}},
  title        = {{Resisting Democratisation : Arguments Against Female Enfranchisement Among Members of the Swedish Parliament 1866–1918}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-52359-5_2}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/978-3-031-52359-5_2}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}