Anna Rogstad facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Anna Rogstad
|
|
|---|---|
Anna Rogstad in 1912
|
|
| Born | 26 July 1854 Nordre Land, Norway
|
| Died | 8 November 1938 (aged 84) |
| Nationality | Norwegian |
| Occupation | Politician, Educator, Suffragist |
| Known for | Norway's first female member of Parliament |
Anna Georgine Rogstad (born July 26, 1854 – died November 8, 1938) was a very important person in Norway. She was a politician, a champion for women's rights, and a teacher. Anna Rogstad made history as the first woman to become a member of the Norwegian Parliament. She was part of the conservative-liberal Liberal Left Party.
As a teacher, she cared a lot about how kids were taught. She also worked hard to help women get the right to vote. She helped start and was on the board of groups like the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights. In 1911, she first entered Parliament as a deputy. She took on the role fully in 1912 when Jens Bratlie became Prime Minister.
Early Life and Teaching Career
Anna Rogstad was born in Nordre Land, Norway. She started teaching in primary school in 1873 in Trondheim. Four years later, she moved to Kristiania, which is known as Oslo today. She taught in different schools there for many years.
While living in Kristiania, Anna became very interested in girls' education. She wanted to make sure girls had good schools. In 1889, she became the leader of the Kristiania female teachers' group. She changed it from a social club into a real union for teachers. At first, she wanted a separate school just for women teachers. But later, she thought it was better for women to be allowed into the all-male teaching school. This idea became a rule in 1890.
Anna was also active in the Norwegian Teachers' Union. She was the vice president there from 1892 to 1907. When the Norwegian Association of Female Teachers was created in 1912, Anna Rogstad was its president until 1919. In 1899, she started a secondary school for girls. It even had evening classes for students. The school became very popular. In 1909, the city took over the school. Anna stayed as the school's principal until she retired in 1923, when she was 69 years old.
Fighting for Women's Rights
Anna Rogstad was one of the people who started the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights in 1884. She also helped create the Association for Women's Suffrage in 1885. Suffrage means the right to vote. She was on the board of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights from 1886 to 1888. She was also the vice president of the Association for Women's Suffrage for many years.
In Kristiania, she represented female teachers on the city's school board. This was from 1894 to 1916. She was also elected to the city council as a deputy for women's suffrage in 1901. Later, she represented a group of center-right parties in the city council in 1907. In 1910, she was a deputy for the Liberal Left Party in the city council.
First Woman in Parliament
Anna Rogstad was a member of the Liberal Left Party of Norway. In 1907, a new law about voting was passed. It gave voting rights to women who had a certain amount of money. Even though all women didn't get to vote until 1913, this new law also allowed women to be elected to political jobs.
In 1911, Anna Rogstad made history. She became the first woman in Norway to sit in Parliament (Stortinget). She was a deputy for Jens Bratlie. Many people were very excited about this. People who could not fit inside the Parliament building gathered outside to see her. The President of the assembly, Johan Magnus Halvorsen, gave a special speech. He said that even though there had been many discussions about these changes, he believed it would be good for the country.
Anna Rogstad gave her first speech in Parliament after only five days. She argued that the money spent on defense should be cut. She believed that all disagreements should be solved by talking, not fighting. She also spoke about equal rights for men and women, education, and culture. She also supported the temperance movement, which aimed to reduce alcohol use. When Bratlie became Prime Minister in 1912, Anna Rogstad took his seat full-time for a year.
Anna Rogstad was also an author. She wrote fifteen textbooks for Norwegian schools. Her most famous book was ABC for skole og hjem (ABC for School and Home), which she wrote in 1893. She also wrote many articles in newspapers and magazines. Most of her writings were about school policies. People said she was not a very exciting speaker. But she kept her audience's attention with her clear and well-thought-out arguments. Anna Rogstad died in 1938. She never married.
