The History of the Finnish Women on a Tour at the Hietaniemi National cemetery

Kalevala is the national epic of Finland.  There are also stories of women. Here is a part of a triptych by Akseli Gallen-Kallela that tells about a young maiden Aino who is forced to get married to Väinämöinen, the great hero of Kalevala. Instead of taking the old man, Aino is escaping to the underwater world.

Welcome to my tour of the Hietaniemi National Cemetery. The cemetery can tell more than 100.000 stories from the past 200 years. Most of them would be of children who died before reaching their 2nd year, but they are long forgotten. The stories are of women, who lost their lives in multiple pregnancies, childbirth and other women´s diseases. This was the case also in other countries in the past and it still is in the developing countries. What happened to the women of Finland in the course of the history and what did they do to achieve the present position as free and independent and happy citizens of the world?

In the picture: Hilja Pärssinen, Alli Nissinen, Lucina Hagman, Alexandra Gripenberg, Evelina Ala-Kulju and Liisa Kivioja. Behind from the left:  Dagmar Neovius, Hedvig Gebhard, Iida Vemmelpuu, Hilda Käkikoski, Miina Sillanpää, Hilma Räsänen ja Maria Laine. The Helsinki City Museum

We shall discuss the fight for the full political rights, Finnish women were the first in the world not only to get the right to vote but be a candidate in a public election in the year 1906. The stories of women who studied and made science and business, they wrote books and established institutions, they raised children, cooked and made new innovations for the home and the society.

A devoted mother with her happy son, probably while taking the sauna. Hietaniemi cemetery, on Asikainen Family grave.

They had to grow their food in the garden, preserve all for the winter, pick wild berries and mushrooms.They were painters and performed music, they were mothers and wives and grandmothers, unmarried and girls and  academics. Now Finnish women enjoy political, economical and social freedom. Motherhood is supported by providing nine months maternity leave. Advisory system for mothers to be and the babies was established in 1920´s and it is still in operation supporting families.

The contents of the maternity kit of 2020. The box itself is made of strong cardboard and can be used as the first cot for the baby.

Every newborn child is entitled to get a kit of necessities https://www.kela.fi/web/en/maternitypackage .

The Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin.

We shall discuss the democracy and the equality between genders. Now the Prime Minister of the governement of Finland is Sanna Marin, born in 1985 and the chairwomen of the Green Party, The Center Party, The Left Alliance and The Swedish People´s Party are all women and ministers in Sanna Marin´s cabinet. Totan number of female ministers is eleven. 

 

 

Interested? Drop a line!