Sillanpää, Miina (1866–1952)
Sillanpää, Miina (1866–1952)
Finnish political figure, journalist, and activist. Name variations: Miina Sillanpaa; Miina Silanpaa. Born in 1866; died in 1952.
Miina Sillanpää, considered one of the most important politicians in early 20th-century Finland, began her 40-year career in Parliament in 1907 while the country was still under Russian control. Following World War I, she edited Working Women, a trade union periodical, while simultaneously performing her duties as a Helsinki city councillor. As Finland's first woman member of Parliament, Sillanpää served as Minister of Social Affairs for two years beginning in 1926, and chaired the Social Democratic Women's League in 1931. She became Speaker of Parliament in 1936, a position she held until her retirement in 1947. Sillanpää devoted much of her time and energy to improving social conditions, especially for working women with children. Active in the co-operative movement, from 1945 until 1952 she chaired the Ensi Kotien Liito, a group of homes for single mothers. In 1968, a bronze sculpture
designed by Aimo Tukianinen and entitled "The Torch" was dedicated in Tokoinranta, Finland, to Sillanpää's memory.
Howard Gofstein , freelance writer, Detroit, Michigan