Patrunessoja, rouvia, naisia — ja kansanvaimoja

Säikeitä politiikan sukupuoli- ja luokkajärjestelmistä teollistuvalla Tampereella

Authors

• Aino Saarinen

Abstract

The article discusses the political agendas and arenas of gentlewomen in Tampere on the basis of three case studies, covering the time-span around 1850 to the late-19th century, when the struggle for universal suffrage started to garther momentum. The evolution of women’s citizenship is followed in the context of a process of modernization where a paternal patriarchy transforms into a fraternal one. The first case focuses on one individual woman, the mistress of Finlayson — the chief figure in the ’kitchen policy’ pursued in the city’s textile mills, representing the first stage of industrialization that was starting in Finland. The association of upper-class gentlewomen in Tampere is linked in important respects with the second stage of development, which was largely inspired by increasing trade in the 1860s. Early feminists, then, enter a scene in the 1890s with the growth of a Fennomanian front which was making a strong presence in the fields of education and culture. In addition to the mistress, the gentlewomen, and the feminists, the stories also feature ’»common wives», albeit in a silent role.