Women’s Suffrage in Sweden: Partisan Framings, Gender and Nationality

In 1884, the first motion of women suffrage was presented to the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag. It was presented by the liberal Fredrik Borg, who argued that women’s right to vote on equal terms was a matter of justice. The motion was voted down, and it was not until 35 years later, in 1919, that women’s suffrage was adopted, to be practiced for the first time in 1921. This paper analyses the processes adopting equal rights for women and men to vote and stand for elections to national parliament In Sweden. In particular, it analyses the discursive framings of suffrage question made by political party formations during the period 1884-1919, and the consequences of these framings in terms of gender and nationalism. The paper is based on motions presented in the Swedish parliament 1884-1919 as well as parliamentary debates, and it draws on feminist discursive institutionalism.