A1 Journal article (refereed)
A Finnish socialist female parliamentarian stopped on the Dutch border : The (de)politicization of Finnish women’s suffrage in Dutch battles on votes for women (2020)

Ihalainen, P. (2020). A Finnish socialist female parliamentarian stopped on the Dutch border : The (de)politicization of Finnish women’s suffrage in Dutch battles on votes for women. Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 133(1), 53-75. https://doi.org/10.5117/TVGESCH2020.1.004.IHAL

JYU authors or editors

Publication details

All authors or editors: Ihalainen, Pasi

Journal or series: Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis

ISSN: 0040-7518

eISSN: 2352-1163

Publication year: 2020

Volume: 133

Issue number: 1

Pages range: 53-75

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Publication country: Netherlands

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5117/TVGESCH2020.1.004.IHAL

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Open Access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/68710

Abstract

A Finnish socialist female parliamentarian stopped on the Dutch border: the (de) politicization of Finnish women’s suffrage in Dutch battles on votes for women This research article in transnational history analyses an incident during which Hilja Pärssinen, a Finnish socialist woman MP, was stopped on the Dutch border in September 1913 on her way to visit a suffragette college in London. This two-hour event at the border and public controversy that followed were clashes between competing ideological and gendered discourses on women’s political agency. The incident was a nexus of intersecting discourses on a range of issues: Dutch and international debates on women’s suffrage, discourse on ‘white slavery’, racial prejudices towards East Europeans, Marxist class struggle discourse, and fears of socialism. During the incident, the authorities seemed to be casting the identity of an illegal immigrant or a Russian prostitute on Pärssinen. Provoked against her psycho-physical experiences, she protested by performing that identity. Afterwards, transnationally connected socialists politicized the case in their fight for women’s political rights, while the authorities and the non-socialist press consistently depoliticized it.

Keywords: women; right to vote; woman's status; political rights; history; political history; women's history; transnationalism

Free keywords: transnational history; women’s suffrage; socialist internationalism; The Netherlands; Finland; Pärssinen, Hilja

Contributing organizations

Ministry reporting: Yes

Reporting Year: 2020

JUFO rating: 2