Emilie Rathou
| Emilie Rathou | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1862 |
| Died | 1948 |
| Known for | temperance- and women's rights activist |
Emilie Rathou, nèe Gustafsson (8 May 1862 – 12 October 1948), was a Swedish temperance- and women's rights activist. On International Workers' Day in Stockholm 1891, she was the first woman in Sweden to demand the right for women suffrage in a public speech. She was the founder of the Swedish branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
She was the daughter of the businessman Albert Gustafsson and Anna Svensdotter: she never married, but changed her name to Rathou in 1882. Educated as a teacher in Kalmar and active as such in 1882–85, she was a speaker for the International Organisation of Good Templars in 1885–1900.
She was the owner and editor of the paper Dalmasen in from 1890 to 1895.
She founded the Östermalm branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, Vita Bandet (The White Ribbon) in 1900, and served as its chairperson in 1900–1935, as well as vice chairperson of the Swedish national Temperance Union in 1902-03, and its secretary in 1903–1947. The Östermalm branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union was, in fact, the first Swedish branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union: a first Swedish temperance society for women had been created in 1897, but it had in fact no affiliation with the international Woman's Christian Temperance Union. Rathou was therefore the actual founder of the Swedish branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and she also organized local branches all over Sweden. In 1911–1912, she was a member of a governmental temperance committee.
Emilie Rathou regarded alcohol and the repression of women as linked, and her engagement in gender equality was linked with her activity in the temperance movement. She supported sexual equality and agitated against both social injustice as well as sexual double standards. During her tours as a speaker for the temperance union, in 1888 she became the first woman in Sweden to speak in public about the introduction of woman suffrage, over ten years before the foundation of the National Association for Women's Suffrage. In 1891, she was the first Swedish woman to do the same in the capital of Stockholm.
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