Gertrud Månsson

Who was Gertrud Månsson?

Gertrud Månsson, was a Swedish municipal politician. She was the first female member in the Stockholm City Council, and also the first elected female politician of her country as a whole.

Gertrud Månsson originally supported herself as a maid, and later opened a shop in Stockholm. She was forced to end school to support herself at the age of eleven, but educated herself by Autodidacticism and engaged in politics. In 1892, she became a member of Socialdemokratiska Kvinnoklubben, and in 1902, she was elected to the first board of the newly founded Women's Trade Union. In 1909, both genders became eligible in local elections, and in the municipal elections of 1910-1911, the first 37 women were elected to various city councils around the country, among them two for the capital's city council: the social democrat Gertrud Månsson and the right wing Valfrid Palmgren. As the votes was counted in the capital first, and the votes from the area electing Månsson was finished before the area electing Palmgren, Gertrud Månsson was the first woman elected in Sweden.

Månsson were characterized as a wise and independent person with the qualities of a leader.