Elisabeth Tamm

Who was Elisabeth Tamm?

Elisabeth Tamm known in the parliament as Tamm i Fogelstad was a Swedish Politician and women's rights activists.

She was the daughter of the Parliamentarian August Tamm and Baroness Emma Åkerhielm af Margrethelund and the owner of Fogelstad Manor. She was the chairman of the Communal Council of Julita and a member of the board of directors of the city council in 1919-1930. She was the chairman of Frisinnade kvinnors riksförbund of Södermanland in 1922-1931.

In 1921, she became one of the five first women to be elected to the Swedish Parliament after women suffrage alongside Nelly Thüring, Agda Östlund and Bertha Wellin in the Lower chamber, and Kerstin Hesselgren in the Upper chamber. She focused on women's rights issues, such as equal salaries for women and the access to all official professions for both sexes.

Tamm wrote for the women's rights movements papers Tidevarvet and Vi kvinnor and initiated the Kvinnliga Medborgarskolan on her estate Fogelstad in 1925, where she served as chairman. She was also active within ecology and wrote the book Fred med jorden with Elin Wägner in 1940.