Anna Wicksell Bugge (17 November 1862 – 19 February 1928) was a Norwegian and Swedish feminist, lawyer, diplomat and politician.

She helped found the debate society Skuld in high school, and served as president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (January 1888 till June 1889) after the debate on morality brought on by Ragna Nielsen's resignation.

Anna Bugge

She moved to Sweden in 1889 and became a lawyer and Swedish diplomat, and the first female member of the League of Nations' permanent mandate commission.

Anna Bugge

Life

Bugge was born in Egersund, Norway. Her particular interest in concrete reforms; She was more occupied with the social and economic reasons for the suppression of women, rather than spiritual discussions on morality and codes of conduct. In articles from the NAWR periodical Nylænde, she emphasized women's economic independence as a necessity for their liberation. In spirit of this she was also occupied with education and organizing of women. She was one of the teachers in the "free education for women", which was initiated by other feminists. She held lectures on women's professional education and stressed that women should be allowed as apprentices in craftsmanship. In Nylænde, she spoke warm-heartedly about a pension fund for housekeepers. Bugge participated actively promoting women's suffrage, and in 1888 she traveled around in Norway as a member of the Kvindestemmeretsforening (Association for Women's Suffrage) to further promote this cause.

Anna Bugge

In 1889, Bugge "united" with Knut Wicksell without an official marriage and left Norway for Sweden, her new husband's homeland. She became a Candidate of Law at the University of Lund, Sweden, in 1911. As a result of her political work there, she became a member of the League of Nations' Permanent Mandates Commission in 1921, their first female member. She there represented Sweden as a diplomat.

In Sweden a memorial coin with her motif is in the planning.

References

Store Norske Leksikon

Further reading

Norwegian women's rights activists

1862 births

1928 deaths

People from Egersund

Norwegian feminists

Norwegian suffragists

Swedish suffragists

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people

20th-century Swedish women

Norwegian emigrants to Sweden