Miina Sillanpää 1866-1952

Miina Sillanpää was a Finnish politician. She served as Deputy Minister of Social Affairs in 1926-1927. She was Finland’s first female minister and a key figure in the workers’ movement. In 2016, the Finnish government made 1 October an official flag flying day in honour of Sillanpää. She was involved in the preparation of Finland’s first Municipal Homemaking Act. Miina Sillanpää was not a political theoretician, instead she was active in social democratic association activity.

She especially campaigned for the rights of working and single women. In the 1930s, she was very active in establishing women’s shelters (ensikoti). She was a member of the party activity group of the Social Democratic Party from 1918 to 1919 and from 1933 to 1940, and also worked as chairwoman of the Social Democratic Women’s Association and the Social Democratic Working Women’s Association. Miina Sillanpää did not participate in the civil war of 1918; together with Väinö Tanner and Matti Paasivuori she opposed both the Red and White Guards and urged for peace in Finland.