The Icelandic Canadian - 01.05.2008, Page 30

120
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #Z
And she elaborates further, that
It seems probable that Freyja and, by
extension, the women’s movement encour-
aged women writers to make their debut on
the literary scene (p. 23).
Icelandic historian Jonas Thor (2002)
describes the contribution of Benedictsson:
In 1916, the government of Manitoba
endorsed the vote for women, the first
province in Canada to do so, and there is
little doubt that her work contributed to
this achievement. Although she concentrat-
ed on reaching her own compatriots, she
fought for the rights of all Canadian
women. The Canadian Suffrage
Association invited her to attend a conven-
tion of the International Women’s Suffrage
Alliance in Toronto in 1909. (p. 261)
In 1914, two years after Benedictsson
had left Manitoba, the Manitoba Liberals
endorsed the vote for women. And on
January 27, 1916, Manitoba was the first
province to grant suffrage after an historic
third reading of the bill in the Provincial
Legislature.
The oldest member of the house
declared he had never seen anything like it
in his life. Galleries were filled to overflow-
ing with eager and excited women. Third
reading was moved by Acting Premier T.
H. Johnson, son of an Icelandic suffrage
pioneer. (Kristjanson, c. 1965, p. 375)
It seemed fitting that the response to
the motion was supported by a person of
Icelandic descent. (The country of Iceland
formally enacted suffrage in 1915.).
Although this specific legislation for
Manitoba women occurred after
Benedictsson had left the province, surely
her spirit was present in the gallery that
day.
Findings
The biographical profile of
Benedictsson provides evidence of her
social activism genesis. "I read the laments
of oppressed persons, unhappily married
women, and the misfortune of young girls”
and she had, “a yearning to break down all
fetters that tie people to evil and distress”
(Kinnear, 1982, p. 176). The three excerpts
from her stories in Writings of Western
Icelandic Women (Wolf, 1996, p. 74-84)
stress her concerns for human rights, the
responsibilities of women to their families,
poverty, birth control, and issues of social,
physical and mental health. Kinnear (1987,
p. 26) describes Benedictsson’s interest in
the need to improve the working condi-
tions for women. Benedictsson listened to
herself, and her thoughts, reflections and
ideas were expressed in her writing.
(Krsitjanson, c. 1965, p. 373). She never
wavered in her quest to improve the social
conditions for women. One could say this
was a healing attitude directed toward soci-
ety’s ills.
Benedictsson and her husband, Sigfus,
published the suffrage magazine, Freyja, in
Selkirk, Manitoba. This 40-page publica-
tion circulated for 12 years throughout
Canada and the Unites States and included
stories, biographical sketches, poetry, liter-
ary works, and a children’s corner. Many
historians write of the positive impact of
Benedictsson’s beliefs and ideals which
were consistently and regularly circulated
in the magazine to men and women readers
(Johnson, 1994; Kinnear, 1998;
Kristjanson, c. 1965; Thor, 2002; Treble,
2000; Wolf, 1996). She sought to convince,
or persuade her readers to the cause of
human rights, especially in Manitoba,
through the written word and through her
lectures.
As a member of many women’s orga-
nizations (i.e., The Icelandic Women’s
Society, the Icelandic Women’s Suffrage
Society, the Icelandic Progressive Society,
and the Women’s groups within the
Unitarian Church), Benedictsson was con-
stantly aware of women’s issues and con-
cerns. Tier relationship with other suffrag-
ists through letter writing and through
reading their works kept her apprised of
women’s rights issues. However, her ideas
and approach were considered radical by
the Anglophone community and one won-
ders if the women of the Icelandic and
Anglophone communities would have
worked more closely if this had not been
the case.
Her vision for women’s rights was
related to her founding an Icelandic