Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Second part - XVI. Labour Legislation and Social Statistics - 2. Social Condition and Social Statistics - Private Social Activity, by Miss Gerda Meyerson, Stockholm, partly after information given by Mrs. Anna Hierta-Retzius, Stockholm, and A. Ramm, City Auditor, Gothenburg
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private social activity.
1103
Stockholm, Uppsala, Gothenburg, and Lund. The Uppsala society was the one
first formed (1886), but the Stockholm society is the largest and most active.
It consists of about 700 members, male and female, has a club-hall of its own,
a library, and a summer home. The Society provides courses of instruction
in languages, etc., and lectures and discussions, private as well as public, are
often held. The main importance of the societies at work in the University towns
consists in bringing together the studying and the labouring classes, thereby
endeavouring to counteract misunderstanding and prejudice and to bring about a
broad-minded and impartial conception of the social questions.
In 1888, Kvinnliga gymnastiksällskapet (Women’s gymnastic society) was
founded on the initiative of Major Carl Silow. Its purpose is to give women
who have their occupation in factories, sewing-establishments, shops, etc., an
opportunity of taking gymnastics. Exercises arranged by this society, take place
at the Central Institute of Gymnastics during Oct. 1—May 15, and have been
frequented by about 200 members a year, who were distributed on two divisions,
with exercises twice a week for each division. The exercises have from the
beginning been led, without compensation, by interested female gymnasts. The
expenses for a hall, etc., and for gymnastic costumes for members without means
are defrayed out of the interest of a donation received from Lars Hierta’s Memorial
Foundation, and out of the fees of 1 krona (l’io shilling) for the autumn and
1’25 krona for the spring term paid by each member.
Föreningen för sömmerskor (Dressmakers’ society) was founded in
Stockholm in 1880 by Mrs. E. Nyström, née Rosenius. The members, numbering
about 500, pay 15 öre (2 d.) a week (after 40 years, 25 öre) to a sick-relief fund for
free medical attendance and medicine. In case of severe illness, they receive 75
öre per diem during at most thirteen weeks, a year. Fifty-eight of the most
suffering among the dressmakers received, in 1903, a month’s rest free of charge
at the society’s Summer home or at some watering-place. The cost of this is
defrayed by voluntary contributions. In winter the dressmakers gather one
Sunday a month to a meeting paid for by frionds of the society, which has 350
paying, so-called honorary members. From the surplus of their contributions a
sick-relief fund has been formed to meet casual, severe distress, and a
pension-fund, which, through donations, at present amounts to 29,541 kronor. In 1889,
a Förening för sömmerskor (Dressmakers’ society) was organised in Gothenburg,
which affords opportunity to members of delicate health of staying in the country
or at some watering-place during summer. Every year about 170 members are
thus benefited. There are also several smaller societies, as for instance in
Sundsvall, where meetings with lectures and music are held for the members, and
where the Board of management, different from what is the case in the former
two societies, exclusively is constituted out of the members themselves.
For such unfortunate women as have fallen but wish to amend their lives,
several smaller Homes are in activity, as, e. g., Mamre in Norrköping,
which subsequently was reorganized into a convalescence home for poor sick
children, and Magdalenahemmet at the Deaconesses’ institute in Stockholm. The
Waterloo home in Gothenburg was founded in 1875. During the period of
its existence about 65 % of the women there received have returned to an
honourable course of life. Hemmet Fristad is an educational institution for
fallen women, founded on the most modern principles. It is located at
Brom-sten station, in the immediate vicinity of Stockholm, and has principally through
the generosity of Mr. Carl Cervin, a banker, developed into a really model
institution of its kind. When the home commenced its activity, in 1896, it rented
a small suit of rooms, sufficient to accommodate 10 women. Now it
possesses a stately building, exceedingly practical and tastefully appointed, and large
grounds. The women have each a plain but comfortable room, they remain in
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