ABSTRACT
Helen Sjostedt was a Swedish feminist and writer who campaigned for female suffrage, and proponent of theosophy, lecturing on the topic and founding a number of Swedish branches of the Theosophy Society. The poem in this chapter written as a feminist counterpoint to the poet Carl Gustaf Verner von Heidenstam’s Citizen’s Song. Heidenstam saw his work as contributing to a patriotic Swedish culture, and his poems often commented on political issues. His Citizen’s Song was a call for universal suffrage, directly criticising a political system built upon money. The song compares the contribution made to society by rich and poor, suggesting they both should have the same rights. Sjostedt’s version of the poem uses a very similar structure and content to the original, but rather than comparing rich and poor, she contrasts men and women. Thus, she makes the point that women too contribute to the nation and so should receive suffrage.
