Emilia Fogelklou

Emilia Maria Fogelklou-Norlind (20 July 1878 in Simrishamn – 26 September 1972 in Uppsala, Sweden) was a Swedish pacifist, theologian, feminist, author and lecturer. She was the first woman in Sweden to receive a bachelor’s degree in theology, and her written work spans 28 published books.

Biography
The daughter of a district registrar, Emilia Fogelklou excelled as a student. After attending Kungliga Högre Lärarinneseminariet, she became a teacher in Gothenburg and began to write, initially about religious education. She was involved in the workers education movement and wrote for progressive education reform. In 1909, she became the first woman in Sweden to receive a degree in theology.

In 1915, Fogelklou attended the women’s peace conference at the Hague. She became an early member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and went on to contribute to the liberal feminist magazine Tidvarvet. Her commitment to international peace would later see her work with Service Civil International, after World War II.

At the age of 52, Fogelklou received the Sweden-America Foundation’s Zorn scholarship, which allowed her to study sociology and psychology at New York and Chicago. She lectured on these subjects upon her return to Sweden, but her career in education received a blow in 1938, when she was denied a professorship at Uppsala. However, in 1941 she became the first woman to be awarded an honorary doctorate in theology.

Although described as one who made friends easily, Fogelklou suffered from bouts of depression. At the age of twenty-four, she experienced a spiritual epiphany that saved her from the brink of suicide. In 1922, she married Arnold Norlind, a geographer who shared her spiritual outlook. The marriage was a happy one, but short lived – Norlind succumbed to tuberculosis in 1929. Two year later, Fogelklou became one of the first Quakers in Sweden, joining the Society of Friends in 1931.

Emilia Fogelklou died in 1972. She is buried in Västra Alstad cemetery in Anderslov parish, Skåne County. Her epitaph reads: ‘There is light still’.

Awards

 * De Nios stora pris 1932