Kerstin Hesselgren was the first woman elected to the Swedish Parliament and the first Swedish female delegate to the League of Nations.
Hesselgren qualified as a Sanitary Inspector from Bedford College in 1905 and focused on improving the appalling health and living conditions for the working classes in Stockholm. These experiences guided her political career, and she was active in promoting women’s access to political positions, campaigning for equal salary, for the legalisation of sex education and birth control, and for the lowering of the punishment for abortion.
