Astrid Stampe Feddersen


Astrid Stampe Feddersen, usually known as Astrid Stampe, was a Danish women's rights activist and sister of Rigmor Stampe Bendix. Stampe joined the women's movement early on. From 1883 to 1887, she was on the board of Danish Women's Society, playing an active part in work on women's issues. She authored Kvindesagen and Kan Kvindesagen og Sædelighedssagen skilles ad?. She was the daughter of Henrik Stampe. Her great grandfather is Jonas Collin who was Hans Christian Andersen’s fatherly benefactor.

Biography

Born at Christinelund near Vordingborg, Stampe was of noble ancestry. Her personal tutors, her upbringing in Copenhagen and her educational travels gave her a cultured background. She learnt Swedish, French and English but not German as a result of the Schleswig wars. Her husband Gustav Feddersen supported her feminist interests and her membership of the Copenhagen chapter of the Danish Women's Society from 1882. She successfully sought to reinforce the association's position and extend its influence to the provinces.
Stampe took part in the fight against prostitution and fought for greater equality between men and women, including unmarried women. From 1895, she helped to create regional support for her ideas in Ringkøbing and Holstebro. In 1903, she was elected to the board of Dansk Kvindesamfund, later becoming its vice-president. In 1906, Stampe helped prepare a bill to provide significant improvements to the rights of unmarried mothers and their children while in 1914 she chaired the first Scandinavian meeting on women's rights. In 1916, she also supported the cause of women in Iceland as co-founder of the Danish-Icelandic Society.