Finland became the first European country to grant women full voting rights in 1906. The reform gave women not only the right to vote but also the right to stand for election on equal terms with men.
At the time, Finland was the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland within the Russian Empire, rather than an independent republic. Political unrest, the Russian Revolution of 1905, and a Finnish general strike created pressure for sweeping parliamentary reform. The old four-estate Diet was replaced by a unicameral parliament elected through universal and equal suffrage.
The reform took effect on 1 October 1906, with voters aged 24 and over eligible under the rules then in force. In the first parliamentary election, held in March 1907, Finnish women exercised their new political rights and 19 women were elected—the first female members of a national parliament anywhere in the world.
Australia and New Zealand had earlier granted women voting rights in various forms, but Finland was the first in Europe to combine women’s suffrage with full eligibility to run for parliament. That distinction is why Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are not the answer here.