Aasa Helgesen

[1] Born at a small croft (Norwegian: husmannsplass) Røinesdal in Bjelland, Southern Norway, she started working as a servant girl after finishing primary school.

Wanting further education, she obtained a loan from a farmer she worked for and the local lensmann in order to go to Kristiania to become a midwife.

Having finished the education in 1902, she got a position as midwife a year later at the small fishing island of Utsira in Western Norway.

Radio assistant Reidar Nordås did however put up a list of eleven unsuspecting women plus one man.

It's considered that Nordås formed the list as a practical joke and he believed that the election result would be annulled.

[3] A local conflict related to tax issues between various families on the island is also believed to lie behind the result.

When it was published it led to mockery in the local media who disparagingly referred to the council as the "skirt regime".

The novel result was also reported internationally and Helgesen received congratulation telegrams from women's organizations in the US and Mexico.

[2] In 2013, which marked the 100th anniversary for female voting rights in Norway, Haugesund Theatre in cooperation with Utsira municipality and Den kulturelle skolesekken (culture project for schoolchildren) performed a newly written play formed like a monologue called "The female coup on Utsira" about the event.