Hedvig Maria Gebhard (née Silén; 14 December 1867 in Turku – 13 January 1961 in Helsinki) was a Finnish journalist and politician.

Her father was August Oskar Silén who began life as a poor shoemaker but made his fortune by virtue of hard work.

[1][2] Hedvig, also called Heddi, could not graduate from school in Finland because they were restricted to boys at the time, so she continued her studies at the Lyceum for girls in Stockholm, Sweden.

[2] After graduation, she moved to Helsinki to continue her studies and became a student of the "Finnish-minded history master" Hannes Gebhard, with whom she fell in love and married in February 1891.

[2] She had planned to become a journalist but found it impossible to enter the newspaper industry until 1922 when Kotiliesi, a magazine concerning women and homes, made her the chairperson of its editorial staff.