[2][3] After training as a postal worker in Pulkkila and Iisalmi, she was certified in 1921 and began working at the post office of Hammaslahti [fi].

[3] She became the treasurer of the Martha organisation of Hammaslahti that year, and married farmer Oskar Simonen in 1922; they had seven children.

[3] Simonen was elected to the Parliament of Finland in 1948 to represent the constituency of Kuopio East (now North Karelia) as a member of the Agrarian League (now the Centre Party).

[2] Her parliamentary work focused on providing support to women and poor families, particularly those living in rural areas.

[7] Simonen worked on a 1957 reform of Finland's national pension system to authorize a flat-rate payments to women farmers.