candidate: The area that in 1809 became Finland was a group of integral provinces of the Kingdom of Sweden for over 600 years , signifying that also women in Finland were allowed to vote during the Swedish Age of Liberty ( 1718–1771 ) , when suffrage was granted to tax - paying female members of guildsThe predecessor state of modern Finland , the Grand Principality of Finland was part of the Russian Empire from 1809 to 1917 and enjoyed a high degree of autonomy .