The focus here is on six Swedish women struggling as suffrage activists or advocates of women's civil rights, among them three of the first women Members of Parliament. We explore their lives, struggles and strategies. We investigate the various resources they set in motion, and the institional obstacles they encountered on their paths to Parliament and other important arenas that were opened up to women in the changing times around 1900. All managed to build considerable professional, organisational and/or political resources, and all profited significantly from their strategic network-building.