Karin Elizabet Andersson (8 October 1918 – 20 July 2012) was a Swedish politician who served as Minister for Gender Equality from 1979 to 1982. Born into a farm family as one of six children, her father Elias served as municipal councillor in Varberg Municipality. She began working for ''

Hallands Nyheter ''Hallands Nyheter'' is a Swedish newspaper, founded by Artur Lagerihn in 1905. The newspaper is published in Falkenberg. It has a daily circulation of 31,600 and is owned by Stampen AB. The editorial page supports Centerpartiet. It is printed ...

'' as a journalist in 1947, then worked for ''

Ålandstidningen ''Ålandstidningen'' or ''Tidningen Åland'' is a Swedish-language newspaper in Åland Åland ( fi, Ahvenanmaa: ; ; ) is an autonomous and demilitarised region of Finland since 1920 by a decision of the League of Nations. It is the smalle ...

'' until 1957. In the 1960s, Andersson worked with

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio AB (, "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a licensing fee, the level of which is d ...

, and also began to get involved with the Centre Party, and became the party's federal secretary in 1966, serving in that position until 1979. In 1966, Andersson was elected to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

City Council, and in 1971 she became a member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

, serving until 1985. In 1979, she was named Minister for Gender Equality under Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin. She had originally planned to step down from the Riksdag and turn down the position, but eventually accepted, and served as Minister until 1982. As Minister, her focus was on gender equality in the workforce, but also on issue pertaining to immigrants and refugees entering the country. After leaving politics behind, she retired to her farm in Halland, where she spent the rest of her life.

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