Katrín Sigríður Skúladóttir Magnússon (1858–1932) was an early Icelandic feminist who played an important part in promoting women's voting rights and women's education in the late 19th century. She served as a municipal councillor of Reykjavík from 1908 to 1916.

Biography

Born on 18 March 1858 on the island of Hrappsey in north-western Iceland, Katrín Sigríður Skúladóttir was the daughter of Skúli Þorvaldsson Sívertsson, a farmer, and his wife Hlíf Jónsdóttir. Raised on Hrappsey, she first went to Reykjavík when she was 14 to visit her paternal aunt, Katrínar Sívertsen. There she met Guðmundur Magnusson, a

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and academic, who was a relative of Katrínar's husband, Jóni Árnasyn. She married Guðmundur in 1891 and they moved to

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. They returned to Iceland the following year, settling in

Sauðárkrókur Sauðárkrókur () is a town on the Skagafjörður in northern Iceland. It is the seat of both the Sveitarfélagið Skagafjörður ('Municipality of Skagafjörður') and the Northwestern Region. Sauðárkrókur is the largest town in Northw ...

after her husband received an appointment at the hospital in Skagafjörður. Kartrín was also interested in medical work but the only training open to women was for midwives, which she did not find attractive. She nevertheless constantly helped her husband, sometimes taking care of his patients. Katrín became active in social affairs, especially in connection with women's organizations. She joined the Icelandic Women's Association ('' Íslenska kvenfélag'') which she chaired from 1903 to 1924. In 1917, she helped to establish the Women's Alliance ('' Bandalags kvenna''). She also served on the board of '' Thorvaldsensfélag'' (the Thorvaldsen Association), Iceland's oldest women's organization established in 1875. Interested in education, she participated in the school committee at Reyhjavik's '' Kvennaskólan'' (Women's School). Katrín was one of four women who sat on Reykjavík's municipal council from 1908 to 1916. Katrín Magnússon died in Reykjavík on 13 July 1932.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnusson, Katrin 1858 births 1932 deaths Katrin Magnusson Katrin Magnusson Katrin Magnusson Katrin Magnusson Katrin Magnusson Katrin Magnusson