Ragnhildur Helgadóttir (also Ragnhild Helgadóttir; 1930–2016) was an

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

ic politician. She was a member of the Icelandic parliament, the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

, first from 1956 for the Independence Party. From 1961 to December 1962 she was the First President of the Lower House, and she was president of the parliament several times. From 1983 to 1987 she was a government minister, first of education, then of health, social affairs and communication.

Early life

Ragnhildur was born 26 May 1930 in

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

, the daughter of Helgi Tómasson, a physician and longtime chairman of the

Scouts Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

organisation

Bandalag íslenskra skáta Bandalag íslenskra skáta (BIS, ''Icelandic Boy and Girl Scout Association'') is the national Scouting and Girl Guides, Guiding organization of Iceland. Scouting was founded in Iceland in 1912 and was among the earlier members of the World Organ ...

Career

She was elected member of the Althing in 1956 as a candidate of the Independence Party. At the time, she was 26 years old, and became the youngest female ever elected to the Althing. She served initially until 1963, from 1956 to 1959 as the only female member. She was in 1959 second vice-president of the Althing, from 1959 to 1960 second vice-president of the Lower House, from 1961 to 1962 Speaker of the Lower House of the Althing, from 1962 to 1963 again second vice president. In 1971 she was again a member of parliament and belonged to the Second Chamber until 1979. She was again Speaker from 1974 to 1978. In 1975 she was appointed president of the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomo ...

. She was again a member of parliament from 1983 in the Lower House until 1991, when the previous two-chamber system was abolished. In May 1983 she was appointed by Prime Minister

Steingrímur Hermannsson Steingrímur Hermannsson (pronounced ; 22 June 1928 – 1 February 2010) was an Icelandic politician who served as prime minister of Iceland from 1983 to 1987, and again from 1988 to 1991. He was the chairman for the Progressive Party from 197 ...

as Minister of Education in his government. From 1985 until July 1987, she was Minister of Health, Social Affairs and Communication. Ragnhildur died 29 January 2016.

References

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