Women in the Faroe Islands

Last updated
Anna Kirstin Thomsen is a Faroese woman living in Tvoroyri in the Faroe Islands. Thomsen won the Faroese Literature Prize in 2008 for cultural achievement. In this picture, Thomsen is holding an old emergency boat lamp used in the old days by local fishermen. Thomsen currently runs the Pub and Cafe, a pub and a cafe that also functions as a museum. She also manages the Sail Loft, a cultural centre. Anna Kirstin Thomsen from Tvoroyri Faroe Islands Holding An Old Emergency Lamp.jpg
Anna Kirstin Thomsen is a Faroese woman living in Tvøroyri in the Faroe Islands. Thomsen won the Faroese Literature Prize in 2008 for cultural achievement. In this picture, Thomsen is holding an old emergency boat lamp used in the old days by local fishermen. Thomsen currently runs the Pub and Café, a pub and a café that also functions as a museum. She also manages the Sail Loft, a cultural centre.

Women in the Faroe Islands are European women who live in or are from the Faroe Islands, a north Atlantic island group and archipelago that is under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Denmark. Traditionally, Faroese women have a high standing in the society of Faroe Islanders. Legally, women of the Faroe Islands share equality with men. During the late 19th century, women in the Faroe Islands became wage-earners by participating in jobs such as fish processing and by becoming teachers. In 1915, they obtained women's suffrage. Eventually, Faroe Islander women were able to hold governmental positions. [1]

Contents

Diaspora

According to The Copenhagen Post , BBC News , and The Arctic Journal in October 2013, many young Faroese women have been leaving the Faroe Islands to study abroad, particularly in countries such as Denmark, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Many of these women searching for better education settle permanently in Copenhagen, Oslo, and London respectively, without any plan of returning to their native country. [2] [3] [4]

Parliamentary appointments and elections

Faroese women could vote for local elections for the first time on 27 November 1908, [5] and for the parliament (Løgting) in 1915. There was one exception though, where Faroese women were allowed to vote: In 1906 at the referendum for or against free alcohol.

Malla Samuelsen was the first Faroese woman to take seat in the parliament, but only for a short period in 1964. In 1978 two women were elected for a whole period: Karin Kjølbro was elected for the Republican Party (Tjóðveldisflokkurin) and Jona Henriksen was elected for the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) from 1975-78. The first female minister was Jóngerð Purkhús, who became Minister of finance and environment in 1985. Marita Petersen was the first woman who became Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands, she was Prime Minister from January 1993 until September 1994. After the election of 1994 she also became the first Faroese woman to become Speaker of the Løgting. She was a member of the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin). Lisbeth L. Petersen was the first Faroese woman who was elected for the Danish Folketing as one of two Faroese members. [6] Annika Olsen became the first female Deputy Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands on 14 November 2011 and the first female Minister of Internal Affairs of the Faroe Islands on 26 September 2008.

Labour movements

Andrea Árting (1891–1988) was an active figure in the Faroese labour movement, heading the Tórshavn Working Women's Association for almost 40 years. In 1977, she successfully campaigned for equal pay for male and female workers. On the political front, representing the Loysingarflokkurin or Separatist Party, she was one of the first women to stand for the Løgting in 1940, although she was not elected. [7]

Related Research Articles

The politics of the Faroe Islands an autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark, function within the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands is the head of government, and of a multi-party system. The Faroe Islands are politically associated with the Kingdom of Denmark, but have been self-governing since 1948. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Løgting. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature and the responsibility of Denmark. As of October 25, 2007, the Faroe Islands became one electoral district.

Løgting

The Løgting is the unicameral parliament of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm.

Union Party (Faroe Islands)

The Union Party is a conservative-liberal, agrarian political party on the Faroe Islands. The party wants to maintain the Faroe Islands' union with Denmark. On 24 October 2015 Bárður á Steig Nielsen succeeded Kaj Leo Johannesen as party leader.

Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands)

The Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party on the Faroe Islands, led by Aksel V. Johannesen.

Marita Petersen was the first and to date only female Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands and the first female speaker of the Løgting (Parliament). She was elected to the Løgting in 1988 for Javnaðarflokkurin . In January 1993, she was elected to the post of Prime Minister which she held until September 1994. Later, she became chairman of the parliament from 1994 to 1995. She was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands in a very difficult time with economic crisis. Marita Petersen died of cancer in 2001.

LGBT rights in the Faroe Islands

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the Faroe Islands are relatively similar to that of Denmark. The progress of LGBT rights has been slower, however. While same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the Faroe Islands since the 1930s, same-sex couples never had a right to a registered partnership. In April 2016, the Løgting passed legislation legalizing civil same-sex marriage on the Faroes, recognizing same-sex marriages established in Denmark and abroad and allowing same-sex adoption. This was ratified by the Folketing in April 2017. The law went into effect on 1 July 2017.

The Faroese language conflict is a phase in the history of the Faroe Islands in the first half of the 20th century. It was a political and cultural argument between advocates of the Faroese language in general use, and advocates of the Danish language as the official language of the Faroe Islands.

Same-sex marriage in the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark, has been legal since 1 July 2017. Legislation allowing civil same-sex marriage and adoption was approved by the Løgting on 29 April 2016. The Danish Parliament approved the necessary legislative adaptations on 25 April 2017, and the law received royal assent on 3 May and went into effect on 1 July 2017.

Faroe Islands Group of islands in the North Atlantic

The Faroe or Faeroe Islands are a North Atlantic archipelago located 320 kilometres (200 mi) north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway between Norway and Iceland. It is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark. The islands have a total area of about 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi) with a population of 52,703 as of September 2020

Joen Pauli Højgaard Ellefsen was a Faroese politician and member of the Union Party. He was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands from 1981 to 1985.

Kaj Leo Johannesen

Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen is a Faroese politician. He was the prime minister of the Faroe Islands, representing the Faroese Unionist Party (Sambandsflokkurin). He took office, succeeding Jóannes Eidesgaard on 26 September 2008 and left office on 15 September 2015, after his party and coalition with Fólkaflokkurin and Miðflokkurin lost the general election on 1 September 2015. Johannesen is also a former international football player; he was goalkeeper for the Faroe Islands national football team.

Progress is a liberal, pro-Faroese independence political party on the Faroe Islands.

Sjúrður Skaale

Sjúrður Skaale is a Faroese politician (JF), journalist, actor, singer, and comedian.

The Second Cabinet of Kaj Leo Johannesen was the government of the Faroe Islands from 14 November 2011 until 15 September 2015 with Kaj Leo Johannesen from Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin) as Prime Minister, making a coalition between Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin), People's Party (Fólkaflokkurin), Self-Government Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) and Centre Party (Miðflokkurin). It is a majority government and the first completely right winged government on the islands since 1985. In September 2013 the Self Governing Party left the coalition and the ministry was closed, after their minister Kári P. Højgaard had been sacked after much discussion about a subsea tunnel between the two largest islands: Streymoy and Eysturoy, Eysturoyartunnilin, which Mr. Højgaard planned to let a private Danish company called Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners make. The plans about making the tunnel were aborted, but in February 2014 all political parties of the Løgting including the independent excluded former member of the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin), Gerhard Lognberg, agreed on making two subseatunnels: Eysturoyartunnilin and Sandoyartunnilin, both are planned to open in 2021 if everything works out as the politicians have planned, and they will be made by the Faroese government.

Aksel V. Johannesen

Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen is a Faroese lawyer and politician for the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) and a former footballer. He served as prime minister of the Faroe Islands from 2015 to 2019.

Rigmor Dam Faroese politician and teacher

Rigmor Dam is a Faroese politician and teacher, she has also been working as a journalist for the Faroese paper Sosialurin before she was elected to the Faroese parliament, the Løgting. She is the current Minister of Education, Research and Culture of the Faroe Islands.

Kristina Háfoss

Kristina Háfoss is a Faroese economist, lawyer, politician (Tjóðveldi) and former national swimmer for the Faroe Islands. She was minister of finance of the Faroe Islands from 2015-2019.

Sonja J. Jógvansdóttir is a Faroese journalist, politician, and establisher and coordinator of Samtak, the Faroese trade union center. Until 2015, she was a member of Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin). She is a spokesperson for the rights of homosexual people and their rights in the Faroe Islands and was one of the establisher of LGBT Faroe Islands in 2011.

Lisbeth Beate Lindenskov Petersen is a former Faroese politician in the Faroese Union Party. She was one of the first women to reach a top position in Faroese politics. Petersen served as mayor of the capital, Tórshavn, from 1992 to 1996 and was the first female mayor of Tórshavn. She was a member of the Faroese Parliament from 1990 to 2008, she was the first Faroese woman who was elected to the Danish Parliament, she was a member of the Danish Parliament from 2001 to 2005. From 2001 to 2004 she was parliamentary leader and head of her party.

Jóngerð Jensina Purkhús is a Faroese politician and feminist who has been an active member of the Republic party. She became the first female minister in the Faroe Islands when she was appointed Minister of Finance, Economy and the Environment in 1985. In 1989, she was appointed Minister of the Economy, Social Affairs and the Judiciary, serving until 1991.

References

  1. ↑ Wylie, Jonathan. "Faroe Islands". Advameg, Inc. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Faroe Islands – No woman's land". The Arctic Journal. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Faroe Islands: Men 'must import brides'". BBC Monitoring. BBC News. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  4. ↑ Weaver, Ray. "Women disappearing from the Faroe Islands". The Copenhagen Post. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
  5. ↑ Torshavn.fo
  6. ↑ Demokratia.fo, Kvinnur í politikki (Women in politics)
  7. ↑ Nolsøe, Lena. "Andrea Árting (1891 - 1988)" (in Danish). Kvinfo. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.