Anna Westergaard

Anna Westergaard (1882–1964) was a Danish railway official and a highly influential women's rights activist. Working for the Danish State Railways where she later became a traffic supervisor, she became a board member of the Danish Railways Union (Jernbaneforeningen) and of the Danish Civil Servants Union (Statstjenestemændenes Centralorganisation). A strong proponent of equal rights for men and women in education and the labour market, she was a key contributor to management of the Danish Women's Society (1919–1924) and the Women's Council in Denmark (1938–1946). Westergaard represented Danish women's interests in discussions at the League of Nations in the mid-1930s. From 1937 to 1960, she was president of Open Door International for the Economic Emancipation of the Woman Worker. Politically, she belonged to the Danish Social Liberal Party and was an alternate in the Upper House or Landstinget from 1939 to 1953.

Biography Born on 8 June 1882 in Aarhus, Anna Westergaard was the daughter of the dentist Carl Rudolf Westergaard (1833–1901) and Cecilie Bøttcher Pape (1857–1945). After passing the preparatory examination in 1889, she embarked on a pioneering career with Danish Railways (DSB). She first worked as an assistant writer for DSB, Aarhus. In 1911, after receiving practical station-based training, she became the first woman to pass the traffic examination and was appointed traffic controller in 1925. In 1929, she became an administrative official in central management where in 1951 she was promoted to traffic supervisor. She took a keen interest in workers' rights, serving as a member of the central committee of the Railways Union (1912–1928) and of the Civil Servants Union (1912–1928). From 1922, she edited the Railways Union journal Vor Stand. Westergaard contributed to various journals and newspapers as well as to significant works of the times on women, including Den gyldne Bog om danske Kvinder (1941) and Dansk Kvinde i Dag (1942).

Anna Westergaard died on 6 February 1964 in Charlottenlund. She was buried in Ordrup Cemetery.