Ingibjörg H. Bjarnason

Ingibjörg H. Bjarnason (14 December 1867 – 30 October 1941) was an Icelandic politician, suffragist, schoolteacher and gymnast. She was the first woman to become a member of the Althing, the parliament of Iceland.

Early life and education Ingibjörg was born in Thingeyri, Iceland, in 1867 to Hakon Bjarnason and Johanna Kristin Þorleifsdóttir, and was one of five children. As a teenager, she moved to Reykjavík after her father died and attended Kvennaskólinn (the Reykjavík Women's College). She graduated from the college in 1882 and relocated to Denmark to study gymnastics, making her the first Icelander to do so. She returned to Reykjavík in 1893 to teach gymnastics at a children's school, and in 1903 she returned to the Women's College as a teacher. She became the school principal in 1906 and held the position for 35 years until her death.

Political career She first became involved in the women's suffrage movement in Iceland in 1894. In 1915, when Icelandic women won the right to vote, Ingibjörg was chosen by a women's organisation to address parliament and present a celebratory speech, and was elected the head of a committee which raised funds to build a hospital, Landspítali (the National University Hospital) to commemorate the suffragists' win.

Legacy In November 2011, 70 years after Ingibjörg's death, it was announced that a vote had passed in the Reykjavík City Council to construct a permanent memorial in Reykjavík in her honour.