Karen Johnsen

Karen Emilie Johnsen (born September 9, 1899 in Copenhagen , † November 17, 1980 in Virum ) was a Danish lawyer and judge . In 1938 she was appointed judge after Ragnhild Fabricius Gjellerup as the second woman in the history of Denmark . She then worked for several years at the Copenhagen City Court (Byret). From 1949 to 1966 she was a judge at Østre Landsret, the regional court of eastern Denmark. Her specialty was family law . For example, she campaigned for equality between children born in wedlock and born out of wedlock .

biography

Karen Emilie Johnson was the daughter of the lawyer Georg Johnson (1871-1935) and Emilie Vilhelmine Marie Grønqvist (1871-1937). In 1918 she began studying law at the University of Copenhagen , which she successfully completed in 1924. This made her one of only about 50 female lawyers who were trained there between 1905 and 1925. In 1927 she was the first woman to receive the university's gold medal for her dissertation in the field of family law , the only one to be awarded in this year.

Karen Johnsen was also involved in the women's movement . From 1939 to 1949 she was on the board of the Danske Kvinders Nationalråd (about: National Assembly of Danish Women) and from 1938 to 1948 on the board of the Kvindelige Akademikere (about: female academics). In 1952 she was Denmark's delegate at the UNESCO conference in Paris . In 1953 she represented the Danske Kvinders Nationalråd at the UN General Assembly .

With her retirement in 1966 she said goodbye to the legal profession. Together with Zenia Kühn (1898 - 1985), whom she had known since childhood, she devoted herself to travel and culture. Karen Johnsen died in Virum on November 17, 1980.

Awards

In 1951 she was one of the first women to be awarded the Dannebrogorden , a Danish Order of Merit. In 1954 she became a first class knight, and in 1966 she became a commander.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Johannsen, Willy: Karen Johnsen (1899-1980) . Kvinfo. Retrieved September 23, 2018.
2. ^ Ida Clyde (Gallagher) Clarke: Women of Today . Women of Today Press, 1928.