Marita Petersen

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Marita Petersen (born October 21, 1940 in Vágur , Faroe Islands , † August 26, 2001 in Tórshavn ) was a Faroese educator and politician of the social democracy ( Javnaðarflokkurin ). She was the first female Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (1993-1994). For the first time in the history of the Faroe Islands , Queen Margrethe II had a woman as head of state and Marita Petersen as head of government.

family

Marita was the daughter of the teacher couple Sámal Johansen from Haldarsvík (1899–1991) and Anna Elisabeth Matras from Viðareiði (1904–88). On October 17, 1962, she married the lawyer Kári Dalsgaard Petersen (born January 11, 1936 in Velbastaður ), whose two parents were also teachers. Together they had sons Atli (1963), Uni (1965) and Búi (1970).

She came from a family with strong cultural and political traditions. Both parents were elementary school teachers. The father was politically active and her two brothers were local politicians.

Teacher

Marita Petersen made her own teacher examination at the Hellerup seminar in Denmark in 1964 and in 1980 an additional training as a cand. Ped. psych. to Danmarks Lærerhøjskole .

Until 1989 she taught as a primary school teacher, until she became a teaching director in the regional school directorate ( Landsskúlafyrisitingin ). In 1998 she became head of the Sernámsmiðdepilin (Special Education Center). 1980–1984 she was chairwoman of the Faroe Islands Teachers' Association ( Føroya Lærarafelag )

Løgmaður

Marita Petersen was the first woman to make it to the top of Faroese politics; H. 1993 became the first female Løgmaður (head of the autonomous government). She developed a political awareness at an early age and had been a member of the Social Democrats for 30 years when she was first elected to Løgting , the parliament of the Faroe Islands, in 1988. 1990–1993 she was in the state government of the Faroe Islands minister of culture and education. In this role she campaigned for a vocational training reform. She advocated training centers in which various branches of training are combined into a larger, interdisciplinary milieu.

Another major reform she pushed was the liberalization of Faroese alcohol legislation , which was the toughest in the western world. Since then, Faroese beer can be bought in every supermarket and kiosk and harder alcohol in state shops. Bar licenses for restaurants and events were now also possible.

From 1993-1994 Marita Petersen was Løgmaður, and these were also very turbulent years in Faroe Islands history, with both the financial sector and the labor market collapsing. Dramatic unemployment figures, foreclosures and mass emigration hit the Faroe Islands.

During this period, Marita Petersen was a tough negotiator with Danske Bank to prevent an economic collapse in the Faroe Islands. Finally, the Faroese state government bought the shares in Danske Bank in Føroya Banki , which had previously triggered the Faroe Islands' banking crisis . Denmark became the Faroe Islands' only creditor, but in return demanded a restructuring and monopoly of the fishing industry, which drastically reduced the number of fish factories. Fishing quotas were introduced.

To prevent mass layoffs and the collapse of the Faroe Islands public employment sector, she negotiated a wage cut with workers. As head of government, she placed great emphasis on the coordination of administration, state government and parliament, and she was in negotiations with Denmark about the reorganization of the Faroe Islands' autonomy towards greater independence.

Party leader

In 1993 Marita Petersen also became chairwoman of the Social Democratic Party. Internally, she worked for democratization and a new party program. She took care of the activation of female members and the creation of a women's network, which she could use as minister and Løgmaður. She was an active champion for an equality law that was passed in 1994.

After the parliamentary elections in the same year, she led the coalition negotiations. The Social Democrats came into the government, but did not get the top post, whereupon Marita Petersen retired to work as a simple MP. In doing so, she broke a party tradition according to which the chairman always belongs to the state government (provided the party is involved in the government). Instead, she became the first Speaker of Parliament in Faroe history.

retreat

In 1995 there was a candidate to fight against them in the party executive elections of the Social Democrats. She won, but did not run for re-election as party leader in 1996. In 1998 she no longer ran for Løgting, but rather took care of the Special Pedagogical Center, of which she became director shortly before.

By doing a man's job as a woman and leading the Faroe Islands out of one of the greatest crises in their history, she earned great respect.

swell

Remarks

  1. There is no feminine form of the Faroese word løgmaður , especially since maður does not necessarily mean "man", but also "human". See also Wiktionary: løgmaður
predecessor Office successor
Atli P. Dam Løgmaður of the Faroe Islands
1993 - 1994
Edmund Joensen
predecessor Office successor
Atli P. Dam Socialist leader ( Javnaðarflokkurin )
1993 - 1996
Jóannes Eidesgaard