Sigrid Stray

Sigrid Stray (born May 29, 1893 in Sandnes , † July 3, 1978 in Tromøy ) was a Norwegian lawyer and women's rights activist .

Life

Origin and education

Stray was born in 1893 as the daughter of factory owner Reier Kluge and his wife Anna Gausel. She grew up in Sandnes and finished school in Stavanger in 1914 . She then began her law studies in Oslo , which she finished in 1919. She then started working as a secretary in the legal department of the Norwegian Ministry of Social Affairs. On March 26, 1921, she married the lawyer Christian Stray. Together they had two children, Signe Marie Stray Ryssdal and Anne Lise Stray.

Activity as a lawyer

In 1924, Stray began working in her husband's office. Five years later, she became the second woman to be admitted to the Norwegian Supreme Court . She joined her husband's office in 1934 as a co-owner.

The best known case of Stray as a lawyer was the defense of the well-known writer Knut Hamsun . He was charged in July 1945 for his collaboration with the German occupiers. In 1946, Stray took on the case as defense attorney, after she had already represented Hamsun in legal disputes from the 1930s. Later Stray wrote the book Min klient Knut Hamsun ( German : My client Knut Hamsun ) about him. It wasn't published until after her death.

Women's rights activist

Stray was involved in women's and family law issues. For example, she gave law courses for women organized by the women's rights organization Norske Kvinners Nasjonalråd . In 1938 she herself became the chairman of the organization. Stray spent seven weeks in prison in 1944 after the Gestapo arrested her for her activities. After the end of the Second World War she was again the chairwoman until 1946. As such, she fought, among other things, to ensure that women receive equal pay and that marriages are included in tax assessment. Another important concern on their part was that the wives of members of the fascist Nasjonal Samling (NS) should not be punished if they were not members themselves. In 1948, she also supported calls for the death penalty to be abolished.

Political commitment

Stray was a member of the social liberal party Venstre and her husband sat for the party in the Norwegian parliament Storting . She was refused the candidacy for a seat in parliament on the grounds that only one person from each family should sit in parliament. From 1956 to 1967 she was the first woman to be Chancellor of the Order of Saint Olav .

Works

• 1979: Min client Knut Hamsun

Web links

• Sigrid Stray in Norsk biografisk leksikon (Norwegian)
• Sigrid Stray in the store norske leksikon (Norwegian)