Louise Nørlund

Who is Louise Nørlund?

Marie Sørine Louise Nørlund was a Danish feminist and pacifist. She was the founder and chairman of the Danske Kvindeforeningers Valgretsforbund or DKV in 1898-1907 and 1908-1909.

She was the daughter of the farmer and parliamentarian Mikkel Hasle Christiansen and Ane Jacobsdatter. She married journalist and publisher Niels Jensen Nørlund in 1881, but the couple divorced in 1892, and after the death of her former spouse, she was left in full responsibility for their only child, Agnes.

Louise Nørlund was early interested in politics, as her parent's home was a center for radical democrats. She took her teacher's exam from Beyer, Bohrs og Femmers Kursus and was employed as a teacher at the Larslejstrædes Skole in 1878-1910. In her profession, she participated in the foundation of the Kbh.s Kommunelærerindeforening in 1891. She was also engaged in the peace movement: she was a member of the Dansk Fredsforening, where she was active as speaker and writer and the delegat to the International women's peace congress in Haag in 1915, were Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom was founded.