Signe Marie Stray Ryssdal

Who is Signe Marie Stray Ryssdal?

Signe Marie Stray Ryssdal is a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Liberal Party.

She was born in Tromøy as a daughter of barristers Christian Stray and Sigrid Stray. She finished her secondary education in 1943, and studied law at the University of Oslo from 1945 to 1948. She spent the summer of 1948 studying at the Peace Palace. She was a deputy judge in Kragerø and Steigen before working as a secretary and inspector in Riksskattestyret from 1951 to 1956. In December 1954 she married Rolv Ryssdal, who would become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

In 1956 she opened her own lawyer practice in Oslo. She became a barrister with access to Supreme Court cases in 1960, as the third woman in Norway. In politics, she served as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Oslo from 1965 to 1973, and was a member of Oslo city council from 1968 to 1972. In 1972 she left the lawyer job to become chief administrative officer of social affairs in Oslo. She stood for parliamentary election in 1973 on the Liberal People's Party ballot, but was not elected. Her career ended with the post of County Governor of Aust-Agder, which she held from 1983 to 1994.