Betty Maria Carolina Pettersson (14 September 1838 – 7 February 1885), was a Swedish

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. She became the first official female

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in 1871. She was also the first female student of

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

, the first woman in Sweden to have graduated from a university, and the first woman to have been a teacher at a gymnasium.

Life

Betty Pettersson was born to the saddle maker Olof Pettersson and Magdalena Sofia Carolina Kullberg in Visby. She was not born into a wealthy family; however, when she was discovered to be a talented student, she was given the opportunity to study at a private girls' school in Visby, where normally only pupils from wealthy families were accepted. As an adult, she worked as a

governess A governess is a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching; depending on terms of their employment, they may or ma ...

for several different families of nobility from the 1850s onward. By a reform in 1870, women were given the right to study at universities. Pettersson was accepted as a student the same year, though she did not begin her studies on the first attempt. She graduated from '' Nya elementarskolan'' in Stockholm 16 May 1871 as the first of her sex to do so. This being a school for males, and no

Gymnasium (school) ''Gymnasium'' (and Gymnasium (school)#By country, variations of the word) is a term in various European languages for a secondary school that prepares students for higher education at a university. It is comparable to the US English term ''U ...

being available yet for women (

Wallinska skolan Wallinska skolan (Wallin School) or Wallinska flickskolan (Wallin Girls' School), was a girls' school in Stockholm, Sweden. Active from 1831 to 1939, it was one of the first five schools in Sweden to offer serious academic education and secondary ...

was the first girls' school given the right to administer the Studentexamen in 1874), she was forced to study in private, as a so-called privatist, and then graduate from the Nya elemantarskolan. Again a pioneer, she was accepted at Uppsala university 27 February 1872. Finally, she became historical upon her graduation on 28 January 1875. She was met with a great deal of dislike from many male fellow students. After graduation, she worked as a teacher at a

for boys, the '' Ladugårdslands lägre elementarläroverk'', from 1877 until 1884. She was again a pioneer as the first female teacher at a

. As a person, she was described as dutiful, popular among her students, and a skillful educator. As a teacher, she was described: "To this her call she gave her entire soul; further more, she had the ability, in a very high degree, to win the trust and affection of her pupils and through this she influenced their conduct in no less degree; her class was always notable for its good order and conduct."Betty M C Pettersson, urn:sbl:7224, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Britta Lövgren), hämtad 2015-06-16. Betty Pettersson died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: * Eating *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically known as consumption * Consumer (food chain), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of n ...

Legacy

Betty was a member of Gotland nation and the nation today names its pub 'Bettys' after her.

References

* Österberg, Carin et al., ''Svenska kvinnor: föregångare, nyskapare'' (Swedish women: Predecessors, successors) Lund: Signum 1990. () (In Swedish) * Betty M C Pettersson, urn:sbl:7224, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Britta Lövgren), hämtad 2015-06-16.

Life

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading