Marie Thora Frederikke Pedersen (1875–1954) was a Danish teacher, school inspector and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

proponent who was active in the Danish Union of Teachers (''Danmarks Lærerforening'') and the

Danish Women's Society The Danish Women's Society or DWS () is Denmark's oldest women's rights organization. It was founded in 1871 by activist Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer; Fredrik was a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The as ...

(''Dansk Kvindesamfund''). As a representative of these organizations on the parliamentary salary commission established in 1917, she was instrumental in achieving progress on civil servants' pay. Her efforts led to the Pay Act (''Lønningsloven'') of 1919 which introduced equal pay for men and women. She also succeeded in introducing improvements for Danish schools based on her international experience in education.

Biography

Born on 21 October 1875 in Øster Hurup near

Hadsund Hadsund () is a town in the eastern part of Jutland with a population of 4,918 (1 January 2025; 5,356 incl. Hadsund South). The town is located by the narrow strait of ''Hadsund,'' along an inlet of the Mariager Fjord. It is situated south of th ...

in the east of

Jutland Jutland (; , ''Jyske Halvø'' or ''Cimbriske Halvø''; , ''Kimbrische Halbinsel'' or ''Jütische Halbinsel'') is a peninsula of Northern Europe that forms the continental portion of Denmark and part of northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). It ...

, Marie Thora Frederikke Pedersen was the daughter of the schoolteacher Niels Christian Pedersen (1843–1941) and Karen Marie Andersen (1847–1924). Against her father's will, she attended N. Zahle's School in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

to train as a teacher. After qualifying in 1900, she returned to Jutland where she was employed by the

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

school authority from 1901 to 1945. Pedersen is remembered above all for her work between 1915 and 1919 on achieving equal pay. After wages for civil servants had fallen by more than 10% during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the Danish Union of Teachers (''Danmarks Lærerforening'', DLF) initiated the reform process. Together with Marie Mortensen, Johanne M. Sørensen and Lucie Jensen, Pedersen was elected to DLF's executive board in 1916, where she called for equal pay for equal work but faced opposition from the union's representatives. In 1917, the Danish parliament

Rigsdagen The Rigsdag ( ) was the name of the national legislature of Denmark from 1849 to 1953. The Rigsdag was Denmark's first parliament, and it was incorporated in the Constitution of 1849. It was a bicameral legislature, consisting of two houses, t ...

established a committee on pay for civil servants. With the support of the Women's Society and Copenhagen's Teachers' Association, Pedersen and two other representatives were appointed to the committee. Once again, she faced fierce opposition but in the end her views were supported. As a result, the Pay Act (''Lønningsloven'') of 1919 introduced equal pay for men and women. From 1919, Pedersen was in introducing several improvements to the curriculum in Danish schools, culminating in the 1937 Schools Act (''Skoleloven''). On the political front, she was a member of the Social Liberal Party, serving on the executive board from 1918 to 1926 and from 1939 to 1943 was a member of Aalborg's city council. From 1908 to 1915, she headed Aalborg's Women's Suffrage Association. Thora Pedersen died on 29 October 1954 in Aalborg where she is buried.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Thora 1875 births 1954 deaths Danish women's rights activists Danish suffragists Danish feminists 20th-century Danish educators 20th-century Danish women educators Danish women in politics People from Mariagerfjord Municipality