Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir

Bríet Bjarnhéðinsdóttir was born on June 27, 1856, at Haukagil in Vatnsdalur. Overcoming severe poverty and limited rural education, in 1887 she gave the first public lecture by a woman in Icelandic history in Reykjavík on the educational and civic rights of women.

In 1895, Bjarnhéðinsdóttir founded and edited Kvennablaðið (The Women's Magazine), which she published for twenty-six years. In 1907, she founded the Kvenréttindafélag Íslands (Icelandic Women's Rights Association), serving as its president for two decades and leading the successful national campaign that won full parliamentary voting rights for Icelandic women on June 19, 1915. In 1908, she was elected to the Reykjavík City Council on an independent all-women slate.