To mark the 100th anniversary of Ljósmæðrafélag Íslands, the Icelandic Midwives’ Association, an exhibition will open in Þjóðarbókhlaða, the library building at Arngrímsgata 3, on the International Day of the Midwife, Sunday 5 May. The Icelandic Midwives’ Association organises the exhibition in cooperation with the Women’s History Archives and the National and University Library of Iceland.
On 2 May 1919, 20 midwives met at the home of the midwife Þórdís Elín Jónsdóttir Carlquist and her husband, the cigar maker Alex Wilhelm Carlquist, at Laugavegur 20 in Reykjavík, to found an association of midwives. The purpose of the association was to improve the position of the midwifery profession and protect its pay and conditions, and also to foster the midwives’ interest in and knowledge of everything to do with their work. Ten of the 20 women were newly qualified midwives from the Midwifery School. Only one baby, a girl, was born in Reykjavík on the day the association was founded, so most of the working midwives in Reykjavík were able to attend the founding meeting. The association was named “Ljósmæðrafélag Íslands” and is the first trade union of professionally trained women in Iceland. The first board of the Icelandic Midwives’ Association was made up of the midwives Þuríður Bárðardóttir, chair, Þórdís Elín Jónsdóttir Carlquist, secretary, and Þórunn Ástríður Björnsdóttir, treasurer. Today the association’s board has seven midwives, and the present chair is the sixteenth.
Programme at the opening of the exhibition:
National Librarian Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir welcomes the guests.
Jan Bakke, Norway’s first male midwife, gives an address.
Áslaug Valsdóttir, chair of the Midwives’ Association, hands over records from the association to the Women’s History Archives.
Ólöf Ásta Ólafsdóttir, Professor of Midwifery, talks about the exhibition.
The chair will be Rakel Adolphsdóttir, specialist at the Women’s History Archives.
Guests are invited to view the exhibition on the 1st floor of Þjóðarbókhlaða.
Light refreshments will be served on the 2nd floor of Þjóðarbókhlaða.
See the event here