Svandís Hjarnarsdattir

*This name uses Velkanian naming customs; the last name is a patronymic, not a family name. This person should be properly referred to by the given name* Svandís.

**Svandís Hjarnarsdattir** (born 16 September 1950) is a Velkanian politician and sociologist who has served as leader of the Green-Socialist Party since 2010, becoming the first woman to lead the party. Previously, she had served as Minister of Social Affairs and Welfare in the first, second, and third Davíð Brynnsteinsson cabinets from 2002 until 2014, and has served in the Orthing since 1994. She founded the Women's Party in 1987, and served as its leader until its merger into the Green-Socialist Party in 2001.

Svandís was born in Þórströnkuseyri to a working-class family. After graduating from upper secondary school in 1970, she enrolled in the University of Þórströnkuseyri, where she graduated with a degree in sociology in 1973. Svandís subsequently received certifications to work as a preschool teacher, and worked at a local preschool for two years. In 1975, she decided to return to school and moved to Narísandur to enroll in the University of Velkania, receiving her master's degree in 1977, and a doctorate in 1981. After graduating with her doctoral degree in sociology, Svandís began working as a professor of sociology and gender studies at the University of Velkania, later becoming the department head of the Department of Sociology in 1992.

Svandís became a political activist in the mid-1970s, when she participated in the Velkanian feminist movement. In 1987, she founded the Women's Party as a means to lobby for women's rights and feminism in Velkanian politics. Although the party struggled to be elected to parliament, Svandís still began to develop a national profile for numerous appearances in political media. She was first elected to parliament in the 1994 election, becoming the first member of her party to be a member of parliament. In 2001, she was part of a three-party deal that merged the Women's Party, Velkanian Green Party, and Socialist Party into the Green-Socialist Party, and she emerged as one of the newly-formed party's most prominent figures. After a successful performance in the 2002 election, the Green-Socialists entered the government, and Svandís was nominated to serve as Minister of Social Affairs and Welfare in the first Davíð Brynnsteinsson cabinet, later continuing to serve in this position in the second and third cabinets as well.

After the results of the 2010 election, party leader Haukur Eggþórsson announced that he'd be resigning from his position as he carries out his final term in politics before retiring. Svandís emerged as a leading candidate to succeed him, and ultimately was chosen to succeed him at a party conference. This made her the first woman to lead the party, and the first from the former Women's Party bloc. Her first term as leader brought controversy, as the party suffered a great defeat in the 2014 election. However, she was able to rebound and the party saw their greatest ever victory in the 2018 election, where they became the second-largest party in parliament and the lead opposition party, the first time ever for the Green-Socialists.

## Early life and education

Svandís was born on 16 September 1950 in Þórströnkuseyri to parents Hjarnar Þórsson (1924–2016) and Lúðvíka Magnúsdattir (1926–2005). The family was working-class, with her father working as a commercial fisherman and being a local trade union leader, while her mother was a homemaker and worked on-and-off throughout Svandís's youth as a bookkeeper at local establishments. Svandís is the elder of three children and only daughter; her younger brothers are Hjarnar Jón, born  (1952-06-17) 17 June 1952 (age 71), and Oddbjörn, born  (1970-01-02) 2 January 1970 (age 54).

Svandís began her education in 1956, attending a local, public primary school in Þórströnkuseyri. While in primary school, Svandís was a gifted student who aspired to become a scientist. She graduated in 1966, and afterwards enrolled in Þórströnkuseyri Junior College, where she studied a social sciences program and graduated in 1970. After graduating, she enrolled in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Þórströnkuseyri, graduating with her sociology degree in 1973. Despite initially wishing to pursue graduate school, she was discouraged by her parents, who wished for her to remain at home and settle down. Due to her parents' influence, she decided to seek preschool teaching certifications and began working as a teacher at a local preschool. Svandís found the work unenjoyable, and eventually quit in 1975.

After quitting her job as a preschool teacher, Svandís moved to Narísandur to enroll in a sociology graduate program at the University of Velkania. She received her master's degree in 1977, and later her doctorate in 1981. While pursuing her doctorate, Svandís focused her studies on the sociology of gender and gender studies, writing her dissertation on inequality of opportunity between married and unmarried women throughout Eurea.

## Academic career

After beginning her graduate program in 1975, Svandís became a teaching assistant ( *aðstoðproféssor*) at the University of Velkania, assisting professors in teaching courses in various topics within sociology, primarily focusing on the sociology of gender and gender studies. During this time, she additionally published a number of academic papers regarding her areas of focus within sociology.

Svandís taught her first course as a doctoral student in 1979, teaching a summer course on gender theory, which she described as a "horrible experience," and that she struggled with public speaking fears and disrespectful students throughout the entire course. She briefly considered dropping out of her doctoral program and switching her career path entirely due to her experience, but ultimately opted not to. After graduating with her doctorate in 1981, she was hired as a professor in the sociology department of the University of Velkania, teaching courses on gender theory, sexuality, and the sociology of sex and gender. In 1987, she won a university-wide teaching award for professor of the year, later being named the Velkanian professor of the year by the Ministry of Education and Culture in 1988.

In 1991, Svandís was named the new department head of the department of sociology at the University of Velkania. As a department head, Svandís was the lead professor in her department, responsible for overseeing all faculty members within her department, approving new course proposals from professors, drafting and editing programs of study within the department, and representing the department within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

## Political career

### Activism and Women's Party

Svandís first became associated with political activism in the 1970s, with the rise of the feminist movement in the Velkanian Isles. A supporter of Ragnheiður Loftardattir, Svandís participated in a number of feminist rallies, marches, and protests during her young adulthood.

Beginning in the 1980s, Svandís began to become more involved in the feminist movement. After several years of participating in rallies and protests on behalf of women's rights, she founded the Women's Party, a feminist political party, in 1987. The party's main political agenda was to advance the rights and representation of women in the Velkanian Isles, lobbying the government on issues such as maternal health, family leave, abortion, birth control, and equal pay in the workforce. Svandís stood for election to parliament for the first time in the 1988 election on behalf of the Women's Party, but was ultimately not elected.

Despite her election loss, Svandís's national profile began to gradually grow in the late-1980s and early-1990s. She emerged as a prominent critic of Jón Húmi Kristgeirsson and the Independence Party, and was frequently featured on the news and in newspapers as a supporter of Anna Kristín Björnsdattir against criticism from Jón. Following the leak of the Project Fríða controversy in Jón's administration, Svandís publicly called for his resignation, stating that he was a "shame" to the Velkanian Isles. In the 1994 election, Svandís was elected to the Orthing for the first time, after the Women's Party was awarded one seat. The party later increased their seat share to two seats in the 1998 election. While in parliament, Svandís focused on women's rights issues, and referred to Eybjört María Hólmsteinnsdattir as an "anti-feminist" for her opposition to abortion and failure to advocate for the representation of women in government.

### Minister of Social Affairs and Labor

Ahead of the upcoming 2002 election, a meeting was called between Svandís, Árgeir Sörensson of the Velkanian Green Party, and Ísgeir Þór Guðmarsson of the extra-parliamentary Socialist Party in 2001. The three agreed to a merger of their political parties, with the Green-Socialist Party being launched in April 2001. Árgeir served as the party's inaugural leader, while Svandís was considered to be a senior member of the party. The party contested the 2002 elections, which saw great success, becoming the fourth-largest party in parliament, entering the government in a coalition deal with the Social Democratic Party and Velkanian People's Party.

Following the announcement of the coalition deal, Svandís was later nominated by Davíð Brynnsteinsson to serve as Minister of Social Affairs and Welfare in his first cabinet, with the nomination later being confirmed on 2 May 2002. In her ministerial post, Svandís was responsible for overseeing social work, social protection, pensions, welfare, civil rights and the rights of minorities, trade unions and employers' organizations, and workers' rights. She continued in this position in Davíð's second and third cabinets as well, being the only minister to serve in the same position throughout the entirety of Davíð's tenure as prime minister. In her post, Svandís advocated for an expansion of the welfare state, legalizing same-sex civil unions, loosening abortion restrictions, and strengthening relations between trade unions and employers' organizations.

### Party leader

Following the 2010 election, Green-Socialist party leader Haukur Eggþórsson tendered his resignation as party leader, stating that he would be retiring from politics entirely following the completion of his current term in parliament. Svandís immediately emerged as the expected choice to succeed him, and was properly elected as the new party leader in a party conference on 24 October 2010, becoming the first woman to lead the party and first from the former Women's Party.

In her first term as party leader, Svandís brought disappointing results, after the party lost a number of seats in the 2014 election and joined the opposition. Despite some calls for her resignation, Svandís refused to resign but took responsibility for the party's result. Following the 2014 election, she began to emerge as a critic of both the Liberal-Conservative Party of Sif María Vilhjálmardattir and the Social Democratic Party of Ólafur Hallgrímarson, attempting to portray her party as a "third option" between the chief right-wing and chief left-wing parties, respectively. This strategy ultimately paid off, with the party amassing 10 more seats in the 2018 election, becoming the second-largest party in parliament and the chief opposition party.

Following the certification of the election's result, Svandís publicly criticized Sif and Ragnhildur II for their close friendship and Ragnhildur's decision to give Sif a mandate to form a government despite the Liberal-Conservatives losing 11 seats in the election and being perceived as one of the election's "big losers." Regarding the governing coalition of the Liberal-Conservatives and Centrists losing 11 seats each, she added that "Velkanian people clearly lost confidence in their governing." Her decision to criticize Ragnhildur was controversial, but she received support from a number of left-wing figures.

## Personal life

Svandís began a relationship with Velkanian environmental lawyer Magnús Davíðsson in 1977. They became engaged a year of beginning their relationship, and later married in 1979. They had two children together: Salóme Þórlaug, born  (1982-10-28) 28 October 1982 (age 41), and Friðrik Guðmar, born  (1984-12-10) 10 December 1984 (age 39).

Svandís filed for divorce from Magnús in 1995, citing irreconcilable differences, and the divorce was later finalized the following year. They shared dual custody of their two children. The family resided in the Bakkaneyri neighborhood of Narísandur, and Svandís has since begun residing in the city of Hveranæyjar in Greater Narísandur.