Preceded by Atli Paetursson Dam Name Marita Petersen Party Social Democratic Party | Spouse(s) Kari Petersen Resigned September 15, 1994 Siblings Ragnar Johansen | |
Political party Foroya Javnaðarflokkurin Previous office Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands (1993–1994) | ||
Marita Petersen ([ˌmɛaɹɪta ˈpʰeːʰtɛɹsɛn]) (née Johansen ([ˌjoˈhanːsɛn]); 21 October 1940 in Vágur – 26 August 2001) was the first and to date only female Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands and the first female speaker of the Løgting (Parliament). She was elected to the Løgting in 1988 for Javnaðarflokkurin (The Socialist Party). In January 1993, she was elected to the post of Prime Minister which she held until September 1994. Later, she became chairman of the parliament from 1994 to 1995. She was Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands in a very difficult time with economic crisis. Marita Petersen died of cancer in 2001.
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Education and work
She was a school teacher, educated from the Hellerup seminarium in Denmark in 1964. She worked as a teacher in Copenhagen and Esbjerg from 1964–67, in Tórshavnar kommunuskúli (one of the public schools in Tórshavn) from 1967 to 1989. From 1989 to 1994 she was leader of the teaching department of Landsskúlafyrisitingin 1989-94, leader of the Sernámsfrøðiliga ráðgevingin 1994-98 and from 1998 until her death she was manager for the Sernámsdepilin, which is a school for children with mentally disabilities.