Alva Myrdal

Alva Myrdal in Tierp 1966.

Alva Myrdal (Swedish: [ˌalːva ˈmyːɖɑːl]; née Reimer; 31 January 1902 – 1 February 1986) was a Swedish sociologist and politician. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. She married Gunnar Myrdal in 1924.

Biography

Born in Uppsala, she first came to public notice in the 1930s, and was one of the main driving forces in the creation of the Swedish welfare state. She coauthored the book Crisis in the Population Question (Swedish: Kris i befolkningsfrågan with Gunnar Myrdal in 1934). The basic premise of Crisis in the Population Question is to find what social reforms are needed to allow for individual liberty (especially for women) while also promoting child-bearing, and encouraging Swedes to have children. With architect Sven Markelius she designed Stockholm's cooperative Collective House in 1937 with an eye towards developing more domestic liberty for women.

A long-time prominent member of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, in the late 1940s she became involved in international issues with the United Nations, appointed to head its section on welfare policy in 1949. From 1950 to 1955 she was chairman of UNESCO's social science section—the first woman to hold such prominent positions in the UN. In 1955-1956 she served as a Swedish envoy to New Delhi, India, Rangoon, Burma (Myanmar) and Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

In 1962 Myrdal was elected to the Swedish parliament, and in 1962 she was sent as the Swedish delegate to the UN disarmament conference in Geneva, a role she kept until 1973. She participated in the creation of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, becoming the first Chairman of the governing board in 1966. In 1966 she was also named consultative Cabinet minister for disarmament, an office she held until 1973. A vocal supporter of disarmament, Myrdal received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982 together with Alfonso Garcia Robles. In 1983 Myrdal effectively ended the heated controversy over the future of Adolf Fredrik's Music School, "The AF-fight" (Swedish: AF-striden).

She is the mother of Jan Myrdal, Sissela Bok and Kaj Fölster.

See also

• List of female Nobel laureates
• Social engineering (political science)

Further reading

• Myrdal, Alva & Klein, Viola, Women’s Two Roles: Home and Work. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1956.
• Etzemüller, Thomas, Alva and Gunnar Myrdal. Social Engineering in Sweden, Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014

External links

• Biography of Alva Myrdal at Nobelprize.org
• Works by Alva Myrdal at Open Library

Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Per Wijkman	Ambassador of Sweden to India 1955–1961	Succeeded by Klas Böök
Preceded by ?	Ambassador of Sweden to Burma 1955–1959	Succeeded by Tord Hagen
Preceded by ?	Ambassador of Sweden to Nepal 1960–1961	Succeeded by ?
Preceded by Per Wijkman	Ambassador of Sweden to Sri Lanka 1960–1961	Succeeded by Klas Böök