Torild Skard

Torild Skard (born 29 November 1936) is a Norwegian psychologist, politician for the Socialist Left Party, a former deputy permanent secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a former chairman of UNICEF.

She served as a Member of Parliament for Akershus, president of its Upper Chamber and deputy chair of the Standing Committee on Justice from 1973 to 1977. She served as director for Questions relating to the Status of Women of UNESCO 1984–1986 and regional director for West and Central Africa at UNICEF 1994–1998. She was chairman of the international UNICEF executive board 1988–1989. She has also served as director-general for development cooperation, deputy permanent secretary responsible for development cooperation and special adviser in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and has been a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

Skard has been described as "an icon of Norwegian feminism." She was president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights from 2006 to 2013, and also served as vice chair of the Forum for Women and Development during this period. She has written several books, including ''Continent of Mothers, Continent of Hope'' (2003) on African development and ''Women of Power'' (2014) on female heads of state or government worldwide. Provided by Wikipedia