The first women's magazine in Faroese was called Oyggjarnar (The Islands) and was published from 1905 to 1908. The editor was Súsanna Helena Patursson (1864–1916), daughter of Elin and Páll in Kirkjubøur and sister to notable national figures Sverre, Gazet, Siggert, and especially Jóannes Patursson. As a young woman, Súsanna Helena moved to Copenhagen, where she learned needlework and piano and later became a legal secretary. In 1896, she co-founded a Faroese Women's Progress Association as a protest against the exclusion of women from the Faroese Association. The following year, the association amended its statutes, leading to 24 women joining, which resulted in the women's association disbanding.
In 1904, Súsanna Helena Patursson returned to the Faroe Islands. For the three years that Oyggjarnar was in circulation, she edited and wrote most of its content herself. The magazine started as a weekly and later became a fortnightly publication, featuring articles and advertisements across four pages.
At the time, fishing was emerging as a lucrative industry in the Faroe Islands, which began to challenge traditional ideals of women in the agrarian society. Oyggjarnar advocated for women's education, suffrage, and home improvement, emphasizing that everyone—not just men and boys—needed nutritious food. The magazine published recipes for new dishes and articles on cultivating vegetables suited to the Faroese climate.
Instead of focusing on traditional roles like tending cows, working with wool, and making clothing, the magazine elevated housekeeping as a central task. Homes were to be neat and clean, with advice on how curtains and rugs could make living rooms cosy. However, the magazine not only rejected the traditional roles of rural women but also criticized the new working roles of women as "fishwives" and "fish girls," warning that they risked losing their "grace and modesty."
Súsanna Helena Patursson was a trailblazer not only in Faroese journalism and the fight for gender equality but also in literature. She wrote the first play performed in Faroese in 1889, and among her unpublished writings are two long stories about betrayed love and revenge. Her recipes and articles on home improvement were later compiled and published in 1907 and 1912, just a few years before her death.
Malan Marnersdóttir
