Christina Mathilda Staël von Holstein (1876–1953) was a Swedish lawyer. She was the second woman to become a lawyer in Sweden, the first being Eva Andén. She was known as a feminist throughout her lifetime.[1][2]
Biography
She was born in Kristianstad as the daughter of the nobleman and Colonel Axel Staël von Holstein and Cecilia Nordenfeldt and grew up in Värmland.[3] She was orphaned early and left with responsibility for her eleven siblings, and never married.
One of the biggest problems for women to obtain government office during this time was that the law defined the applicant for such jobs as a "Swedish man". The Ministry of Justice formed a committee in 1919 to investigate and remove this barrier from the law through a change of constitution. The chairman of the committee was Emilia Broomé, the first woman to chair a government committee. Staël von Holstein was a committee member. The committee's work resulted in the Competence Law of 1923.
Staël von Holstein was awarded the Illis quorum by the King of Sweden in 1946.[1]