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Alva Myrdal was born inUppsala and grew up as the first child of a modest family, the daughter of Albert Reimer and Lowa Jonsson. She had four siblings: Ruth (1904–1980), Folke (1906–1977), May (1909–1941) and Stig (1912–1977). Her father was a socialist and modern liberal. During her childhood the family moved around to different places. For example, they were residents of Eskilstuna, Älvsjö, and Stockholm. Her academic studies involved psychology and family sociology. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Stockholm in 1924.
In 1929, Myrdal and her husbandGunnar Myrdal had the opportunity to travel to the US as Rockefeller Fellows. Myrdal further deepened her studies in the fields of psychology, education and sociology whilst in the US. She had the special chance to broaden her knowledge of children's education. Myrdal's observation of the great social and economic disparities in the United States also led to an increased political commitment – "radical" was the term that she and her husband came to use to describe their shared political outlook They then moved to Geneva for further studies, where they started to so study the population decline that worried many Europeans during the interwar period.
Myrdal first came to public attention in the 1930s, and was one of the main driving forces in the creation of the Swedishwelfare state. She coauthored the bookCrisis in the Population Question (Swedish:Kris i befolkningsfrågan with Gunnar Myrdal in 1934). The basic premise ofCrisis 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. The book also detailed the importance of shared responsibility for children's education both between the parents as well as the community by trained child educators.
Myrdal was highly critical of developments in the operation of preschools for children in Sweden. Consequently, she published the bookUrban Children (1935), where she presented her ideas for a newly reformed Swedish preschool system. She argued that contemporary child care was flawed. The system waspolarized between two extremes – measures of 'poor relief' for the less well-off contrasted with those measures which prepared children from wealthier families for private schools. She stressed that there were material obstacles in the way of being able to access a good education. Therefore, social and economic reforms were needed. Myrdal wanted to combine and integrate the two extremes.
A year later, she was able to put her theory into practice, as she became director of the National Educational Seminar, which she cofounded in 1936. She personally worked there as a teacher andpedagogue by training preschool teachers. Myrdal emphasized the lack of recent educational research in regards to preschool teacher training. Her teaching tried to integrate the new discoveries in child psychology in education. Social studies were also emphasized, as was women's personal development.
With architectSven Markelius, Myrdal designed Stockholm's cooperativeCollective House in 1937, with an eye towards developing more domestic liberty for women. She was a member of theCommittee for Increased Women's Representation, founded in 1937 to increase women's political representation.[2]
In 1938, Alva and Gunnar Myrdal moved to the United States. While in the US, Myrdal published the bookNation and Family (1941) concerning the Swedish family unit and population policy. During World War II, she also periodically lived in Sweden.
A long-time prominent member of theSwedish 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 ofUNESCO'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,Yangon, Myanmar andColombo, Sri Lanka.[3]
From 1951 she had collaborated with British-based sociologistViola Klein and in 1958 they co-wrote the bookWomen's Two Roles: Home and Work, supported by the International Federation of University Women "to make an international survey of the needs for social reforms if women are to be put into a position to reconcile family and professional life".[4]
In 1962, Myrdal was elected to theRiksdag, and in 1962 she was sent as the Swedish delegate to theUN disarmament conference inGeneva, a role she kept until 1973. During the negotiations in Geneva, she played an extremely active role, emerging as the leader of the group ofnonaligned nations which endeavored to bring pressure to bear on the two superpowers (US and USSR, respectively) to show greater concern for concretedisarmament measures. Her experiences from the years spent in Geneva found an outlet in her book "The game of disarmament", in which she expresses her disappointment at the reluctance of the US and theUSSR to disarm.[5]
Myrdal participated in the creation of theStockholm International Peace Research Institute, becoming the first chairman of the governing board in 1966. In 1967 she was also named consultative Cabinet minister for disarmament, an office she held until 1973. Myrdal also wrote the acclaimed bookThe Game of Disarmament, originally published in 1976. A vocal supporter of disarmament, Myrdal received theNobel Peace Prize in 1982 together withAlfonso García Robles. In 1983 Myrdal effectively ended the heated controversy over the future ofAdolf Fredrik's Music School, "The AF-fight" (Swedish: AF-striden).[6]
Myrdal promoted reforms in child care and later became a government commission on women's work and chair of the Federation of Business and Professional Women.[7]
^Rönnbäck, Josefin, '"Utan kvinnor inget folkstyre": en historisk exposé över kampen för ökad kvinnorepresentation i Sverige', Tidskrift för genusvetenskap., 2010:3, s. 61-89, 2010
Etzemüller, Thomas (2014).Alva and Gunnar Myrdal: social engineering in the modern world. Translated by Skinner, Alex. Lanham: Lexington Books.ISBN9780739188743.SELIBR19433840.
Gröning, Lotta (2006).Kvinnans plats: min bok om Alva Myrdal (in Swedish). Stockholm: Bonnier.ISBN9100111341.SELIBR10136283.
Hederberg, Hans (2004).Sanningen, inget annat än sanningen: sex decennier ur Alva & Gunnar Myrdals liv (in Swedish). Stockholm: Atlantis.ISBN9173530026.SELIBR9471839.
Lindholm, Margareta (1992).Elin Wägner och Alva Myrdal: en dialog om kvinnorna och samhället (in Swedish) (1st ed.). Gothenburg: Anamma.ISBN9187894017.SELIBR8381198.
Lindskog, Lars G.; Myrdal, Alva (1981).Alva Myrdal: "Förnuftet måste segra!" (in Swedish). Stockholm: Sveriges radio.ISBN915221608X.SELIBR7409602.
Lindskog, Lars G.; Myrdal, Alva (1986).Alva Myrdal: "Förnuftet måste segra!" (in Swedish) (2nd ed.). Stockholm: Sveriges radio.ISBN9152216535.SELIBR7409624.
Mral, Brigitte (1994)."Den nya kvinnan": Alva Myrdal och medierna på 30-talet. Arbetarrörelsen och språket, 99-1326861-3; 1994:3 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Univ. Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen. Avd. för retorik.ISBN9188300331.SELIBR7770477.
Myrdal, Alva; Buttimer, Anne (1984).Alva Myrdal: former Swedish Cabinet minister, ambassador, and member of Parliament. Transcript series / Dialogue Project, 99-0834765-9; C 3. Lund: Dialogue project.SELIBR2179900.
Nilsson, Jan Olof (1994).Alva Myrdal: en virvel i den moderna strömmen. Kulturhistoriskt/Kulturvetenskapligt bibliotek (in Swedish). Stockholm: B. Östlings bokförl. Symposion.ISBN9171392165.SELIBR7607522.
Terling, Barbro (1987).Alva Myrdal: kommenterad bibliografi : 1932–1961 [Alva Myrdal : an annotated bibliography : 1932–1961] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Alva och Gunnar Myrdals stift.ISBN9187396092.SELIBR7764484.
Vinterhed, Kerstin (2003).Kärlek i tjugonde seklet: en biografi över Alva och Gunnar Myrdal (in Swedish). Stockholm: Atlas.ISBN9173891061.SELIBR8888148.
Åkerman, Brita; Pehrsson, Kajsa (1997).Alva Myrdal: från storbarnkammare till fredspris (in Swedish). Stockholm: Cordia.ISBN9170851867.SELIBR7600087.
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