Draft:Astrid Paludan-Müller

Astrid Paludan-Müller (born August 18 1873 in Copenhagen, dead March 30,1930 ) was chairman of Women's council of Denmark from 1909 until 1913. She is described as a less distinctive chairman however during her chairmanship the number of member organizations and -institutions under Women's council of Denmark increased significantly and she thereby contributed to strengthening the impact of the council after a slow beginning. When she became chairman in 1909, the council consisted of 18 associations, in 1911 there were 24 associations, and in 1913 35 associations with a total of 39.000 members. During Paludan-Müller's precidency, the Women's council of Denmark tentatively overcame their reservations concerning among others the christian women's associations and the number of standing committees in the council increased.

International Council of Women's Conference 1904
Astrid Paludan-Müller was in 1904 a delegated member of the International Council of Women’s Conference in Berlin, which was followed up with the formation ofInternational Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA). The establishment of the IWSA marked a disruption in the movement for women's rights regarding the priority universal suffrage on the feministic agenda and the organization was an attempt to radicalize the movement. Astrid Paludan-Müller welcomed the new association and wrote about the events in Berlin as a correspondant dispatched by the accompanying sheet Kvindernes Blad, which was established by Danish writer Emma Gad. In 1912, Astrid Paludan-Müller stepped aside as chairman of Women's council of Denmark due to personal reasons but continued as a committee member until 1926.

Political life
Contrary to many Danish advocates for women's rights, Astrid Paludan-Müller viewed women's political associations as a natural consequence of the attainment of women's suffrage. Therefore she did not support the idea of a specific Women's party. On the contrary, she supported cooeration with men, and believed that a seperatist party was a last resort, "when these failed us, and all straits would be closed to us". Paludan-Müller was a member of the party Venstre, but was disputed by her own feeling of belonging to a small andyielding group of women of "the old guard that without new impulses and active support would either die out "or become Gramophones that would only reel off the same 4-5 melodies, which noone wants to listen to", which she wrote in 1919.

Astrid Paludan-Müller ran for city council in 1909, where women for the first time had the right to elect municipal candidates. However, she was not elected, probably because of her low positioning on the centre-right list.In 1910 she was briefly an alternate for the city council. From 1908 until 12 Astrid Paludan-Müller was a member of the governing body and the executive committee in Københavns Venstreforening, and in 1916 she became a member of the executive committee of the party Venstre's constituency association of Copenhagen and Frederiksberg at the same time as Gerda Welding. Furthermore she was a representative of the party's constituency associations on Sjælland and Bornholm until 1924. Astrid was from 1919 until 1920 contributing editor of the party organ of Venstre.

Author and writer
Astrid Paludan-Müller displayed her talent for writing and was furthermore an amateur historian. She is related to one of the original historians of the 1800s Casper Paludan-Müller, and the writer and poet Frederik Paludan-Müller. Her principal historical work from 1923 was "Generalmajor Classen 1725-1792", which dealt with the founder of The Classen Fideicommiss J.F. Classen.

Women on the labour market
She was also committed to women's opportunities on the job market. As member no. 248 in the Womens association of trade and clerical workers, "Hegnet", she was the first of paid workers that registered in the association after its foundation in 1899 by Louise Hansen and Emma Gad. Astrid Paludan-Müller was elected for the board of representatives. In cooperation with Louise Neergaard, she founded the employment agency of the association, and for a couple of years she was responsible for organizing the evening classes of the association. Between 1919 and 1926, she was a member of the administrative group for the legate from the business college for women and the "Testmanske Legat".

Family life
Astrid Paludan-Müller was the second oldest child in a i family of brothers and sisters. On her father's side, there was a strong academical tradition and counted several unmarried women, who had distinguished themselves as teachers and principals of private schools. Astrid was during her youth a private teacher on an Corselitze estate on Falster, which was owned by Classen Fideicommiss, a danish charitable foundation. Since then, she came into the land agent's office of the estate, where she worked with administration. She attended the business college for women, led by Caroline Testman, and was permanently employed in the Classen Fideicommiss in Copenhagen and was bookkeeper from 1912 until her death in 1930.

She contributed to assessing applications for financial aid and adjudgement of significant amounts, among others for women of limited means and children in need and philanthropic institutions for women. For many years, she lived in one of the properties of the fideicommiss in Classensgade and Amaliegade, and as the conscientious daughter, she was, she shared her home with her mother and sister Gudrun through many years. For many years, the two single and childless sisters housed their niece Sigrid Ammitzbøll, who became Denmarks first female clerk to the city council.