She edited the underground resistance and feminist paper Kvinnefronten (The Women's front) during the German occupation.
[3] After the liberation of Norway at the end of World War II, she co-founded the journal Kvinnen og Tiden with Henriette Bie Lorentzen (1911–2001).
Kirsten Hansteen was also a Member of the Norwegian Parliamentary from Akershus as a representative of the Communist Party of Norway from 1945 to 1949.
Between 25 July and 5 November 1945, she served as Consultative Councillor of State in the Ministry of Social Affairs under Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen.
From 1959, Kirsten Hansteen worked at the University of Oslo Library as a librarian until she retired in 1970.