She was born in Kristiania as a son of clergyman Sven Rudolf Gunnerson (1844–1904) and Elise Margrethe Cammermeyer Welhaven (1850–1936).
[2] Her father had americanized his name from Gundersen to Gunnerson, while working as a theologian in the United States.
[3] As such Ragnhild Rød was a great-great-granddaughter of Jens Holmboe.
[5][6] Rød was a member of Halden city council from 1931 to 1940, and also after the Second World War.
She was a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from the Market towns of Østfold and Akershus counties during the term 1937–1945, and met briefly in the place of Robert Rafn.