Gro Harlem Brundtland

A politician of unusual popularity, Gro Harlem Brundtland was Norway's first woman prime minister. Born in Oslo, the daughter of a doctor who later became a cabinet minister, Gro Harlem studied medicine in Oslo and qualified as a physician. In 1960 she married Arne Olav Brundtland, a leader of the opposition Conservative Party; the couple have four children. She finished her medical studies at Oslo University in 1963 before getting a Master of Public Health degree at Harvard University in the US. Her particular interest in public health led her to take several appointments in the public medical service in Oslo in the 1960s. Becoming interested in politics from this experience, she joined the Labour Party in 1969. In 1974 she was appointed minister of the environment, a post she held until 1979, when she left the government to concentrate on party organization. In 1981, after the resignation of Prime Minister Nordli, Gro Harlem Brundtland became the first woman prime minister of Norway, leading a minority Labour government for nine months. At 41 she was also the youngest ever to be appointed prime minister in Norway since the office was created in 1814. Brundtland was out of power during the early 1980s but became a member of the UN Commission on Disarmament and Security. She later chaired the World Commission on the Environment and Development, which produced the report, 'Our Common Future'. Her international work considerably raised the profile of Norway in world affairs and in 1988 she was awarded the Third World Foundation Prize for leadership on environment issues. Brundtland became prime minister again in 1986, appointing a cabinet consisting of eight women and nine men, making it the most heavily female-dominated cabinet in history. She lost the 1989 election, but when the victorious centre-right coalition failed in 1990 she returned to power, winning another election in 1993. She remained prime minister until her resignation in 1996. After her resignation as prime-minister she was mentioned as a candidate for the post of secretary general of NATO. However, she instead returned to the field of medicine when in 1998 she was elected for a five-year term as Director General of the World Health Organization.