Birgit Irma Gunborg Friggebo (born 25 December 1941) is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

politician and member of the Liberal People's Party. Born in

Falköping Falköping is a locality and the seat of Falköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,350 inhabitants in 2010. History The town of Falköping was first spoken of in the Icelandic ''Rimbegla'' (around 1100 A.D.), and ...

, she married economics professor Bo Södersten in 1997. Friggebo was Minister for Planning in the Ministry of Housing between 1976 and 1978 and Minister for Housing between 1978 and 1982. Between 1991 and 1994 she was Minister for Culture (including immigration issues). She was a member of the Swedish

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

between 1979 and 1982 and yet again between 1985 and 1997. From 1998 to 2004, she was the governor for the County of Jönköping.

Legacy

As Minister for Housing, she removed the need for a planning approval to build small sheds under 15 square meters of area. Such sheds are now popularly known as "

friggebod In Sweden, a friggebod is a small house which can be built without any planning permission on a land lot with a single-family or a duplex house. It is named after Birgit Friggebo, who was the Minister for Housing in 1979 when the new type of b ...

", a pun on her surname, ''bod'' meaning ''shed''. As Minister for Culture and Immigration, she appeared in a televised debate held in

Rinkeby Rinkeby () is a stadsdel, district in the Rinkeby-Kista borough, Stockholm, Sweden. Rinkeby had 19,349 inhabitants in 2016. The neighbourhood was part of the Million Programme. The Stockholm metro station Rinkeby metro station, Rinkeby was also o ...

on the serial sniper

John Ausonius John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius (born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg, 12 July 1953), known in the media as Lasermannen ("the Laser Man"), is a Swedish far-right extremist convicted of murder and bank robberies. Between August 1991 to January 1992 ...

's reign of terror. During the debate she stood up and tried to get the crowd consisting mostly of non-white immigrants to sing "

We Shall Overcome "We Shall Overcome" is a gospel song which became a protest song and a key anthem of the American civil rights movement. The song is most commonly attributed as being lyrically descended from "I'll Overcome Some Day", a hymn by Charles Albert Ti ...

". The incident was widely regarded as an embarrassment and a public relations debacle and showed the alienation felt by many immigrants vis-à-vis the centre-right coalition government.Sveriges Utbildningsradio: ''Missarna vi aldrig glömmer''

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friggebo, Birgit 1941 births Living people People from Falköping Municipality Swedish Ministers for Housing Swedish Ministers for Culture Members of the Riksdag from the Liberals (Sweden) Women government ministers of Sweden County governors of Sweden 21st-century Swedish women politicians Members of the Riksdag 1979–1982 Members of the Riksdag 1985–1988 Women members of the Riksdag Women county governors of Sweden 20th-century Swedish women politicians Swedish Ministers for Gender Equality