Ebba Lodden, née Sjuve (9 November 1913 – 14 January 1997) was a Norwegian civil servant and politician for the Labour Party. She was the first female County Governor in Norway.

Early life and career

She was born in

Tønsberg Tønsberg , historically Tunsberg, is a city and municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, eastern Norway, located around south-southwest of Oslo on the western coast of the Oslofjord near its mouth onto the Skagerrak. The administrative ce ...

as a daughter of tailor Edvard Anton Sjuve and Asta Johanne Hansen (1888–1974). In 1936 she married Ingolf Lodden (1905–1962) and took his surname. In her early career she worked as a housemaid (for politician Claudia Olsen), factory worker, office clerk for the

Norwegian Seafarers' Union The Norwegian Seafarers' Union, NSU, ( no, Norsk Sjømannsforbund, NSF) is a trade union representing sailors in Norway. The union was established 25 September 1910, as the Norwegian Sailors' and Firemen's Union (Norsk Matros- og Fyrbøter-Union ...

before running a manufacturing business from 1942 to 1957. She was involved in the

Norwegian resistance movement The Norwegian resistance (Norwegian: ''Motstandsbevegelsen'') to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms: *Asserting the legitimacy of the exiled government, ...

, and had joined the Workers' Youth League at the age of sixteen.

Later career

In 1945 she stood for election in the

Market towns of Vestfold county The Market towns of Vestfold county ( no, Kjøpstedene i Vestfold fylke) was an electoral district for parliamentary elections in Norway. It comprised the market towns ( no, kjøpsteder) of Holmestrand, Horten, Tønsberg, Sandefjord and Larvik in ...

. In the same year her husband was hired in the

Arendal Arendal () is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Agder counties of Norway, county in southeastern Norway. Arendal belongs to the Districts of Norway, region of Southern Norway, Sørlandet. The administrative centre of the munici ...

newspaper '' Tiden'' and the family moved there. Lodden was a member of Arendal city council from 1948 to 1963, serving as deputy mayor from 1954 to 1960. She served as a deputy representative to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

from

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, en, "East Agder") was a county (''fylke'') in Norway until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . The ...

during the terms 1950–1953, 1958–1961 and 1961–1965. She was a national board member of the Labour Party for sixteen years. From 1972 to 1974 she was a member of Tønsberg city council. She was a member of ''Statens Velferdsråd for handelsflåten'' from 1953 to 1971, and from 1960 to 1977 she was the leader of the

Norwegian Consumer Council The Consumer Council of Norway (Norwegian: ''Forbrukerrådet'') is a Norwegian government agency and consumer protection organisation established in 1953. It works to increase consumer influence in society, to contribute to consumer-friendly develo ...

. She also had a parallel civil servant career, in Tønsberg municipality from 1963. From 1967 to 1974 she was the municipal director of social affairs. Her career as a public servant toned out with the post of County Governor of Aust-Agder, which she held from 1974 to 1983. She was the first female County Governor in Norway. Lodden was a board member of

Vestfold Hospital Vestfold Hospital Trust ( no, Sykehuset i Vestfold ''HF'') is a public health trust which serves Vestfold, Norway. Its main facility is Tønsberg Hospital, which supplements divisions in Larvik and Stavern. As of 2019, the hospital had 5,400 emplo ...

from 1968 to 1974, and chaired

Rikshospitalet Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet is one of the four main campuses of Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, Norway. It was an independent hospital, ''Rigshospitalet'', later spelled ''Rikshospitalet'' ("The National Hospital"), from 1826 to 2009 ...

from 1978 to 1982. She also chaired the board of ''Statens edruskapsdirektorat'', a predecessor of the Norwegian Directorate of Health, from 1980 to 1981. She was later deputy chair from 1982 to 1988, and a board member from 1989 to 1990. In 1977 she was decorated as a Commander of the

Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

. She died in January 1997 in Tønsberg.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lodden, Ebba 1913 births 1997 deaths Politicians from Tønsberg People from Arendal Deputy members of the Storting Labour Party (Norway) politicians Vestfold politicians Aust-Agder politicians Women members of the Storting Norwegian civil servants Norwegian women civil servants Directors of government agencies of Norway County governors of Norway 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians