Grethe Fenger Møller (born 6 November 1941) is a Danish Conservative People's Party politician and lawyer who was elected to the

Folketing The Folketing ( da, Folketinget, ; ), also known as the Parliament of Denmark or the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national legislature (parliament) of the Kingdom of Denmark—Denmark proper together with the Faroe Islands ...

as a representative of the constituency from 1977 to 1994 and was the

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

in the first government of

Poul Schlüter Poul Holmskov Schlüter (; 3 April 1929 – 27 May 2021) was a Danish politician who served as Prime Minister of Denmark from 1982 to 1993. He was the first member of the Conservative People's Party to become Prime Minister, as well as the first ...

between 1982 and 1986. She was president of the

Danish Women's Society The Danish Women's Society or DWS ( da, Dansk Kvindesamfund) is Denmark's oldest women's rights organization. It was founded in 1871 by activist Matilde Bajer and her husband Fredrik Bajer; Fredrik was a Member of Parliament and the 1908 Nobel Peac ...

from 1974 to 1981 after previously being on its executive committee and primary board. Møller left politics after being sentenced to probation for 60 days for providing false testimony in court about the

Tamil Case The Tamil Case (Danish: Tamilsagen) was a case about family reunification in Denmark of Tamil refugees from the Sri Lankan Civil War. The affair led to the resignation of the government led by Poul Schlüter in 1993. The scandal was first uncove ...

and worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Social Affairs' international office until she retired in 2008.

Early life

Møller was born in

Frederiksberg Frederiksberg () is a part of the Capital Region of Denmark. It is formally an independent municipality, Frederiksberg Municipality, separate from Copenhagen Municipality, but both are a part of the City of Copenhagen. It occupies an area of ...

, Denmark on 6 November 1941. She is the daughter of the department manager Torben Fenger Møller and his wife Ebba Møller. Møller was brought up in Frederiksberg; her parents were divorced when she was two years old and she lived with her mother and grandfather, who was the owner of a women's clothing store and was active politically. Her role model was the lawyer and politician

Hanne Budtz Olga Johanne Budtz (21 September 1915 – 5 March 2004) was a Danish Conservative People's Party politician and lawyer who served as an elected member of the Folketing from 1953 to 1973. She worked as an assistant solicitor at Nykøbing Falster b ...

. In 1961, she attended and then relocated to the United States and enrolled at

Hamline University Hamline University is a private liberal arts college in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1854, Hamline is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, service, and social justice. The university is named after Bishop Leonidas Lent Hamline o ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

for a year. Møller studied law at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

from 1962 to 1969 and earned a

Candidate of Law Candidate of Law (Latin: ''candidatus/candidata juris/iuris'') is both a graduate law degree awarded to law students in the Nordic region as well as an academic status designation for advanced Law School students in German-speaking countries. N ...

degree. During her studies, she joined the newly founded, anti-housewife, pro-abortion youth group of the

(DWS) and was its deputy chair between 1965 and 1967.

Career

Her mother gave her the inspiration to get involved in women's politics and her grandfather for party politics. In 1967, Møller gained election to the DWS' executive committee and primary board, and partook in activities for the Council for International Development Cooperation from that year until 1976. Two years later, she was employed as a secretary at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. Møller became a member of The Conservative People's Party in 1970, and was made a member of the executive committee of the Committee for Accession to the Community in 1971. She became the DWS' national president in 1974 and that same year was elected to Frederiksberg Municipal Council. In 1975, Møller became part of the Conservative People's Party's main board, and was seconded by the Ministry of Social Affairs to the Office of the Prime Minister as head of the Secretariat for the Year of Women in the same year. At the DWS, she had a gender equality policy of allowing men to have equal paternity leave and positive action for working women in the labour market and the education sector with the goal of better women's place in the labour industry. Membership of the DWS continued to decrease under Møller's presidency because of a large division between its home-working and away-working members and the Red Shirt movement's popularity among younger females. She continued to be the DWS president until 1981. Møller worked at the Secretariat of the Gender Equality Council between 1976 and 1979. From 1976 to 1977, she was a deputy member of the board of the

Danish International Development Agency Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) is the brand used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark when it provides humanitarian aid and development assistance to other countries, with focus on developing countries. There is no dist ...

Information Committee and was a member of the Sparekassen SDS 'Board of Representatives until 1982 and was on the SDS' regional board for the Copenhagen-

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

region between 1981 and 1982. At the

1977 Danish general election General elections were held in Denmark on 15 February 1977. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p524 The Social Democratic Party remained the largest in the Folketing, with 65 of the 179 seats. Voter t ...

held on 15 February of that year, Møller was elected to the

for the first time as a representative of the constituency for The Conservative People's Party. She worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs between 1979 and 1982, was chair of the State Wages Council in 1982, and served as a councillor on Frederiksberg Municipal Council from 1981 to 1982. When

established his first government in 1982, he appointed Møller as the

on 10 September 1982, which came as a surprise to many. This made her the first women to be made Minister of Labor in Denmark. While Minister of Labour, Møller attempted to locate savings and contribute to Denmark's recovery. She brought in cost-of-living regulation and savings on supplementary unemployment benefits. This caused a series of Danish-wide demonstrations and strikes that transgressed a collective agreement, beginning in October 1982 and ending in February 1983. Møller received criticism from several factions and she was sacked on 12 March 1986. She was appointed the parliamentary group's political spokesperson for a year after that. Møller served as chair of the

Ligestillingsrådet Ligestillingsrådet or the Danish Equal Opportunities Council was attached to the Danish Ministry of State (prime-minister's office) from 1975 to 2000. It coordinated legislation and claims in connection with the government's equal opportunities ...

from 1987 to 1993. She was a member of the

NATO Parliamentary Assembly Founded in 1955, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) serves as the consultative interparliamentary organisation for the North Atlantic Alliance. Its current President is Gerald E. Connolly from the United States, elected in 2019. Its curre ...

starting in 1986. From 1987 to 1988, Møller was chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee and of the Parliamentary Legal Committee between 1988 and 1991. She got involved in the investigation of the

in 1988 as chair of the . This led to Møller being unanimously convinced of providing false testimony in court for her role during a tax case in the Tamil Case in the Investigative Court and she received a sentence of probation for 60 days in 1994. She consequently lost her seat in the Folketing on 20 September 1994 and her other political positions. Møller then worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Social Affairs' international office until she retired in 2008.

Personal life

She is a member of the

Church of Denmark The Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Denmark or National Church, sometimes called the Church of Denmark ( da, Folkekirken, literally: "The People's Church" or unofficially da, Den danske folkekirke, literally: "The Danish People's Church"; kl, ...

and attends church.

References