Helga Aleksandra Karlsen (20 November 1882 – 15 October 1936) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

politician for the Labour Party, and the party's first female Member of

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 ...

. Coming from humble origins, she gradually made her way up through the organisation of the

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

. She served two non-consecutive periods in parliament (1927–30 and 1933–36), but died shortly before she could be elected for a third term. She has been called the Labour Party's foremost female politician in the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the World War I, First World War to the beginning of the World War II, Second World War. The in ...

Early life and career

Karlsen was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

(at the time called Kristiania), to rail-road engineer Karl Arnesen (1860 – 1923) and Hilda Alette Torgersdatter (b. 1855). It seems as though her mother died while Helga was still young, and the girl had to go into foster care; in early records she appears under the name of Helga Pettersen. She started working at the age of fourteen, first as a maid, later in a café and in a candy factory. She then worked at a trading company for three years before entering into politics. Karlsen had been involved in the labour movement since she first joined their theatre group in 1899. In the early 1920s, she was elected to the city council for the Labour Party. Here, among other things, she argued against municipal funding for the building of the so-called ''Markus Church'' on

Grünerløkka Grünerløkka is a borough of the city of Oslo, Norway. Grünerløkka became part of the city of Oslo (then Christiania) in 1858. Grünerløkka was traditionally a working class district; however, since the late 20th century the area has increasi ...

, on the basis of the acute shortage of housing in the city. Karlsen was also deeply involved in the party's organisation of children's groups.

Member of Parliament

In 1927 she was elected to

as the first female representative of the

Norwegian Labour Party The Labour Party ( nb, Arbeiderpartiet; nn, Arbeidarpartiet; A/Ap; se, Bargiidbellodat), formerly The Norwegian Labour Party ( no, Det norske Arbeiderparti, DNA), is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It is positioned on the centr ...

. It was during this period that she was fined the sum of

NOK Nok is a village in Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site. Archaeology The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, of which these ...

500, for donating money to striking construction workers. After a poor election for the party in 1930, she lost her position, but regained it in 1333. In the meanwhile she was, as the first woman ever, elected chairman of ''Oslo Arbeidersamfunn'' (Oslo Workers' Society) in 1932. In 1935 she participated at the International Labour Conference in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Here she delivered a well-received speech in favour of the 40-hour week. In 1936, while running for a third term in Parliament, Karlsen fell ill. She was rarely unwell, but the busy schedule of the campaign had taken a great toll on her. She died only four days before the election. Karlsen was buried from the

People's House People's Houses (russian: Народный дом) were originally leisure and cultural centres built with the intention of making art and cultural appreciation available to the working classes. The first establishment of this type appeared in T ...

s in Oslo, where the eulogy was delivered by

Martin Tranmæl Martin Olsen Tranmæl (27 June 1879 – 11 July 1967) was a Norwegian socialist leader from The Norwegian Labour Party. Biography Martin Tranmæl grew up on a middle-sized farm in Melhus, in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway. He started working a ...

. She was survived by her husband, Fredrik Emanuel Karlsen (1873 – 1942), whom she had met through the labour movement.

Early life and career

Member of Parliament

References

Further reading