Marit Nybakk (born 14 February 1947, in

Nord-Odal Nord-Odal is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Odalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sand. Other villages in the municipality include Knapper and Mo. The ...

) is 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, a former First Vice-President of the Norwegian Parliament, the

Storting 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 ...

, and a former President of the

Nordic Council The Nordic Council is the official body for formal inter-parliamentary Nordic cooperation among the Nordic countries. Formed in 1952, it has 87 representatives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden as well as from the autonomou ...

. From 2016 to 2018 she was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

of the

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights ( no, italic=no, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization and works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights thr ...

, the preeminent women's and girls' rights organisation in Norway. A pragmatic social democrat and a proponent of the

Third Way The Third Way is a centrist political position that attempts to reconcile right-wing and left-wing politics by advocating a varying synthesis of centre-right economic policies with centre-left social policies. The Third Way was born from a ...

, she became a Member of Parliament in 1986 as the substitute for

Gro Harlem Brundtland Gro Brundtland (; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician (Arbeiderpartiet), who served three terms as the 29th prime minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as the director-general of the World Health Organizati ...

when the latter became Prime Minister. In 2009 she became the Storting's Third Vice President, before becoming First Vice President in 2013. She did not stand for reelection in 2017; at that point she was both Norway's longest-serving incumbent member of parliament and the longest-serving woman of all times. Nybakk served as President of the

for the term 2013. Nybakk has been one of the Labour Party's principal politicians in

foreign Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

and

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

affairs since the 1990s and has been her party's spokesperson on defence. She was Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defence between 2001 and 2005 and Vice Chairman of the

Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs ( no, Utenrikskomiteen) is a defunct committee of the Norwegian Parliament responsible for matters related to foreign policy, development assistance, international agreements, Svalbard and the Norwegian polar ...

between 2005 and 2009. She is a former leader of the

Socialist Group The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The g ...

in 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 ...

Education

Nybakk studied English, French and political science in Oslo, Paris and Cambridge, and graduated with the

cand.mag. Candidatus magisterii (male), or candidata magisterii (female), abbreviated as cand.mag., is an academic degree currently awarded in Denmark. The degree is officially translated into English as Master of Arts and currently requires 5 years of stud ...

degree at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1972. She also studied theatre and drama in

Stratford-upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon (), commonly known as just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-we ...

in 1974. As a student, she was a member of the university board of the University of Oslo, as the first woman to serve in that body. She was President of the Norwegian Students' and Academics' International Assistance Fund 1977–1981.

Political career

Member of Parliament

Nybakk was elected as a deputy member of the Parliament of Norway, the

, for the Oslo constituency in 1985. As the deputy of

, she became a substitute member of parliament in 1986 when Brundtland became Prime Minister. She became a full representative in 1987, following the death of Foreign Minister

Knut Frydenlund Knut Frydenlund (31 March 1927 – 26 February 1987) was a Norwegian diplomat and politician for the Labour Party who served as foreign minister from 1973–1981 and again from 1986–1987. Frydenlund was born in Drammen and began his diplo ...

. Nybakk was reelected as a member of parliament for the Oslo constituency in 1989,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. She has for several years been the Labour Party's second candidate from the Oslo constituency, second only to party leader and Prime Minister (now

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

secretary-general)

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

. Since the 1990s, Nybakk has focused on foreign and defence policy, and has been one of the Labour Party's principal politicians covering this field. She was Chairman of the Standing Committee on Defence between 2001 and 2005 and Vice Chairman of the

between 2005 and 2009. She is a member of the

Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence ( no, Utenriks- og forsvarskomiteen) is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway. It is responsible for policies relating foreign affairs, military, development cooperation, Svalbard or ...

and the

European Committee European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

, and Chairman of the

Preparatory Credentials Committee The Preparatory Credentials Committee ( no, Stortingets fullmaktskomité) is a special committee of the Parliament of Norway that is responsible for approving the election of parliament. The 16 members of the committee are appointed to surveillance ...

during the term 2013–2017. Nybakk has also been the Labour Party's spokesperson on defence. Nybakk was Third Vice President of the Storting during the term 2009–2013, and was elected First Vice President in 2013. In 2013 she became both the longest-serving incumbent member of the Norwegian parliament and the longest-serving woman of all times. Nybakk has been a delegate to the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

since 2004.

NATO Parliamentary Assembly

She was a delegate to the

from 2005 to 2013, and became leader of the

in 2009.

President of the Nordic Council

In 2012, Nybakk was elected as the President of the

for the term 2013. As President, she promoted Nordic defence cooperation and increased Nordic cooperation on rescue and emergency services.

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions

Nybakk was leader of the Oslo chapter of the

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ( no, Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions ...

(''LO i Oslo'') from 1992 to 1997.

Norwegian Association for Women's Rights

In May 2016 Nybakk was elected president of the

, the main Norwegian advocacy group for women's and girls' rights, in succession to sociologist

Margunn Bjørnholt Margunn Bjørnholt (born 9 October 1958 in Bø, Telemark) is a Norwegian sociologist and economist. She is a research professor at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) and a professor of sociology at the Univers ...

. She was succeeded by Supreme Court Justice

Karin M. Bruzelius Karin Maria Bruzelius (born 19 February 1941) is a Swedish-born Norwegian supreme court justice and former president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights. In 1989, she became the first woman to be appointed Permanent Secretary of a gove ...

on 16 June 2018. She became a board member of the

Forum for Women and Development The Forum for Women and Development ( no, Forum for Kvinner og Utviklingsspørsmål), often known as FOKUS Kvinner, is a Norwegian non-governmental organization aimed at spreading information on women-centered development cooperation and to be a c ...

in November 2016.

Other offices

Nybakk was a member of the council of the

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) is a directorate under the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In matters regarding Norway's International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI), Norad reports to the Norwegian Ministry ...

1978–1988, President of the Advisory Committee for Development Cooperation of the

Nordic Council of Ministers The Nordic Council of Ministers is an intergovernmental forum established after the Helsinki Treaty. The purpose of the Nordic Council of Ministers is to complement the Nordic Council and promote Nordic cooperation. Structure The governme ...

1984–1989 and President of the Council on Foreign Aid, a public advisory body appointed by the

Ministry of Development Cooperation The Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation ( nl, Minister voor Buitenlandse Handel en Ontwikkelingssamenwerking) is a Minister without Portfolio in the Netherlands. The officeholder, who is a member of the Cabinet and the Counci ...

, from 1987 to 1988. She is a member of the advisory board of the Oslo Center, founded by former Prime Minister

Kjell Magne Bondevik Kjell Magne Bondevik (; born 3 September 1947) is a Norway, Norwegian Lutheranism, Lutheran Religious minister, minister and Politics of Norway, politician. As leader of the Christian Democratic Party (Norway), Christian Democratic Party, he serv ...

, and a member of the council of

SOS Children's Villages SOS Children's Villages is an independent, non-governmental, nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Innsbruck, Austria. The organization provides humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in need and protect ...

in Norway.

Political positions

Nybakk is considered a

pragmatic social democrat; she is widely described as a member of the right wing of the Labour Party.

Foreign and defence policy

Nybakk supports Norwegian membership in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Like the Labour Party itself and most Norwegian politicians, she supports Norway's

membership. She supported the

war in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

, and argued that it liberated women in the country.

Women's rights

Nybakk has also advocated women's

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

, especially in states such as Iran and other areas of the Middle East. She was vice chair of the committee for human rights in Iran 1995–1997. In 2015, Nybakk and Liberal Party leader

Trine Skei Grande Trine Skei Grande (born 2 October 1969) is a Norwegian politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Norway from 2010 to 2020. She also served as Minister of Education from January to March 2020,; and as Minister of Culture and Gend ...

boycotted a parliamentary delegation visiting Iran due to the requirement that female members would have to wear a

chador A chādor ( Persian, ur, چادر, lit=tent), also variously spelled in English as chadah, chad(d)ar, chader, chud(d)ah, chadur, and naturalized as , is an outer garment or open cloak worn by many women in the Persian-influenced countries of I ...

, which they argued was discriminatory to women.

Publications

* Marit Nybakk and Alexander Kvedalen (eds.): ''Arbeiderbevegelsens århundre: 100 år i kamp og framgang: en billedkavalkade over viktige hendelser fra fagbevegelsens historie i Oslo'', LO i Oslo, 1999

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nybakk, Marit Norwegian women's rights activists 1947 births Living people Members of the Storting Women members of the Storting Vice Presidents of the Storting Labour Party (Norway) politicians People from Nord-Odal Politicians from Oslo University of Oslo alumni 20th-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 21st-century Norwegian women politicians Norwegian Association for Women's Rights people