Britt ''Ann-Sofie'' Hermansson (born 2 October 1964) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

of the

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. She was chairman (

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

) of the Gothenburg Municipality executive board from 18 January 2016 to 22 november 2018.

Career

Early career

Born on the island of

Tjörn Tjörn () is the sixth largest island in Sweden, located on the Swedish West coast in the province of Bohuslän. The area of the island is , and the area of the municipality is . The population, as of 2017, was 15,774 people. Geography Tjörn i ...

in 1964, Hermansson began working at

Volvo Cars Volvo Cars ( sv, Volvo personvagnar, styled VOLVO in the company's logo) is a Swedish multinational manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Torslanda, Gothenburg. The company manufactures SUVs, station wagons, and sedans. The company ...

at the age of 19, working in parts transport. There, she joined the metalworkers’ union and the Social Democrats’ youth wing. She would go on to serve as official at Swedish Trade Union Confederation from 1996 to 2002 before serving as

political secretary Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

to the Gothenburg Municipality executive board from 2003 to 2008 and as ombudsman at the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

to the

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from 2012 to 2016.

Mayor of Göteborg

In 2016, she was elected mayor of Gothenburg Municipality. As mayor, she oversaw the launch of the Equal Gothenburg campaign, stating that "For many years we have had projects to fix inequality. We’d take some money, we’d have a project in the suburbs, and then the money ends and the project stops. The idea of Equal Gothenburg is no more small projects: we should think about equality all the time when we plan." In March 2018 the Gothenburg City Council blocked a planned showing and panel discussion of the film ''Burka Songs''. In the aftermath of the debate, Hermansson wrote a series of blog posts where she accused two of the scheduled panel members of being undemocratic extremists who defended terrorists. She was then sued for libel over the blog posts. In February 2020, she was acquitted of the charges, with the court ruling that her posts were justifiable under freedom of speech.

Post-politics

After failing to be re-elected, she left politics, using her heavy-goods-vehicle driving licence to work as a garbage collector for Renova.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Hermansson, Ann-Sofie 1964 births Living people Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Municipal commissioners of Sweden 21st-century Swedish women politicians People from Tjörn Municipality