Helen Oddveig Bjørnøy (born 18 February 1954 in

Ålesund Ålesund () sometimes spelled Aalesund in English, is a municipality in Møre og Romsdal County, Norway. It is part of the traditional district of Sunnmøre and the centre of the Ålesund Region. The town of Ålesund is the administrative ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

) 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 ...

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

minister and politician ( Socialist Left Party), currently County Governor of

Buskerud Buskerud () is a former county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Oppland, Sogn og Fjordane, Hordaland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardan ...

. From October 2005 to October 2007, she was Minister of the Environment in the Red-Green Coalition

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

headed by

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 ...

. On 18 October 2007 she was relieved from her duties in the government and replaced by

Erik Solheim Erik Solheim (born 18 January 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician. He served in the Norwegian government from 2005 to 2012 as Minister of International Development and Minister of the Environment, and as Under-Secretary-General of ...

(Socialist Left Party).

Biography

Bjørnøy graduated from

MF Norwegian School of Theology MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society ( no, MF vitenskapelig høyskole for teologi, religion og samfunn), formerly the Free Faculty of Theology ( no, Det teologiske menighetsfakultet) and MF Norwegian School of Theology, is an accr ...

in 1980 and was ordained a minister in the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway ( nb, Den norske kirke, nn, Den norske kyrkja, se, Norgga girku, sma, Nöörjen gærhkoe) is an evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. The church b ...

the same year. She held a teaching position as assistant professor in the field of

Ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

at Lovisenberg Deaconal University College from 1991 to 1999. Her last position before entering into government was Secretary General for the Church City Mission, ''

Kirkens Bymisjon Church City Mission (Norwegian: ''Kirkens Bymisjon'') is a diaconal foundation in Norway doing social work within alcohol care, elderly care, child welfare, mental health care and among prostitutes - as well as religious activities with pastoral ca ...

'' (1999–2005). Bjørnøy suffered an illness in 2016, taking an indefinite leave as Buskerud's County Governor. In 2020, she was one of those who called for further review of a new biolaw being proposed in Norway. She has advocated for the recognition of children's rights and the protection of the female body. Bjørnøy is married to Tortein Lalim.

References

Norwegian government releaseThe Church City Mission
1954 births Living people MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society alumni Ministers of Climate and the Environment of Norway Socialist Left Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Ålesund Norwegian priest-politicians Women government ministers of Norway 20th-century Norwegian Lutheran clergy 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians Women Lutheran clergy {{Norway-politician-1950s-stub