Lena Sommestad (born 3 April 1957 in Börje,

Uppsala Municipality Uppsala Municipality (''Uppsala kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Uppsala has a population of 211,411 (2016-06-30). Its seat is located in the university city of Uppsala. Uppsala Municipality was created throug ...

) 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 ...

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

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, a ...

and

economic historian Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and inst ...

. She was Minister for the Environment in the Ministry of Sustainable Development in the

Cabinet of Göran Persson Göran Persson served as Prime Minister of Sweden between 22 March 1996 and 6 October 2006. Persson took over after Ingvar Carlsson, who retired as party leader and Prime Minister. Following the 2006 general election, he and the Persson Cab ...

from 2002 to 2006. Sommestad studied social sciences at

Uppsala University Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in opera ...

and received a

PhD degree A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in 1992. From 1998 to 2002 she was the managing director of the Swedish Institute for Futures Studies (''Institutet för framtidsstudier''). She had not held a politically elected office before

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Göran Persson Hans Göran Persson (; born 20 January 1949) is a Swedish politician who served as Prime Minister of Sweden from 1996 to 2006 and leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party from 1996 to 2007. Persson was first elected to the Swedish Parlia ...

made her Minister for the Environment in October 2002. Between April 2014 and March 2020, she was County Governor of

Halmstad Halmstad () is a port, university, industrial and recreational city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Socia ...

Selected bibliography

* "Sågverksarbetarna i strukturomvandlingen: hur arbetsstyrkan vid Söderhamns och Söderalas exportsågverk förändrades till storlek och sammansättning under mellankrigstiden" - 1983. * "Från mejerska till mejerist: en studie av mejeriyrkets maskuliniseringsprocess" - 1992. * "Rethinking gender and work: rural women in the Western world" - 1995 ''Gender & Society'' no. 1. * "Welfare state attitudes to the male breadwinning system: the United States and Sweden in comparative perspective" - 1997 ''International review of social history'' no. 5. * "Kvinnor mot kvinnor: om systerskapets svårigheter" - 1999 Redaktör tillsammans with Christina Florin and Ulla Wikander. * Befolkning och Välfärd—Demografiska förutsättningar för framtidens välfärdspolitik. Institutet för framtidsstudier 2002, editor. * "The hidden pulse of history", ''Scandinavian Journal of History'', 25, pp. 131–146 - with Bo Malmberg.

References

External links

Information page on the Swedish Government web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sommestad, Lena 1957 births Living people Governors of Halland County Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians Uppsala University alumni Women government ministers of Sweden 21st-century Swedish women politicians Swedish Ministers for the Environment Women county governors of Sweden