Mina Gerhardsen (born 14 September 1975) is a Norwegian senior civil servant and former politician for the Labour Party. In May 2024 she was appointed by the Norwegian government for the position as the next Children's ombudsman in Norway. She is the daughter of

Rune Gerhardsen Rune Gerhardsen (13 June 1946 – 4 September 2021) was a Norwegian politician, representing the Norwegian Labour Party, and sports leader at Norwegian Skating Association representing Aktiv SK. Biography Gerhardsen was a son of Werna and ...

and Tove Strand, and granddaughter of

Einar Gerhardsen Einar Henry Gerhardsen (; 10 May 1897 – 19 September 1987) was a Norwegian politician who served as the prime minister of Norway from 1945 to 1951, 1955 to 1963 and 1963 to 1965. With a total of 16 years in office, he is the longest serving Pri ...

. She is married to Eirik Øwre Thorshaug. She led the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) 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 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

branch of

Natur og Ungdom Natur og Ungdom (NU) which translates to Nature and Youth, also known in English as Young Friends of the Earth Norway, is a Norwegian youth environmental protection organisation. It is the only environmentalist youth organisation in Norway. 7, ...

from 1993 to 1995, and was deputy leader of the Workers' Youth League in Oslo in 1997. She took the cand.mag. degree at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

in 1998, and also has master's degrees in

pedagogy Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

from 2000 and

human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography which studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment, examples of which include urban sprawl and urban ...

from 2003. From 1999 to 2002 she worked part-time as a journalist in ''

Dagsavisen is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. Eirik Hoff Lys ...

'' and ''

Dagbladet () is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally it was considered the main liberal newspaper of Norway, with a ...

''. She then worked in the

Norwegian Red Cross The Norwegian Red Cross (''Norges Røde Kors'') was founded on 22 September 1865 by prime minister Frederik Stang. In 1895 the Norwegian Red Cross began educating nurses, and in 1907 the Norwegian Ministry of Defence authorized the organization ...

from 2002 to 2004, except for a period from 2003 to 2004 as a journalist in ''Mandag Morgen''. She was hired as a political advisor in the

Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister The Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister (, abbreviated SMK) is a cabinet department that assists the Government of Norway, Cabinet of Norway and the Prime Minister of Norway in the leadership of the Cabinet and Government. It has since 2021 b ...

in 2005, when

Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet was the Government of Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. It was a coalition government, coalition between the Labour Party (Norway), Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party (Norway), Socialist Left Party a ...

assumed office. In 2009 she was promoted to State Secretary. In 2011 she changed to the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: * Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) * Ministry of Culture (Algeria) * Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) * Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan)Ministry o ...

. In May 2024, she was nominated to be next Children's Ombudsman of Norway, succeeding Inga Bejer Engh, who had been appointed assistant director of the

Norwegian Police Security Service The Norwegian Police Security Service (, ) is the police security agency of Norway. The agency was previously known as ''POT'' (' or Police Surveillance Agency), the name change was decided by the Parliament of Norway on 2 June 2001. History an ...

References

1975 births Living people Nature and Youth activists University of Oslo alumni Norwegian journalists Labour Party (Norway) politicians Politicians from Oslo Norwegian state secretaries Norwegian women state secretaries {{Norway-politician-1970s-stub