Gro Harlem Brundtland: Fighter for the Environment and Social Justice

The Norwegian politician Gro Harlem Brundtland (b. Oslo, 20 April 1939) was
by profession a medical doctor, who from her student time was familiar with the
connection between health, social problems, and the environment. As a young
woman she called for attention to the need for a healthy environment, reaching
out to politicians at home and abroad. In the 1970s Brundtland was active in many areas, including the environment. As cabinet minister she earned the nickname green goddess. She was chair of the United Nations (UN) commission that produced the famous report Our Common Future (1987); its concept of sustainable development has become a guiding principle in the international fight against climate change and poverty. Yet Brundtland has been criticized for taking controversial environmental measures as Prime Minister, arising from the dilemma of how to combine the employment question with environmental requirements. This issue is exemplary on a smaller scale for the larger one of how to attack the environmental problem worldwide.
Gro Harlem Brundtland was also a role model as first female Prime Minister of
Norway (in 1981, 1986–1989, and 1990–1996), plus at age 42 the youngest ever.
Second most influential woman PM in the West after Great Britain’s Margaret
Thatcher, who governed from 1979, Brundtland breached the glass ceiling in an
impressive way as PM. The priorities in Brundtland’s career were the world’s
climate concerns, the concomitant poverty problem, and – in Norway – emancipation and socioeconomic policy. The underlying factor that brought these together was the social democratic concept of equality. Until recently she was active on behalf of the UN.