Prime Minister Erna Solberg is still at the top of Kapital’s list of powerful women in Norway.
If you want to become powerful in Norway, it seems the way to go is to study economics or become a politician.
That is the conclusion one can draw from newspaper Kapital’s 14th annual list of Norway’s 100 most powerful women, in a year in which the corona pandemic has shaken the power ranking.
Prime Minister Erna Solberg (59) still reigns supreme as Norway’s most powerful woman – by far.
“She displayed a rare demonstration of power when she shut down Norway on March 12 this year and introduced the most intrusive measures we have had in Norway in peacetime,” Kapital editor and jury leader for the award Vibeke Holth noted.
Here’s the top 10, according to Kapital:
- Erna Solberg (59), Prime Minister and leader of the Conservatives
- Ine Eriksen Søreide (44), Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Monica Mæland (52), Minister of Justice and Emergency Management
- Guri Melby (39), Minister of Education and Integration and leader of the Liberal Party
- Tina Bru (34), Minister of Petroleum and Energy
- Siv Jensen (51), Progress Party leader
- Iselin Nybø (39), Minister of Trade and Industry
- Linda Hofstad Helleland (43), Minister of District and Digitization
- Camilla Stoltenberg (62), director of the National Institute of Public Health
- Hilde Merethe Aasheim (62), CEO of Norsk Hydro
A corona-year
The list bears the mark of being made in the year of the coronavirus pandemic.
Director of the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH/FHI) Camilla Stoltenberg is in ninth place.
She is the first woman on the list who is not a politician.
“There is no doubt that FHI’s statistics, advice, and guidelines have been of great importance for the measures that have been implemented in Norway to overcome and crack down on the pandemic,” Kapital writes.
The pandemic also means that Line Vold, who is responsible for infection control and emergency preparedness at FHI, is at 100th place, while Cathrine M. Lofthus, who is CEO of South-Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority, climbed from 21st to 14th place on the list.
“When the whole world was desperately looking for infection control equipment in March, Lofthus took action.
The scheme she established – overnight – meant that she was given responsibility for building up the entire health warehouse,” Kapital explained.
Progress Party politicians
Last year’s second most powerful woman, then finance minister and Progress Party (FRP) leader Siv Jensen (51), fell to sixth place after choosing to take the party out of government.
In second place is Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide, who secured Norway a seat on the UN Security Council this summer.
Monica Mæland, who was Minister of Local Government and Modernization last year and is now Minister of Justice and Emergency Preparedness, rose to third place.
Politicians take up eight out of the top ten places on the power list.
There are 20 politicians among the country’s 100 most powerful women.
The youngest on the list is 34-year-old Tina Bru, who is Minister of Petroleum and Energy and in fifth place.
The oldest is 68-year-old Bente Angell-Hansen, who heads the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA).
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
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