Elisabeth Rehn

Marta Elisabeth Rehn ( born April 6, 1935 in Helsinki; born Marta Elizabeth Carlsberg ) is a Finnish politician of the Swedish People's Party. She is a Finnlandschwedin and thus members of the Swedish-speaking minority in Finland.

Private and professional

Rehn was born in 1935 as the youngest daughter of the physician Andreas Carl Berg and his wife Ruth Leonida Weurlander in Helsinki, but grew up in Mäntsälä, where her father worked as a community doctor. She completed a degree in business administration, which she finished in Helsinki in 1957 with a Master 's degree. In addition, she has received two honorary doctorate degrees from the Swedish School of Economics ( 1994) and the Åbo Akademi (1998).

From 1960, Rehn worked as Head Office at Renecta, 1965, she moved to 1977 in the Board of Directors. In the early 1960s she led a Tupperware in Finland. In addition, she worked from 1972 to 1977 in the College of Kauniainen as a career counselor for the students and sat from 1973 to 1980 in the City Council of Kauniainen.

Elisabeth Rehn was married since 1955 with Ove Harald Rehn, who died in November 2004. With him she has four children.

Political career

In 1979 she became a member of the Finnish Parliament. She was also from 1987 to 1990 chairman of their party. On 13 June 1990 she was appointed by Prime Minister Harri Holkeri to Defence Minister, as - world's second wife - after Indira Gandhi. Holkeris successor Esko Aho also handed her this post and made it in addition to social and health minister on 17 May 1991. Both offices she held until January 1, 1995. In a direct connection, and after their exit from the Finnish Parliament, she was elected to the European Parliament where she belonged to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. During this time she was active among others in the Committee on Women's Rights and the Subcommittee on Human Rights.

Rehn in 1994 candidate against Martti Ahtisaari for the office of President of Finland, but lost nearly 46.1 % of the vote. In 2000, she tried again, but lost this time with 7.9 % of the votes in the first ballot. Finally, Tarja Halonen won against Esko Aho.

1982 Elisabeth Rehn, Member of the Board of the Finnish Committee for UNICEF, 1988, she became its Chairman (until 1993 ). She was 1984-1988 Deputy Chair on the Finnish Red Cross and from 2000 to 2006 Member of the Board of the World Wildlife Fund in Finland. From 1995 to 1998 she worked as a UN special rapporteur in Bosnia - Herzegovina, Croatia and Yugoslavia, then to June 1999. Than SRSG for the UN mission in Bosnia - Herzegovina

2004 Rehn was elected number 92 of the 100 greatest Finns.

Works

• Progress of the World 's Women 2002: Women, War, Peace. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Development Fund of the United Nations for Women (UNIFEM ), January 2003, ISBN 9780912917665