Helga Karlsen

Helga Aleksandra Karlsen (20 November 1882 – 15 October 1936) was a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party, and the party's first female Member of Parliament. Coming from humble origins, she gradually made her way up through the organisation of the labour movement. She served two non-consecutive periods in parliament (1927–30 and 1933–36), but died shortly before she could be elected for a third term. She has been called the Labour Party's foremost female politician in the interwar period.

Early life and career Karlsen was born in Oslo (at the time called Kristiania), to rail-road engineer Karl Arnesen (1860 – 1923) and Hilda Alette Torgersdatter (b. 1855). It seems as though her mother died while Helga was still young, and the girl had to go into foster care; in early records she appears under the name of Helga Pettersen. Karlsen was also deeply involved in the party's organisation of children's groups. She died only four days before the election. Karlsen was buried from the People's Houses in Oslo, where the eulogy was delivered by Martin Tranmæl. She was survived by her husband, Fredrik Emanuel Karlsen (1873 – 1942), whom she had met through the labour movement.