Gunhild Emanuelsen

Gunhild Emanuelsen was a Norwegian pacifist, women's rights activist, trade unionist and politician. She was born on 31 December 1914 in Kristiania, Norway. She grew up in a poor family and had to take care of her siblings after her mother died when she was 15. She started working at the Standard Telephones and Cables when she was 20 and became an influential member of the trade union. She was involved in the resistance movement during World War II, distributing clandestine newspapers and protesting against the Nazi occupation. After the war, she joined the Norwegian Communist Party but faced opposition from the Labour Party and left the Communists. She continued her trade union work, fighting for equal pay and day care services for women. She also joined the Norsk Kvinneforbund (Norwegian Women's Association), where she represented Norway in international women's conferences. She was elected to Oslo city council and was a vocal advocate for peace and disarmament. In the 1990s, she was a leading member of Norway's Nei til atomvåpen (No to Nuclear Weapons), which sought to abolish nuclear weapons. She died on 19 October 2006 in Oslo, Norway, at the age of 91. She was a respected and admired figure in the Norwegian society and received several awards and honors for her work.