Mette Frederiksen (born 19 November 1977 in Aalborg), is a Danish Social Democrat politician. She has been a member of the Folketing—the parliament of Denmark—since 2001.[1] She became current Minister of Employment of Denmark on October 3, 2011.
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Frederiksen was born in Aalborg; her father a typographer and her mother a teacher.[1] She was educated at the Aalborghus Gymnasium and studied administration and social science at Aalborg University.[1] After graduating in 2000, she worked as a youth consultant for LO, The Danish Confederation of Trade Unions.[1]
Frederiksen was elected as a member of parliament for Copenhagen County in the general election held on 20 November 2001.[1] After her election, she was named as her party's spokesperson for culture, media and gender equality.[1] She became her party's spokesperson for social affairs after the Danish parliamentary election, 2005.[1] Also following the 2005 election, she has served as the vice-chairperson of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic party.[1]
In May 2010 it was revealed that Frederiksen's daughter—along with the children of several other prominent Social Democrat politicians—was being educated at a private school.[2] Frederiksen, along with her colleagues, was accused of hypocrisy by the Danish press as her party had long seen the promotion of public education as a key policy.[2] In 2005, Frederiksen had openly criticised parents who sent their children to private schools.[2] Frederiksen responded to the criticism by saying that her opinion on private education had become more nuanced since her remarks 2005 and that it would have been hypocritical of her to put her own political career ahead of her daughter's best interest.[3]
Mette Frederiksen has for many years strongly advocated for a prohibition of buying sexual services like in Sweden and Norway[4]. Pimping, procuring and operating a brothel are already illegal in Denmark.