Background
Blehr was born Randi Nilsen in 1851 in Bergen to Andreas Rasmussen Nilsen, a ship broker, and Margaret Andrea Tornøest She was the oldest of eleven children.
hostess prime minister of Norway
Blehr was born Randi Nilsen in 1851 in Bergen to Andreas Rasmussen Nilsen, a ship broker, and Margaret Andrea Tornøest She was the oldest of eleven children.
She received no formal education but pursued the arts from a young age, including drawing, theatre and music When she was 17 years old, she joined Vestmannalaget, Norway"s oldest language association. Blehr became involved in the Norwegian feminist movement in the 1880s.
She joined Skuld, a discussion group for female students, in 1883, and was one of the co-founders of the Norwegian Association for Women"s Rights (Kvindesagsforening) in 1884.
She later became the chairperson of the organisation for over two periods: 1895 to 1899, and from 1903 to 1922. As chair of the Association for Women"s Rights, Blehr fought for improvement of the social and economic conditions for housewives, working class and lower-middle class women.
She petitioned the parliament to formalise vocational education for women by creating training courses for maids, seamstresses, cooks and housewives. In 1885, since the Association for Women"s Rights decided not to include women"s suffrage on its agenda, Blehr co-founded the Women"s Suffrage Association (Kvinnestemmerettsforeningen) under Gina Krog"s leadership.
A year later, she also helped to establish the Norwegian Women"s Public Health Association (Norske Kvinners Sanitetsforening).
In 1903 she was elected the chair of the Norwegian Women"s Peace Association (Norske Kvinners Fredsforbund). During periods where her husband"s political career required them to leave their home in Oslo and live in Sweden, she worked as a hostess at the Norska Ministerhotellet in Stockholm. She died in 1928 in Oslo.