Career
She worked as a teacher from 1967 to 1992. She was the Minister of Social Affairs from 1997 to 2000 and was appointed Norwegian Minister of Local Government and Regional Development on 21 September 2007. On 20 October 2009, she swapped departments and became Minister of Transport and Communications.
She was elected to the Parliament of Norway for the first time in 1993, and has been reelected four times, lastly in 2009.
She did not seek reelection in the Norwegian parliamentary election, 2013.