Åslaug M. Haga, Minister of Cultural Affairs

Gender Equality and Sport - a Norwegian Perspective

Seminar on women and handball, Hamar, 3. December 1999

Ladies and gentlemen,

When we want to understand the involvement of women and men in sports, we must study their relative positions both historically and in today’s societies. The life situation of Norwegian women has changed over recent years: with fewer children, lighter domestic chores, better education, more work outside the home, and growing economic independence. These developments have provided women with the skills, courage and self-assurance they need to fill demanding positions in government, business and sports. It was therefore no surprise for the Norwegian people when Norwegian female athletes (including the handball team) at the Olympic Games in Atlanta, for the first time accounted for more than half of the team. It was not surprising either due to the performances of Norwegian top-level female athletes over the last few years, which again can be looked upon as a result of the work for gender equality in Norway.

There are three principal arguments for securing the democratic participation of women in governing bodies:

The democratic argument: Women constitute half of the population and should therefore be represented equally with men.

The resource argument: Women have experiences that differ from men’s and are therefore able to contribute a new perspective on public policy issues.

The interest argument: Women do have a separate set of priorities. To ensure that their issues are put on the agenda and receive their fair share of scarce public resources, women must be represented in accordance with their proportion in the population.

The issue of gender inequality was put on the political agenda in Norway early in the seventies. Since then, the authorities have consciously pursued a policy to integrate equality between the sexes into governmental policies and administration. This process has led to women being in many leadership positions today including a relatively high female representation in government at all levels, and in the parliament. Almost half of the ministers (47%) are women, 9 out of 19, and the female representatives in the Parliament account for 36% of the members.

I think it is fair to say that two important “revolutions” have had decisive effect on the position of women in Norwegian society today: The increase of women in the educational system and in the work force. Eight out of ten mothers with small children are now employed outside the home, at the same time that women account for 55 % of the total number of students enrolled in universities and colleges.

Traditionally sport has been defined as a masculine activity, from which women historically have been excluded, but this has also changed dramatically during the last 20 years. In Norway, as many women as men, participate in regular physical activity in their leisure time. A look at the sport organizations shows, however, that women account for only 36% of the memberships. Norwegian women’s involvement in the different sports disciplines varies considerably. Today actually soccer is the largest female sport in Norway followed by handball.

In contrast to many other countries, handball has historically always been a ‘women’s sport’ in Norway. Since 1946 more than 55 % of the members in the Norwegian Handball Federation have been females. In 1997 63,940 women were members of a handball club, which accounted for 67% of all members. Among these 70% were 17 years or younger, indicating that the recruitment seems to be excellent.

The popularity of handball among Norwegian girls should be as a product of the success of our national female handball team. This success has however not developed by itself. It has been a result of a clear political strategy. As early as in the seventies the Norwegian Handball Federation decided on a strategy which required that both the women’s and the men’s national teams should have the same resources, depending on an evaluation of their potential. This principle was strictly followed up, and in some years the budget spent on the women’s national team was even higher than on the men’s. The result was seen about ten years later when Norway took the bronze medal in the World Championship in 1986, and since, has been one of the leading countries in female handball.

In a paper about the Mainstreaming of Gender Equality in Norway, the government states that ‘Women have less power and authority than men. Consequently, a gender perspective will often imply that our attention is directed towards women’s concerns, values and experiences. We use the gender perspective in order to promote equality. Gender should be a crucial variable when allocating means and resources.’

Another governmental focus is that gender differences must be made visible, and that we need knowledge of how men and women differ in terms of life styles and ways of thinking. The government has found that a “gender-neutral” or “gender-blind” approach may easily result in ignoring gender-specific needs and experiences. The strength of the Norwegian gender policy is that there is no disagreement among the major political parties that a gender perspective shall influence all important decisions, and that decisions that appear to be “gender-neutral” may have a different impact on women than on men.

General legislation governing equal opportunity is a duty of governments. The Norwegian Equal Status Act became law in 1979. The act covers gender equality in working and economic life, and additionally, equality in private life, public administration and the functioning of the state in general. The objective of equality is that women and men shall have equal rights, obligations and opportunities in all fields of life. This involves not only ensuring formal equality through legislation, but also implementing measures to ensure that equality exists in practice. The government stresses that gender equality does not mean that men and women must be similar. It means that the dissimilarity between women and men should not lead to inequality in terms of status or treatment in society.

A new provision was included in the Gender Equality Act in 1988, requiring a 40 percent representation of both sexes on all public boards, councils and committees. This provision serves not only to increase the percentage of women in central governmental, municipal and county councils and committees in general, but it also helps to redress any imbalance in representation on committees where men tend to congregate in ‘heavy -weight’ areas, such as economics, agriculture, communications, technology and defense, and in traditionally female dominated areas such as health and care. The ‘40-per-cent rule’ was also incorporated in the Local Government Act in 1992.

In 1990 the following requirements were taken into the by-laws of the Norwegian Sport Association; All national congresses, executive committees, councils and boards will have representation proportional to the percentage of men and women in the organization. However, every board must have at least two members of each sex. This gender equity rule in the sports organization may provide a lesson in how national policy can directly and indirectly influence voluntary organizations to step into line with the governmental statutes and regulations. Not all sport organizations have managed to follow this law. The Norwegian Handball Federation has, however, one of the highest proportion of females on the executive board compared to other sports. Today the executive board consist of five women and five men.

The government may also launch and support various programs and projects in order to promote equal opportunities particular to sport. Since 1993 Ministry for Cultural Affairs has earmarked money to different sports projects designed to increase the number of female coaches and leaders. The aim has been that the share of women among leaders, coaches and other team supporters should be at least 20% in Nagano and Sidney. As a result of this project this goal was reach in Nagano, where the numbers of females in the Norwegian delegation were 17 out of 81. As the figure tell the balance still exist.

It is an international fact that the proportions of female sport leaders and female coaches are disproportionate relative to the number of female athletes.

The experiences from Norwegian political institutions in this area may be a help for sports. It shows that it is important to launch separate initiatives, actions and project for women both to provide results and inspiration on a short-term basis, and to make the work for gender equality visible. The proportion of women in political institutions for example does not seem to increase unless special measures and methods are employed. In Norway special campaigns, particularly in connection with elections, and gender quotas have been the methods most commonly used. According to The Norwegian Center for Gender Equality, quotas have proved perhaps the most effective means of achieving a more equal distribution of women and men in political bodies. Although highly controversial when first introduced in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The implementation of equal opportunities is in the interest of society as a whole, because the participation of women and men on an equal basis in different aspects of society is the best way to ensure that the different needs of people are taken into account. Better opportunities for women in sport may also make a contribution to a society which is better for both women and men. Women participate with great success in sport disciplines today that earlier were exclusively for men. By participating in wrestling, marathon, ice hockey and soccer female athletes probably also contribute not only to a change in people’s perception of which activities are suitable for women, but perhaps more important, this may lead to a change in the concept of femininity, and what is acceptable behavior for girls and women. Research also indicates that women can be empowered through sport participation. Empowerment can be defined as ‘the process by which individuals in a disadvantaged social group develop skills and abilities to gain control over their lives and to take action to improve their life situation.’ If women can be empowered by participation in sport, for example by gaining better self-confidence and a better relationship to their own bodies, sport for women may play an important role in improving their lives. It may also aid them to challenge the traditional gender order and maybe even contribute to a change in women’s role in society and thereby contribute to the development of a more equalitarian society for women and men in general.