Speech to Lakselaget in Minneapolis

Minister of Research and Higher Education Tora Aaslands speech to Lakselaget  4. oktober 2008 i Golden Valley Country Club in Minneapolis..     

 

Women make a difference!

Dear members and friends of Lakselaget, 

·       I am honoured by the invitation to speak on an issue very close to my heart: Women in academia. It is also inspiring to meet champions of US –Norwegian collaboration in education and research. Thank you!

 

·       Before starting, I would like to reflect somewhat on the role of women in our common history – when the first Norwegian emigrants came across to America.

 

·       Women were an important factor in Norwegian emigration - from start to finish. They were part of the first group of emigrants on the sloop the Restauration in 1825 - both single and married. Martha, wife of the expedition's leader, Lars Larsen, gave birth to a child during the crossing and thereby increased the number of “sloopers”, as they were called, from 52 to 53. Martha Larsen's letters from America comprise the earliest known correspondence from a Norwegian female emigrant.

 

·       What sort of lives did the women pioneers lead? We do not know very much, as this has not been examined systematically. The most common sources have been letters and memoirs – like Martha’s – but men wrote most of the earlier letters. This also bears witness to the fact that Norway's public school teachers attached more importance to educating boys than girls, at least in the early 1800s. In some regions, only boys were taught arithmetic, and they may have been given priority in reading and writing as well.

 

·       In most cases, domestic service was a position reserved for younger women. Sooner or later, most of them married, and usually to Norwegians or men from other Scandinavian countries. They became housewives, married to seamen, craftsmen, fishermen or tradesmen and gradually they developed into the great heterogeneous social group that Americans call the "middle class."

 

·       Others struggled to get ahead, and some became educated in typewriting and office work, teaching, nursing, and medicine. In fact, Norwegian-born women became medical doctors in America before there were any female doctors in Norway. And by the turn of the century, more first and second-generation Norwegian women had academic training in their new homeland than their counterparts had in Norway.  So in many senses the idealistic portrayals of both Henrik Ibsen and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson of America as a country where women had the opportunity to develop in freedom and truth were correct.

 

·       Today we have a general acceptance that women can hold any position . But even though modern women in the US and Norway have come a long way in terms of equal rights, there are still obstacles for women who want to get ahead in the academic world.

 

·       One month ago I gave a talk on this topic at the University of Oslo, at the annual Kristine Bonnevie Lecture. Kristine Bonnevie was the first female professor in Norway. She received her (extraordinary) professorship in biology in 1913, nearly a hundred years ago. She was an outstanding scholar and professor, and is remembered both for her research and her commitment to her students.

 

·       Professor Bonnevie devoted her life to science. She had no family, as was also the case for many other female pioneers in academia. Today it is more common to combine the role of professor with family life. In Norway we have good working conditions, arrangements for maternity leave and flexibility for parents to stay home with small children and when children are ill.

 

·       But even if the conditions for female scholars have changed since professor Bonnevie’s days, there is still a way to go. The gender balance in academia has improved significantly, but particularly natural science and technology lag behind.

 

As a female politician – I do not accept this situation:

·       Research and scholarly activity in the fields of natural science and technology is a key factor for securing the future for our children and grandchildren.

·       Women have the same capabilities as men: It is unfair if they are excluded from using their talents. If they exclude themselves it is a loss for all of us.

·       Women’s approach, and their definition of what is important, and how they practice their profession, makes a difference.

·       Active women researchers are role models for young girls.

 

·       We need outstanding scientists, and we need outstanding female scientists. We have a significant potential in increasing the recruitment of women. Therefore I have taken several measures to promote women’s position in academia. For example:

 

·       All higher education institutions are obliged to adopt plans for gender equality.

·       The Ministry has created a prize of 2 million NOK, about 12 million USD, to be awarded annually to an institution or research institute that demonstrates outstanding practice and results in gender equality. In February this year, I had the pleasure of awarding this prize, for the first time. I hope that the prize will be an inspiration for all universities and  research institutes.

 

·       But why are there so few women in the fields of natural science and technology? Dr. Camilla Schreiner at the University of Oslo has found that boys and girls have a different approach to their choice of career. Girls want to se the “practical use” of their occupation. They need to see their choice of occupation as meaningful. Of course boys also want to do an important and useful job, however their interpretation of what this implies, is different.

 

·       Young people choose careers that match their identity. The more they can identify themselves with the field of study, the more affectionate they will be. Dr. Schreiner found that girls identify with “female values” and boys with “masculine values”. Given the fact that the natural sciences in the industrialized world is associated with “masculine values” it is a challenge to show their connection with a female identity.

 

·       It is interesting to note, however that an international study, in which Dr. Schreiner participated, reveals a difference between girls in industrialized countries and developing countries. Girls in the developing world see their future in studying science and technology. The findings illustrate that identity is relative, linked to culture and economic necessity, and also that attitudes might be changed!

 

·       This is a tremendous challenge for the higher education institutions! The universities have to attract more women into the fields of natural science and technology, and to convince them that the studies match their interest as well as their search for meaning.

 

·       But even if the universities succeed in recruiting female students to science and technology, they also have to convince them to stay and qualify for a career in academia. We are aware of the fact that women some times loose in the competition with men, when it comes to the highest positions in the academic system.  

 

·       As minister of research and higher education I will do my part  to improve  the framework, the regulations and the funding opportunities for women in academia. I am determined to adopt a scheme for dedicated positions for women. The scheme will:

·       be time limited

·       cover only temporary positions; post doc and Ph.d.

·       be limited to areas in which there are very few women professors, like natural science and technology

 

·       Internationalisation is also a key priority in Norwegian education and research policies. US universities are very attractive partners for Norwegian universities and university colleges for several reasons:

·            Our close ties and long traditions for cooperation.

·                   The institutions in the US are predominant as regards innovative power and knowledge development.

·                   A common asset of leading researchers throughout the world is the network that they have built up through their academic contact with the US.

·                   The resources available at major US research institutions place them in a class of their own.

·                   The universities have some of the best educational provisions available.

 

On this background, the Ministry of Education and Research have developed a strategy to strengthen the higher education collaboration with North America: the North America Strategy for Higher Education Cooperation 2008-2011. It supplements the strategy for collaboration in science and technology from 2004.

 

The strategy consists of the four following main elements:

·       Collaboration at government level

·       Strengthening of student exchange

·       Establishment of partnership schemes

·       Strengthening of information and network arenas

 

·       The strategy introduces concrete measures for all four elements, and I will elaborate somewhat on the strengthening of student exchange and the establishment of partnership schemes. I view stronger international collaboration and partnerships between higher education institutions as increasingly important.

 

·       The United States has provided both basic and advanced education for thousands of young Norwegians. For example, the Fulbright Scheme has played an indispensable role in fostering mobility between the United States and Norway for years.

 

·       The US have always been popular among Norwegian students who choose to study abroad, but during the last ten years we have seen a decrease in the number of Norwegian students on degree programs in the US. However, we have seen an increase in the number of Norwegian students taking parts of their studies in the US, a fact we fully appreciate. Of course, we would like to see more American students on exchange in Norway.

 

·       In order to strengthen the student exchange between our countries, we have increased the annual allocation to the Fulbright Scheme. We have also allocated funding to Norwegian higher education institutions’ participation in the ISEP programme in 2008.

 

·       These two measures may seem small, so I just want to emphasize that this comes in addition to the financial support that Norwegian students are entitled to through the Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund. The Norwegian financial support for students abroad is considered to be one of the most generous systems in the world, and we spend a considerable amount of money on this system each year.

 

·       We have established a partnership programme (for four years) in order to provide for academic collaboration with the US and Canada. This Partnership programme is also the main priority in our strategic plan.

 

·       A main target in the strategy is to establish long-term collaboration between Norwegian and North American higher education institutions. By encouraging academically based collaboration rooted in the management of the universities and university colleges, we expect the collaboration to involve greater commitment and durability.

 

·       The Partnership programme is intended to encourage increased collaboration by building sustainable academic networks and strengthening exchanges between Norway and respectively the US and Canada. The programme includes twelve partnerships, that will get funding for four years.

 

·       I would like to end this speech by challenging the students – in this case female students - to make untraditional choices and swim against the current. Like the early emigrants and pioneering scholars. I think the motto of Lakselaget: women who swim against the current, is very fitting and inspiring. An old Norwegian “stev” has the same encouragement – do not drift with the current, but choose the road you believe is right, even though it might be a bumpier road:

 

Lat deg alli mæ straumen drive,
du kjem i bakevja seist ti svive.
Men tak den leii du trur æ rett
om vegjen stundom vert mindre slett.

 

Thank you for your attention!