Arni Hole

Director General,

Royal Ministry of Children and Equality,

Norway.

Norway: A haven for gender equality and families ? Politics that pay off in economic terms and the number of babies.

In 2009 the Norwegian Gender Equality Act turns 30. These last 30 years has seen substantial �equality between the genders come true in Norway. This Act has meant tremendous changes in Norwegian culture, politics and economic life. Today, we are discussing men�s and fathers� roles and rights in parental leave and custody cases along with promoting women to partake in the upper echelons of economic life. When measuring 300 large companies in Europe (Hudson 2008),Norway scored highest among the countries having 44,2 % women on company boards, Sweden coming in second with 26,9 %. Portugal came in at the bottom with 0,8 % women on boards.

Societal change does not come of itself. Change has to be led by political will and decisions, mirroring values and norms in the population.

However, there is a need to look back, as to comprehend the �historical and social� environment where true gender equality policies could thrive.

Modern Norway was created with the Constitution of 1814 and the separation from 400 years� union with Denmark. Nobility and gentry was abolished and the basis for a democratic, societal development was laid. In 1837 came the Local Government Act and in 1848 the School Act , providing a framework for participation in government for all, basic education for all and not the least: Minimizing the distance between government and the governed. Thus women, as well as men, before the turn on the century, engaged in local politics and non-governmental organizations and campaigns. Traditions for dialogue between NGO�s and government, both on local, regional and national levels were established, and are very much cherished and promoted today. Political parties emerged, and in the early 1900 the Labour Party as well as the Liberal party, engaged women and took up women�s and family issues.

Women formed the first Norwegian Women�s Organization in 1887 (it is still functioning today !), and promoted equality and social issues concerning labor hours, women�s rights within families and marriage, maternity health, children�s rights, female suffrage and so forth.� Among the victories were women�s right to vote for the first time in 1895, at referendums in municipalities and in 1910 the right to vote in municipal elections and to stand for elections to municipal councils. In 1907 women were given limited right to vote, depending on income, in the national elections to Parliament (the Storting) and finally in universal suffrage in the year of 1913.

The years to come saw changes in family and marriage laws as well as the emerging of a more humane and equal society. The first Health Centre for mothers was established in 1924.

The women , except for ladies in a small elite class in the cities and among the wealthy landowners and business groups throughout the country, were working women: In agriculture, fisheries, as maids in wealthy homes and the new textile mills and other emerging industries in the cities. Norway, being a poor agricultural nation with a weak financial basis and scarce developed industries in the outskirts of Europe in the 1850�s,� could not absorb the demographic surplus in the century to come, and exported male and female labor to the million, primarily to the United States. Thus, when industrialization transformed the country, women were as needed� in the work force as men.

Between the two world wars women appeared in all sectors of society, even if the financial crisis of� the 1930�s saw a set-back as to whether married women should work at all. Political parties discussed whether it was most important to secure male breadwinners paid work. A very important court case in 1939 from the High Court decided that marriage does not constitute grounds for dismissal from a job.

Norwegian society saw class-struggles and large cultural changes between the world wars. Trade unions made a great difference and women were part of it all along. Many laws and regulations were amended and changed, as to promote the rights of all citizens. In 1927, the new Marriage Act gives equal economic and legal rights to wife and husband.

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After WW II, and 5 years of foreign occupation , the Norwegian society set out to rebuild itself, with a cross-party agreement to abolish poverty and stretch for a comprehensive welfare system. Industrial leaps were made, cheap hydropower was a basic prerequisite and the Labour Party came to the fore as the main force of modernizing Norway. �Social reforms were introduced, like the Family Allowance Act in 1946 (paid to the mothers), the right to have a minimum security as a provider with little or no income in 1957, securing many women.

A slight paradox is that the American ideal of the housewife with a husband working in well-paid industrial jobs, took foothold in the fifties and the early sixties, in the midst of equality-promoting, social democratic politics. Not for long, though.

The needs of a welfare society for educated labour, became very visible in the early sixties. Government was �investing in roads, technology, all kind of infrastructure, schools, hospitals, kindergartens, regional colleges, care for the elderly, public services of all kinds. Society needed heads and hands. Regardless of gender, due to the fact that industry and the merchant marine were booming and absorbed most of the boys and men. The effects of the largest social reform ever, the National Insurance Scheme in 1966 (based upon law and the tripartite cooperation between State, employers and employees) demanded �educated professionals to new jobs. �Instead of doing what other European countries did by that time, importing foreign workers, Norway encouraged �women to enter these jobs. 30 years later, we still see a very gender-segmented labor-market where professional women stick to public sector and men to the often better paid� private sector jobs. Alas, 80 % of the women in Norway work to day, along with being mothers. In 2009 Norway has a fertility rate of 1.96, among the highest in all of Europe and among other industrialized economies.

In the 1970�s, society at large, was still male dominated. Both in its cultural expressions as well as in prevailing gender stereotypes. Women worked �double shifts�, first in their paid job, then the unpaid work at home. Family violence was not spoken of. The salaries pr. hour �were gender-unequal. Very few kindergartens were available. The social stigma for being an unmarried, single mother was heavy. The Norwegian countryside was still dominated by conservative religious groups and the young girls should not have sex before marriage. No one spoke of the boys.

Due to the women flooding into the paid work, having their own economic power, producing wealth for the nation, came the demands for expanded parental (then maternal) leave, full coverage of kindergartens, better maternal health care, the right to self-determined abortion, equal pay pr. hour, a gender equality law that would prohibit any discrimination on the basis of sex, and everything that went with the �new� women�s liberation and the fight against paternalistic structures and male chauvinism.� It was time for cleaning up after the decade and a half of American housewife ideals. The old and newly formed women�s organizations came strongly into politics, and a new �partnership� was formed between left-wing and liberal parliamentarians, the labor movement, trade unions and the NGO�s. The seventies were quite some years for gender equality and political reforms !

However, it appeared that true equality between the genders took more than Parliament voting for a Gender Equality Act entering into force in 1969. Or Government �securing more parental leave and rights for working parents with small children (including the right to stay at home with pay caring for sick children), more kindergartens, flexible working hours and political proclamations of equal pay for work of equal value.

Cultural traditions of perceiving care for children and homes as a female domain contra decision-making , money-making and public power as male domains, prevailed. It took a massive mobilization of women and men to carry forth the first �Gender Balanced Cabinet� of Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland in 1986. There were electoral campaigns to promote women to local and regional political bodies and research was financed and used as to underline the need for gender equality and display the proud history of the women of Norway. Many laws were amended and more rights secured to parents, as to promote parenthood and raising children along with both parents enjoying careers and paid work. Today Parliament has 40 % women, as have the 430 elected municipal bodies. Cabinet enjoys 50 % of each gender.

The �Columbi Egg� of Norwegian politics has been to combine gender equality with comprehensive family and parental provisions, thus securing women�s possibilities to paid work, and men�s possibilities to care for children and family. Any person, regardless of gender, should have the right to choose both work and family. Not to be forced to choose either � or, due to some old fashioned stereotype image or lack of facilitating frameworks. In any case, it is up to the women and men, the families themselves, to decide how to lead their lives. There is no public �forcing� anyone. But the possibility to choose freely, is secured by public policies. �It seems that this type of political thinking is promoting economic development and stability, if one looks to the Norwegian gross domestic product per capita. This is 20 % higher than that of the United States. Compared to the GDP of other oil-producing nations like Angola, Venezuela or Russia, it seems like Norway invested its petrol revenues quite wisely. Among other investments, in gender equality.

Today most people take gender equality for granted in Norway. But mission is not yet accomplished. Cultural habits, traditions and stereotypes are stubborn. Still we see a very gender-segmented labor market and young people tend to choose gender-traditional educations, mostly men are top managers in the private corporate sector (27 % women), most men carry decision making in the economic sector, many women (40 %) work part-time and thus loosing out on pension points (even if everyone in Norway is entitled to a minimum public pension after turning 67), and �there is still a gender-based pay-gap pr. hour of 15 % (as in the EU on an average). Stereotypes of traditional masculinities are frequently seen and upheld.

However, when presenting the White Paper on Men, Masculinities and Gender Equality to the Parliament in December 2008, the measuring done by a broad survey based on data from 20 years back and in 2007, showed an enormous change in men�s roles and not the least: Fathers roles. Fathers simply take a lot of responsibility at home and for the children; they cook and clean and pick up the kids from kindergarten and almost 20 % share more than 6 weeks with mothers of the parental leave scheme. Equal number of men in paid work takes leave of absence to care for sick children as women, due to the right in the Work Environment Law of 10 days pr. year with pay for a child below 12 years of age.

Norwegian politics has seen the use of affirmative actions as to promote equality. In 1981 a quota was introduced in the Gender Equality Act demanding 40 % of the underrepresented gender in all public appointed committees and councils. In 1993 the new Municipal Act introduced a 40 % quota for all appointed bodies from the Municipal Council, and the first fathers obligatory quota was introduced in the parental leave scheme, with 4 weeks to be taken by the father if refunding of his salary was to be enjoyed (this obligatory paid leave cannot be transferred to the mothers). Today 90 % of the fathers are taking their obligatory 6 weeks (to be 10 weeks July 1^st 2009) leave.

In 2003 the Parliament voted for 40 % quotas for the underrepresented sex in board-rooms of four types of companies (3 categories being state owned or municipally owned companies), the most important and significant change came for the public limited companies (noted on the Stock Exchange and with a broad spread of shares). The representation of women in these approximately 500 large companies rose from 7 % in 2003 to 40 % in 2008, and has been a success story. Able and educated women were not hard to find.

To change more profoundly the masculine roles, and promoting fathers to �come more home� so mothers can pursue more full-time work and go for top management, Cabinet introduced the mentioned White Paper on Men. The essence of this research based� White Paper, is to discuss modernity in family life and at the work place, along with demographic issues and what is best for the child, in a situation where declining population underlines business�s need to go for for the best competence, regardless of gender � as to compete world wide. It is time to combat old-fashioned male stereotypes not sound for modern men. The White Paper contains a wealth of statistics on men�s health, education, jobs, care patterns, violent behavior, divorces and custody cases as well as types of men�s marginalization.

The White Paper concludes that it is sound economics to employ all good heads and hands in a nation. In the competition for competence, businesses need to promote family friendly surroundings for both mothers and fathers, unless they want to loose out on available educated hands. Thus the laws and regulations on parental leave where the State, the employers and the employees (trough taxes) co-finance the expenditures, provide a favorable setting for making it �acceptable� (in business life)� to be a parent, regardless of one�s gender.

The White Paper concludes that equality is a win-win situation for both women and men. There is time for new alliances between the sexes. A modern nation cannot afford to loose out on demography or under-consuming educated workforce (due to a gender-bias) or not to make use of talented women in top-management or board-rooms.

Talents are evenly divided among the genders, also when it comes to child-caring and rearing.

Gender equality is about human rights and democracy. Most nations are party to the several Human Rights Conventions/Covenants of the United Nations, two of them designed to promote women�s rights and children�s rights. Let us exchange experiences and lessons learned, to make these human rights come true. It is smart economy, too.