Politisk rådgiver Brit Skjelbred

Welcome to Kornhaug and Norway

Velkomsttale på Kornhaug, 4. mai 1998

On behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture I would like to welcome you all to Norway and to Gausdal. It is very pleasant – and exciting - to see so many people gathered from so many different countries. Hopefully, the days ahead of us will give us all some new and interesting perspectives on female participation in local policy-framing processes.

Gender equality

The issues raised during this week is closely related to the question about GENDER EQUALITY. In most countries there are fewer women than men on many of the arenas where politics are being outlined.

In Norway governments have had and are still having an extensive support for implementing gender equality policies. Since the late 1970s an active policy for equal rights has been pursued, strongly influenced by the powerful grassroot movements of feminists and defenders og equal rights. The Gender Equality Act from 1979 prohibits discrimination between men and women.

The present government, in which 9 out of 18 ministers are women, has declared its intention of securing equal gender rights in the labour market, including equal pay and equal opportunities of career-making, equal rights in education, in non-governmental organisations and in family rights.

Gender perspective on regional development

In Norway the gender perspective is of special importance in the politics of REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT. Local development issues will also be raised during this work shop week.

There are 4,2 million inhabitants in Norway. Norway has a comparatively high standard of living, but a population density of only 13 persons per square kilometre. The average in Europe is 145 persons per square kilometre. For more than ¼ of our 435 municipalities agriculture and fisheries represent a major source of income. As such, farm and fishery families are vital resources, closely linked to the communities both economically and physically. The stability in rural communities influences infrastructure and welfare, traditions and culture. Sector specific policy areas such as fisheries and agriculture are therefore important parts of the overall regional policy.

Many countries are now pointing at the multifunctional character of agriculture. It is not only important as producer of foods and through this strongly consumer-related, it also plays an important role in managing common goods on behalf of society, such as environment and biodiversity, land conservation, landscape, and cultural features.

An out migration from remote and rural areas has been going on in Norway for many years. For a long time the main objective of regional development policies has been to maintain our basic settlement pattern – as opposed to intentional centralization. Various kinds of policies have focused on means and ways to increase work possibilities in remote and rural areas, particularly with regard to women’s options.

This is due to the fact that many young girls to a far greater extent than boys leave the rural districts for studies or other education in towns and cities. 65 percent of them do, and only 15 percent return to the place where they grew up. The reasons for leaving are many. The young girl dreams of another life than her mother’s. A professional career may be easier to obtain in the cities. The small villages are felt to be narrowminded and with no space for an untraditional or unconventional behaviour. The girls lack relevant female role models, and there are often few jobs that fit in their future plans. Many social and cultural activites prominent in rural areas are often those that men favour, like hunting and fishing, and this does not necessarily attract younger women.

There are strong historical and cultural traditions attached to owning a farm or landed property in Norway. This is because of the Allodial Act (odelsloven) which gives preference to the eldest child in taking over the farm. Research shows that parents encourage boys far more than they do girls to exercise their allodial rights and take posession of the farm. Girls are also more doubtful when it comes to the choice of beginning as a farmer. It is a challenge for the future to encourage young persons in general, and girls in particular, to run farms in Norway.

The familiy has a special role in spreading positive attitudes towards their children as to what it is like to be a farmer. I’m afraid that many a youth has been told day after day, at the family breakfast table, that farming is a sad occupation. This is a sort of negative vaccination which the minister of agriculture is anxious to put an end to. Producing food and other important society values in a thousand year old tradition and in surroundings world known for their beauty is indeed an occupation to be proud of and stand upright about!

But as it is, the large depopulation of women in our rural areas has become a problem for the recruitment and growth in many small communities. It is considered a great challenge and a political responsibility for the authorities. The task of recruiting young farmers is one that the present government has wished to put its shoulder to.

The Ministry of Agriculture have recently lead a public committee who has analysed the state of gender equality and recruitment within the agricultural sector. The committee has proposed several measures to promote equality and increase the recruitment of both sexes, particularly girls, for agricultural careers.

By the government, a decentralised settlement structure is recognized as important both for strategic reasons and from a general welfare point of view. A decline in population threatens the future of many rural and remote regions as viable communities, able to maintain necessary services like the post office, the local primary school and the grocery shop. It is only through the energy and talents of its inhabitants that rural areas can be able to compete effectively.

Since men and women often think and act complementarily, and since women and young people leave the countryside first, including more women in economic life means including new impulses and widening the repertoire of innovative ideas and solutions. With this in mind, new governmental policies highlight the concerns of women and young people, with a view to continuing and increasing women’s contribution to economic life.

Female participation in local policy-framing processes

Female participation in local policy-framing processes may of course be looked upon in many ways. Most activities in society both affect and contribute to political processes.

I’d like to focus on some essential areas concerning this matter, that is, women’s participation in political and planning processes, and their participation in the working life of Norway.

Politics and planning

The most notable progress on gender equality in Norway has been made in the field of politics, including leadership positions in the most influential political parties, cabinet ministers and members of Parliament (Storting). After the last local election in 1995 the female share in local councils became 32,7 percent, the highest female representation at local level ever. Since 1986 between one third and a half of all government ministers have been women. During this time, issues of particular concern to women have been given high priority on the political agenda.

We are now able to see results of the high female representation in politics as regards political priorities. These are particularly obvious in the field of child and family politics, with measures designed to make it easier to combine work and familiy responsibility. It is important that women is nominated and elected to political bodies in sufficiently large numbers. It has been proved that the female share must exceed a certain level in order to ensure that gender-specific views and values have a real impact. A 30 percent share appears to be a critical minimum.

The use of quotas to ensure more women in political bodies was initially a controversial issue. Quotas have proved useful in achieving a more equal proportion of women and men in political bodies. All political parties are now practising some sort of quota system, formally or informally, and such quotas are no longer in dispute.

The Equal Gender Act of 1979 requires that there should be no less than 40 percent representation of both sexes in publicly appointed boards, councils and committees. This provision is not binding for political parties. Neverhteless, it has proved to be effective as a guideline.

Women in local planning

Another important matter is that the gender perspecive should be integrated into all planning. We tend to be proud of our results concerning integration of women in local planning processes. There are several reasons why this is important, and the work is given high priority. It is a general goal to make the planning processes as democratic and with as much local participation as possible, and the Planning and Building Act is made with a view to this end. An integration of all members of society is wanted, and special care is taken to ensure that women and young people are heard.

Women are able to introduce new perspectives and alternative values into the matter, and may be a vitamin injection in the process. Where the planning is dealing with the problem of out migration from rural areas, of course women - often the first to move out - may be of vital importance to the final result.

As you will learn during these days, Norway initiated a 3 year experimental programme to meet these challenges some years ago. The project is now terminated, but the results and experiences are being frequently used both in other projects and in the general work of improving our planning system.

At the moment, the municipalities of Norway are trying to integrate the perspective of local Agenda 21 in their local planning processes. In this work one of the essential objects is to encourage local mobilization and participation both in planning and environmental tasks. The main goal is, of course, a sustainable development. Integrating the female perspective in this work is an important challenge.

Working life

More than 80 percent of Norwegian women are wage workers, half of them in the public sector. In the 1970s and early 1980s we had a growth in this sector in local communities all over the country. There was a demand for more workers, and women were called upon. Farmers’ and fishermen’s wives, young women with but little education, housewives in need of an extra income – most of them became wage workers, many in part-time jobs, and most in health and social service. The growth in the public sector has now stopped, and this is a major reason why younger women with no education or practice have few chances in the local job market, which is heavily gender segregated in our rural communities. Men dominate private sector areas like heavy industry, agriculture, forestry and fishery.

The entry of women into the labour market has brought about most profound changes in the Norwegian society over the last thirty years. Extensive measures have been taken within the fields of child care and parental leave, to make it easier for parents with young children to combine family responsibilities with work outside home. At present the Minister of Children and Family Affairs is pushing the issue of opportunity for one parent – father or mother - to stay at home, by introducing a cash allowance for those who prefer to take care of and spend time with their own infants.

Female entrepreneurs

It is in the interest of both economy and of women themselves that their role is recognized and that they are enabled to continue and increase their contribution to rural life and work.

As a supplementary contribution to the aid from regional authorities, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development and the Ministry of Agriculture provide financial means to encourage the creation of employment for women in remote and rural areas. Both ministries offer grants for women entrepreneurs who want to start their own enterprise.

The grant provided by the Ministry of Agriculture is available through a system called the Rural Development Support Scheme (RDSS). The administration has been delegated to county level, to be executed by the county agricultural and forestry agencies in co-operation with other authorities. The main object of the RDSS is to encourage profitable economic development within and related to farming. We want to encourage local prime movers that, firstly, provide an infrastructure for economic development, and, secondly, establish new enterprises or support existing ones. Funding is available for both female and male applicants, but women are given priority.

Evaluation of the RDSS shows that 50 percent of the projects are carried out by women. Surveys also show that female entrepreneurs to a lower extent than men lead their firms into bankruptcies. They often act within lower risks than men; instead they start their business on a small scale and build it up gradually.

When people want to start a business, they often need guidance and councel as to how to start and run an enterprise. In this field too, special care has been taken to meet the needs of female entrepreneurs. The agricultural authorities in each county have a special advisor in its staff, who is educated and reponsible for assisting the female half of the local population. These advisors also see to other measures which may have positive effects on women’s influence in local society. In different ways they contribute to building networks between women in the countryside, and to a changing of traditional attitudes in many rural districts.

Rural women often add greatly to culture and heritage resources in their surroundings, with for instance new food products, crafts, and rural tourism activities, just to mention a few. Female entrepreneurs have succeeded in strengthening the diversity of the rural communities considerably. We see that they often use local resources in new and exiting ways in their business practice.

…the end

During this week you will hear about and exchange experiences concerning female participation in local politics and planning, and womens contribution to working life and social life in rural areas. You will also be introduced to concrete tools which may be used to ensure the gender perspective in political processes. I am especially looking forward to learning about your own experiences in these matters.

I trust that we shall have an interesting and informative work shop here in Gausdal, and I would like to put a quote of Charles Dudley as a motto for our co-working:

It is one of the beautiful compensations of this life that no one can sincerely try to help another without helping (him)herself.

Thank you very much.

Updated May 19, 1998 by Statens forvaltningstjeneste, ODIN-redaksjonen