Minister of Children and Family Affairs Laila Dåvøy

Meeting with “Journalists for Health” - Gender Equality in Norway

Oslo 24.09.03

I am very happy to wish you all welcome her today.

We are too many people to present our self around the table. We have all got a list with names and titles. It is a very impressing list.

We have a time limit of one hour and a half. I will start with a presentation of a few questions related to gender equality and family policy. After that end our meeting taking a video approximately for 20 – 30 minutes with questions and answers on some topic.

As you might know Norway and Poland has started a bilateral dialog on gender equality at the national governmental level. I participated at a conference prepared in close cooperation between Poland and Norway in June this year. Since then we have also made a brochure on gender equality with a focus on a few key issues. Our ambition is that the brochure should act as an appetiser for future work.

These activities have been financed through a Norwegian Plan of Action to support the EU candidate countries in their preparations for EU membership. Democracy, fundamental rights and gender equality is among the three areas given priority in the plan. Co-operation with Poland is of particular importance in this regard.

Personally I appreciate very much this opportunity to meet you. We have great challenges common. All of you represent important avenues and possible door openers for improvement of gender equality and the situation of women in your country. Networking is crucial.

I am minister of family policy and gender equality. Some people have the misconception that family welfare and good family policy is in contradiction with a strong gender equality policy. It is not the case, which also UN’s Secretary-General, Kofi Annan said: “..empowering women means not only better lives for women, but better lives for all.”

To succeed in implementing a policy for gender equality we need a national mechanism, or as we call it: a “national machinery” for gender equality.

Norway’s machinery consists of the following:

I. The Ministry of Children and Family Affairs.

The ministry has the overall responsibility for developing legislative and positive action measures to achieve gender equality and to co-ordinate the government policy for gender equality.

A two-track strategy is pursued, of gender mainstreaming and specific measures of positive action. The equality dimension is supposed to be mainstreamed into the work of all the ministries.

A committee of Deputy Ministers from various ministries has been set up to place gender issues more firmly on the political agenda. Its mandate is to advise the Government and the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs on gender equality matters, and to promote the gender mainstreaming process.

II. The Gender Equality Ombudsman.

The Gender Equality Ombudsman is a politically independent body that enforces the Gender Equality Act. The Ombudsman deals with complaints free of charge.

The law prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender and applies to all areas of the society. The Act requires that public authorities should promote gender equality in all sectors of society.

The Act amending the Gender Equality Act was passed by the Norwegian parliament (the Storting) in 2002. All changes have entered into force by the 1.of January 2003.

The duty for public authorities to promote gender equality is both sharpened and extended and it now also applies to the private sector. Employers and employees and their organisations are instructed to promote gender equality within their activities and their areas of responsibility. This implies a demand on public authorities; employers and organisations not simply to avoid discrimination but to actively implement specific steps to promote gender equality.

Public- and private sector businesses are likewise required to submit an annual report giving account of the gender equality situation within their organisation.

III: The Centre for Gender Equality is a politically independent, but government funded agency, for the promotion of gender equality. Their mandate is to monitor developments in the society from the perspective of gender equality. It should promote and develop expertise in gender equality and stimulate public debate, serve as a meeting and information site for organisations and institutions as well as for the public at large.

And I want to add that the Norwegian Government considers regular contact with the NGO’s as vital. They are regularly invited to give their opinions on public matters regarding gender equality, to participate in international delegations and some NGO’s also receive some basic government funding.

Norway is by many considered to be a “haven” for gender equality.

I know that in Poland women earn 82 percent of men and in Norway 80 percent. Norway is more similar to EU member countries where these differences are less in public than in private sector. While in Poland the situation is opposite. The wage differences in the private sector are “only” 84 percent (against 78 percent in the public sector). I hope we can learn from you. Your presence here also convinces me that Poland is not behind Norway when we discuss women in key positions. Both countries still need to improve national policies and practical arrangements.

At the hart of the gender equality work is the issue of women’s representation.

The Prime Minister has appointed eight women among the eighteen members of Cabinet or 42 percent women and in Parliament women make up 37 percent of the representatives. In publicly appointed committees women represent 42 percent.

In the private sector the situation is totally different. Women’s representation in company boards is far too low and the government works firmly to change this. Women’s representation at high level management and administration in Norway is also quite low.

Norwegian women have had success in getting political influence compared to most other countries. The increased parity between women and men in decision making is closely linked to the education and employment opportunities for women. But I dare to say that few real changes would have come without affirmative rules and legislation from the state.

Another area of great concern is violence and sexual abuse of women; problems that continue to ruin the lives of many women. To combat violence is one of my government’s highest priorities, and this includes special efforts to combat violence against women.

To be threatened and abused by your loved one is felt as a shame, deep shame, for most people. These problems tend to be hidden and unseen.

A health survey carried out in 1999 among Norwegian women aged 29 to 49 indicated that 10 percent reported that they had been raped by their partner. Five per cent reported that they had been raped by someone other than their partner. Every year approximately 2700 women take refugee in a shelter.

Norway intends this year prepare our second plan of action to combat domestic violence. There will be a strengthening of the focus on the male perpetrators, children growing up with family violence and also the specific situation of immigrant women facing domestic violence.

In our fight against gender based violence we need to revise our thinking. Through 20 years to fight violence against women we have had focus on assisting the victims. We will not do proper progress unless we also focus on men’s behaviour and responsibility as perpetrators. We need to offer violent men an avenue out of their repetitive violent behaviour. We have already some experience in psychological counselling of men. More effective punitive measures are also being implemented. Extended restriction orders, similar to what Austria has implemented, aim to avoid that women and children must leave their homes to avoid a violent spouse. (besøksforbud).

Trafficking in women and children - this increasing and horrifying form of modern slavery - is another fairly new problem for us.

The Norwegian Government attaches great importance to prevent trafficking in human beings, to make criminal all aspects of trafficking, and to support and protect the victims. We have this spring launched a cross-sectional plan against trafficking in women and children for sexual exploitation.

As a result of the plan we have established ethical guidelines for government employees on business travel and for military personnel posted abroad. The ethical guidelines prohibit the purchase of sexual services. In this way we wish to encourage what we call “business with trousers on”!

In this rather short address on women’s right and gender equality, I have tried to give you a picture of the development in Norway and a few high lights of today’s challenges. We have achieved a lot. But we are far from satisfied. We want to learn from others how to improve, and we are happy to share some of our experiences with others.

Family policies

I firmly believe that women of today and in the future want to be mothers and to be gainfully employed or independent professionals.

We therefore need a family friendly policy allowing both mothers and fathers to combine work and family life.

All countries have to find their own solution to this challenge. In Norway we have combined a family friendly policy with an active policy for gender equality. And since the 1980-ies we have included a male perspective in these policy areas.

I want to share with you a few principles in our family policy legislation:

1. National priority to a parental leave system allowing paid leave for a reasonable period to promote women and men to combine family and work.
2. Shared responsibilities between women and men are promoted. A quota for the father of the parental leave has proved successful. This benefits children as well as women and men.
3. Parenthood should not be a reason for discrimination in education or in working life. The EU directives are also extremely strict on non-discrimination.

Today 3 out 4 mothers with small children work, and with both parents working The Early Childhood Education and Care service are vital. This is an educational/pedagogical service for the children and is also a provision for families in order to better reconciliation working and family life.

The “barnehage” – as we call it in Norway - is for all children between the ages 0-5 years. As the parental leave is almost a year, there are very few babies in our “barnehager”. In 1998, Norway also introduced a cash benefit scheme for 1 and 2 year-olds. This gives the parents the choice between staying at home with their children or to use a “barnehage” or to combine part-time “barnehage” and a reduced cash benefit.

Today 66 per cent of all children from 1-5 attend an early childhood centre. Still we do not have enough places to fulfil the demands for parents who want their child to attend an early childhood centre. For children over 3 years we have almost full access, the lack of places is for children under the age of 3. Our most important challenge is therefore to reach the goal of full access for all children whose parents want it.

The running of the ECEC sector is financed by state grants, grants from local authorities and parents’ fee. The state grants are decided by the Norwegian Parliament every year. These grants are the same for private and public ECEC.

Norway has invested heavily in improving conditions for families with young children. The parental leave schemes and the day-care are among the best in the world. Women’s participation in working life has increased dramatically during recent decades, while men are becoming more conscious of their role as fathers. The Norwegian fertility rate is among the highest in Europe (as you will see in our brochure).

But still the so-called two-tier model of parenthood characterised by periods of part-time work and extensive use of parental leave schemes mainly seems to be a female model. About half of the working mothers have a part-time job. Only 1 out 10 fathers takes more than their four-week parent leave. Still mothers take the vast bulk of housework. Persisting gender differences still exist in Norway.

To decrease these gender differences I believe it is necessary to work in two directions. It is necessary to strengthen women’s positions in the public sphere as I described earlier, and on the other hand it is important to strengthen the fathers’ role in the family. In a White Paper submitted by the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs in April 2003 under the title “The obligations of Family Life and Parenthood” the government outlines long-term goals for amendments to the parental benefits scheme where the emphasis is on fathers’ rights.

Family health

I firmly believe it is important to promote healthy stable relationships in the family. This is an investment both in the health and personal well-being of both parents and children, and an investment for the future.

The Family Counselling Service has family-related problems as its special field. The service offer treatment and counselling when there are difficulties, conflicts or crisis in the family. The service also has a duty to conduct mediation according to The Children Act and The Marriage Act. In addition, it is supposed to pursue out-turned activities concerning family-related subjects. This can consist of guidance, information and teaching towards both the public sector and the general public.

The Family Counselling Service consists of 64 agencies which are located throughout the country. 384 professionals work in this service. These professionals are most often social workers or psychologists. During the last 10 years the service has expanded substantially, with the establishment of 19 new agencies, corresponding to a 30 per cent increase in capacity. Most of the new agencies have been established in rural areas, in order to make the service available nation-wide. There is a special “ethnic” agency for the Sami population in the northern districts.

The service is free of charge.

National parental guidance program

A National Parental Guidance programme was launched in 1995. The main objective of the programme is to establish meeting places where parents can exchange views and discuss issues related to raising children. This strengthens the parents´ role and prevents mental and social problems among children. This programme has generated extensive knowledge to the benefit of both professionals and parents. Such measures are voluntary, and they are often implemented in child day care centres or kindergartens or in schools.

Another crucial issue concerning family and health is reproductive choice. Basic health care services, availability of contraceptives and access to safe and legal abortion serve to secure women's right to decide on the spacing and number of children.

From 1979, women in Norway have had the right to induced abortion on demand until 12 ^th> week of pregnancy. Abortions are performed in public hospitals and at no cost on the women’s part. Every woman has a right to good counselling, but it is not mandatory.

A wide field of measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies accompanies the Abortion Act. The Norwegian government has financed and carried out 3 national strategic plans.

The key concepts in the preventive work in Norway are empowerment and sexual autonomy. To promote young peoples ownership, self-confidence and pride of their bodies and sexuality. To encourage young people to take control over their fertility and sexual health. Key principles: all work and projects are oriented towards the gender, age and specific cultural setting of the target groups.

For the last ten-year period the general abortion rate has declined steadily. Since the beginning of the 1990 the overall abortion rate in Norway has declined 19%. In 2002 the abortion rate was 12.6 per 1000 women. The abortion rate among teenagers is 16.6, which is the lowest abortion rate ever in this age group.

Closing up:

I want to finish with a question. Do women in politics make a change? Yes! It might be obvious, but research has showed how women have changed the political agenda in Norway. The most obvious results are the good arrangements for publicly paid parental leave and flexible solutions that benefit working parents.

Our visions for gender equality are not yet reality. Despite the progress we have seen, serious challenges remain.