Minister of Children and Family Affairs Grete Berget

Opening address - European women's conference "Strategies for Change"

Oslo, 26. March 1996

First of all, I would like to welcome you all to Norway. Norway and the other Nordic countries are often mentioned as models when it comes to gender equality. We are, of course pleased about that, but I can assure you that we have more than enough challenges facing us too. We still need strategies for change.

We are probably best known for our high proportion of women in politics. In 1986 we were the first to have a Cabinet with women in half of the positions - the so-called "women's government". Since then, women have held onto half of the Cabinet minister positions. In itself, perhaps, this isn't so very important, but I believe that the side-effects have made quite an impact. The most important one being that the high proportion of women is no longer considered special, but is,on the contrary, looked upon as completely normal.

But - and here it already gets difficult to continue our boasting: Women's participation in politics and other social areas is looked upon as normal, and is perhaps itself one of the biggest challenges facing us in Norway today. In other words, we can say that the problem is that it looks as though we have gender equality. I think that this will be one of the main challenges in gender-equality policies facing European countries in the 1990's. Since women have begun to make their mark in schools of higher learning, the work force and in politics, it's become easy to say "gender equality has gone far enough". I believe that in this situation it is more important than ever to find new strategies for change.

I would like to say some words on how I believe we can affect a change - how we can get further. One of the most basic things to understand is that gender equality is not only about counting men and women. If we only look at this aspect of the struggle for equality, we will, I believe, be in danger of meeting a dead-end. We run the risk of ending up with an apparent gender equality - an apparent balance between men and women, while society continues to be formed by men and men's values and interests.

When we ask boys and girls in Norway today what they think about future career choices and family life, they answer that they feel free to form their lives as they wish, independent of whether they are a boy or a girl. They don't feel that their gender is a hindrance or sets limits on the choices they have (Monica Rudberg/Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen, Univierstiy of Oslo). It's probably not so strange that they have this outlook. These young people have grown up with working mothers and a woman prime minister. Today, men and women under 40 years of age have equal education levels, and there are 2 to 5 percent more women than men at universities and colleges. Education is no longer something woman have "just in case"; today, women take it for granted that they will use their education. With this background, it is perhaps not so strange that young women feel that the future lies wide open for them.

I believe, however, that many here today will agree with me that the future isn't quite so promising. We can continue with our example concerning education. If we look closer, we see that the proportion of women at universities and colleges diminishes the higher you go. And, when it comes to positions in science, we don't have much to boast about. This goes for one field after another.

And then there are those who say: Yes, but you have to be patient! So much has changed in so short a time, we have to let things take time. I recently read an article in one of the Norwegian Student Union publications that a mathematician in Zurich has computed that if things develop at the same rate as today, it will take 1406 years before 50 percent of philosophy professors are women!

We can't, of course, accept this strategy for change. But instead of, or rather, at the same time as we continue to work for gender equality in politics and in the work force, it is important to look at other challenges. We have to work with several strategies at the same time.

One of the largest challenges facing Norwegian efforts for gender equality today, is to reach a better balance in what we can call male and female values. In the wake of women's entrance into politics, the universities and into the work force, it has become evident that women have different priorities than men, and in many cases look at things from a different angle. We see that not only is society governed by men, but also by men's way of thinking - and by men's interests. The challenge in the future is to show that decisions and processes that seem neutral are, in fact, biased. We want to integrate women's values into the decision-making processes, also called mainstreaming of equality.

Another main challenge facing gender-equality efforts in the 1990's will be to bring men along. We won't deny that , many gender equality efforts have been based on women's interests and points of view. This was natural at the beginning. But, after almost 30 years of gender equality policies aimed at women, it is perhaps time to look at men. It is becoming more and more clear that if men don't change, we will never achieve real women's liberation or gender equality. The roles of men and women are closely connected and they intertwine. As long as only one side in this relationship is changing, any change will be clearly limited.

I would like to stress these three strategies as equally important in the work for increased gender equality: first, women's participation in politics and society; second, the balance between male and female values; and third, the particiaption of men in family life and child care.

1) Women's participation in politics and the work force

As I mentioned earlier, mainstreaming of equality and a change in the role of men represent the greatest challenge to Norwegian equality policy in the 90's. But women's participation in politics and society has been an important prerequisite for both these tasks.

As I said, Norway is famous for the high proportion of women in politics. I don't think that there is any doubt that our quota system has been decisive in achieving this high proportion. I won't deny that the law that opens for affirmative action for women in positions where they are underrepresented has had its opponents. Some have said that such a provision is self-defeating because it leaves the impression that women get in because of their gender and not because of their competence.

Affirmative action for women under equal circumstances is also allowed in the labour market. Quotas are very seldom used, but affirmative action is much more than quotas. Often, it is just adding the words "women are encouraged to apply" in a job advertisement. This small gesture has proven to be very effective. Women who otherwise would not have applied for just this job, do afterall. We have now opened for affirmative action for men in some areas. I will come back to this later.

I believe it has been easier in politics to gain acceptance for the thought that women can bring a new dimension to things. Because of this alone, women should be represented in democratic decision-making bodies. We have a Gender Equality Act that says that the underrepresented gender shall have at least 40% of the seats in all committees and councils appointed or elected by a public authority. We don't have any rules for quotas to the Parliament or to the Cabinet, but most of the political parties have quota systems.

I think it would cause quite a stir if we had a parliament or a cabinet with any less than one third women. When our Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland addressed the UN's Women's Conference in Beijing last year, she told the story of the little boy who watched the news on Norwegian TV, and then he said: "But, can a man be prime minister?" He had only experienced a woman prime minister. He thought that was the way it should be. I don't think we have completed our job because we have such a high representation of women in the Cabinet. But I do think that what was first looked upon as somewhat abnormal is now beginning to be natural. It's not only the little boy who thinks it should be so. Women's place in politics does something to our perception of reality, and to our perception of women's place in society.

The high representation of women also affects political priorities. I think that it is easier for women politicians to see that the influx of women into the labour market demands measures that make it possible to combine family life and work. Mainly, because they themselves experienced how difficult it was to have children and a family while working full time. Just a few years ago, parental leave in Norway after the birth of a child was only 18 weeks. Today, we have one full year with 80% pay compensation, or 42 weeks with full pay compensation. The leave can also be taken as part-time work over a longer period of time if desired. In addition to the longer parental leave, we have in the last few years doubled the amount of kindergarden places available. By the year 2000 all who wish to do so will have a kindergarden place. Kindergardens are run with state funding.

Many think that gender equality and economic considerations pull in different directions, that gender equality is a kind of luxury one can afford when the economy is solid. Many of our reforms demand large funding. But, this doesn't mean that gender equality in itself is costly. On the contrary. An expert group from the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) claims that the key to solving many of the economic problems in the western industrialized nations lies in the better exploitation of women's labour experiences. We have to recognize the important role that women play in economics. The expert group claims that the problems women meet in the work world are a result of the failure of both the work-world and family policies to keep up with the technological and economic development. Women should be able to contribute to an economic renewal. They are educated, they are flexible and good at meeting changes, and have experiences from many phases of life. The OECD-report emphasizes in fact, the importance of measures that make it easier for parents to combine work and family life.

2) Mainstreaming of Equality

Gender equality is much more than women participating in formally male-dominated areas such as politics and labour. Gender equality is about better integrating women's values and perspectives in the forming and development of society so that we can achieve a better balance between male and female values and interests. That women participate more in all of society's areas does not necessarily mean that they have more influence on societal development. I'm not just talking about how much women in high positions have to work on men's terms, become "men in skirts" as we say. This concerns something that neither men nor women are conscious of, namely that apparently neutral principles and values are not all neutral, but formed from a male point of view.

This is the second great challenge of the 90's; to make gender equality an integrated part of all politics. The Norwegian government has started a systematic effort to integrate gender equality in all of its activities, in all measures and decisions. We have had Plans of Action for Gender Equality in all of the Ministries since 1986. The efforts for gender equality shall be a basic dimension in all parts of the government's activities.

The first point is visibility. Making gender differences visible. As I mentioned earlier, there are many decisions that don't directly affect the relationship between men and women, but are not gender-neutral either. Upon closer examination, what is neutral or normal is really based on the man as the norm. I will give you an example. In many small communities in Norway, women are moving away. They no longer have anything to stay for. Planners have developed a community that hasn't adjusted to the needs and interests of women. To see what can be done, and especially the men in these local communities are interested in this, we have had a trial program dealing with municipal planning on women's terms. These projects have produced exciting contributions aimed at breaking down the usual ideas, that, maybe, without our being aware of it, has been a municipal planning on men's terms.

Another point is organization. The gender perspective has to be integrated into all planning and budgets. Responsiblity for this should be placed at a high level. But, mainstreaming doesn't mean that we should stop special measures directed at gender equality. Special measures should be in addition to mainstreaming of the gender perspective in daily work.

The third point is knowledge. In order to see that the way we think is biased, and in order to organize efforts to rectify this imbalance, it is necessary for those who make decisions to have knowledge. The members of the Norwegian Cabinet have already gone to "school", and we will now approach other politicians and leaders in the civil service.

3) Changing men

Another main challenge we are to meet in the 90's is to get men moving. The interesting thing is that it is not only women who are interested in this. In Norway, there is a clear tendency among young men that they want to be different from their fathers. Among other things, they want to spend more time with their children. I believe that this is partly a result of the changes in the man's role during the past years. Women are economically independent, and the man is no longer the Breadwinner, with a capital B. At the same time, the fact that women earn money opens new possibilities for men, and more men wish to take advantage of this possibility.

In the same way that we inititated affirmative action programs for women under-represented in politics and the labour market, we have given men a little extra push to take a bigger share at home . When we lengthened parental leave to the present one year with 80 percent pay compensation, we also gave 4 weeks of this leave exclusively to the father. Today, two years later, we see that over 70% of fathers take the leave. And it turns out that many men take more than the one month leave, as long as they're going to be home anyway. For many, this little push is the beginning of a break with a long, long tradition. I believe that by being at home with responsibility for their child, men will also take a more active part in child raising, and be more conscious of their fatherhood. Time-use studies show that every year young fathers spend a little more time with their children, and give more priority to their children than to working overtime. They are not quite so good at housework, however...it is a lot more fun to be together with the children than to clean up...

Although men want to be more active with their children, there are still very few men who apply for "care-type" jobs, for example in kindergardens. Affirmative action for men is now possible in the area of education (school enrollment) and in certain jobs aimed at teaching or caring for children. For example, job advertisements can encourage men to apply for positions that entail a lot of contact with children. There's no doubt that children think there's a lack of men!

What is happening concerning men is still in the beginning stages, and I am very excited to see how it develops. We have reached a point where things are starting to move. My Ministry is constantly receiving applications for funds from new organizations and movements that in different ways are aimed at men, either men working to combat men's violence towards women, men who focus on the changes in the man's role, men conducting research on men and the man's role, or men fighting for men's rights to their children after a divorce. These movements have different reasons and fight for different interests. What they have in common is that they focus on the role of the man in our society, and the changes in this role. I believe a lot of exciting things will happen in the time to come in this field,and I believe that that which does happen - we can perhaps call it a "man's liberation" - will lead to a broader women's liberation and gender equality in our society. My job will be to form the policy that will make it possible for men to take more part in family life. But otherwise, I think that we women should be broad-minded concerning the different ways men will change their role.

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Lagt inn 26 mars 1996 av Statens forvaltningstjeneste, ODIN-redaksjonen