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Women politicians do it their way in Norway

By David Gonnerman '90
April 24, 2003

Irene Garland
Garland
NORTHFIELD, Minn. ? The lecture ?Changing Political Agenda the Norwegian Way: Women in Norwegian Politics? will be presented by Norwegian social scientist Irene Garland in the Black and Gold Ballroom, Buntrock Commons, St. Olaf College at 7 p.m. on Monday, April 28.

Garland will address why more women in Norway hold high public office than in most other first-world countries. She will discuss how women in Norway have gained political power, how the issue of women combining career and family life has been debated in Norway and how this debate has shaped public policy.

?By working together and taking advantage of the election system, women in Norway were able to secure seats, first in the local elections, and subsequently in national elections,? Garland says. ?Once in power they used that opportunity to place women?s issues on the political agenda. The decisions these women made altered society by leading to changes in laws.?

Norway has what generally are considered the world's most generous laws governing parental leave.

Garland?s talk also will compare Norway with the United States and the United Kingdom. ?The values that underpin the welfare state will be discussed as they relate to family values and working women,? she says.

Each of Norway?s three largest political parties has recently been led by a woman. But women in Norway also speak with a united voice, Garland says, noting the following three political issues as being most important to Norwegian women: a law requiring companies to have 40 percent female representation on their boards, equal pay for equal work (as in America, Norwegian women still earn less than men) and increasing the percentage of women in upper management. ?Though Norwegian women are more equal than women almost anywhere else, they are still not as equal as men,? she explains.

Garland is a lecturer at the University of Surrey in Guildford, England, and course leader at the Oslo International Summer School, University of Oslo, Norway. She also performs language-related work for the British Foreign and Home Offices, British Airways and the BBC. Garland spent 20 years in the press, culture and information section of the Norwegian Embassy in London. She lives in England with her husband Roger Garland, who is a chef, and two sons.

Her lecture at St. Olaf is sponsored by the Robert Andrew Leraas Interdisciplinary Lecture Fund, the St. Olaf Norwegian department, Northfield Nordmanns-Forbundet and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

St. Olaf College, a national leader among liberal arts institutions, fosters the development of mind, body and spirit. It is a residential college in Northfield, Minn., and affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The college provides personalized instruction and diverse learning environments, with nearly two-thirds of its students participating in international studies. For more information, visit www.stolaf.edu.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.