Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The (In)egalitarian Dynamics of Gender Equality and Homotolerance in Contemporary Norway

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Egalitarianism in Scandinavia

Part of the book series: Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference ((ATSIAD))

Abstract

With their complex and historically shifting articulations of equality, sameness, and difference, discourses and practices related to gender and sexuality provide fertile ground for exploring the complex meanings and functions of egalitarianism. This chapter, first, examines the public debate in Norway through policy documents on gender equality, homosexuality, and citizenship. Through the analysis that follows, it shows how gender equality and sexual equality have come to be articulated as constitutive of Norwegian identity and as a societal value. This articulation of gender and sexual equality as part of Norwegian identity and as a constitutive value is produced in relation to the Other, either internal (immigrant, Muslim) or external (foreign, non-Western). The chapter argues that gender and sexual equality have become crucial to the understanding of Norwegian society as a “community of value”. The idea of the good citizen is anchored in ideas about the individual, autonomy, and equality and defined by the outside by the non-citizen and the failed citizen. Gender and sexual equality have become crucial to the production of Norway as a particular kind of national imagined community (Anderson, Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso, 1983), patrolling the borders of the national community and its citizenry and entrenching gendered and racialized differences between “us” and “them”.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 27.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    One of the first such gender equality ranking lists was the UNDP gender-related development index, where the Scandinavian countries already figured at the top of the first report in 1995. Developments in making gender equality a part of national identity similar to the ones described in this chapter have occurred in Sweden in particular, and in Denmark.

  2. 2.

    Eriksen ’s Typisk norsk (1993) and Klausen’s (1995, 1996) work on the Olympic Games in Norway were contemporary attempts to grasp these nationalist rearticulations of identity and community.

  3. 3.

    My discussion here is based on Gressgård and Jacobsen (2008, 2014).

  4. 4.

    Christian fundamentalism and traditionalism are not discussed with respect to this dichotomization between a modern, Western, individualistic point of view and a traditional, collectivist view.

  5. 5.

    The Koran includes the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed by the wrath of God because the inhabitants engaged in lustful carnal acts between men, a story that is also found in the Christian Bible. The dominant interpretation of this narrative is that it is a condemnation of homosexuality, although some have challenged this by arguing that it could be interpreted as condemning lust (see, e.g., Kugle 2010). In addition, there are sayings (hadith) from the Prophet Muhammad on how to deal with homosexual violators, of which there is some disagreement regarding their reliability. Punishment for homosexuality has historically been related to public sexual penetrative acts witnessed by four adults.

  6. 6.

    An umbrella organization that by 2016 had gathered 42 member organizations spread across the country.

  7. 7.

    “The gay Muslim” does figure in the public debate in Norway, but primarily as a potential victim of Muslim intolerance. Some voices try to escape this discursive framework by challenging both racialization and anti-Muslim sentiment and homophobia.

  8. 8.

    As the Introduction, Chap. 1, in this book notes, the understanding of the citizenry as being comprised of women as well as men came as a result of the political struggle for women’s rights, including to suffrage.

  9. 9.

    “That sport [skiing] is crucial. It was important to Norwegians to see King Olav learn how to ski. That’s when he became Norwegian” (Lode and Glomnes 2009, my translation). See Romme Larsen, Chap. 11, in this book for a discussion of bicycling as a ”national thing” and its centrality to the production of autonomous individuals and integration of refugees in Danish discourses.

  10. 10.

    “Unfortunately, there are women who are not allowed to participate because their husbands want them to stay at home. Mandatory Norwegian courses could thus be positive” (Lode and Glomnes 2009).

  11. 11.

    What Unni Wikan (1995) refers to as “norsk i navnet heller enn i gavnet” [Norwegian in name rather than in deed].

  12. 12.

    In the sense of being a requirement for receiving the economic support given to refugees and asylum seekers in reception centers.

  13. 13.

    The Guardian recently reported on this teaching program (Kleeman et al. 2016).

References

  • Akkerman, Tjitske, and Anniken Hagelund. 2007. “Women and children first!” Anti-immigration parties and gender in Norway and the Netherlands. Patterns of Prejudice 41 (2): 197–214. doi:10.1080/00313220701265569.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Benedict. 1983. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Bridget. 2013. Us & them? The dangerous politics of immigration control. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson, Mette, Christine M. Jacobsen, Jon Rogstad, and Viggo Vestel. 2012. Kritiske hendelser—nye stemmer. Politisk engasjement og transnasjonal orientering i det nye Norge [Critical events–New voices. Political engagement and transnational orientation in the new Norway]. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Annfelt, Trine, and Berit Gullikstad. 2013. Kjønnslikestilling i inkluderingens tjeneste? Tidsskrift for Kjønnsforskning 37 (03–04): 309–328.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bangstad, Sindre. 2009. Sekularismens ansikter. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Anders Breivik and the rise of islamophobia. London/New York: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barstad, Stine. 2008. Norge er verdensmester i likestilling. Aftenposten, November 12. http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Norge-er-verdensmestere-i-likestilling-273856b.html. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • Berntzen, Lars Erik. 2011. Den eksistensielle trusselen: En sosiologisk studie av politisk motstand mot islam, muslimsk kultur og innvandring til Norge. Master thesis, Department of Sociology, University of Bergen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bracke, Sarah. 2011. Subjects of debate: Secular and sexual exceptionalism, and Muslim women in the Netherlands. Feminist Review 98: 28–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brochmann, Grete. 2002. Velferdsstat, integrasjon og majoritetens legitimitet. In Sand i maskineriet. Makt og demokrati i det flerkulturelle Norge, ed. Grete Brochmann, Tordis Borchgrevink, and Jon Rogstad. Oslo: Gyldendal Akademisk.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, Wendy. 2006. Regulating aversion. Tolerance in the age of identity and empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, Judith. 2009. Frames of war: When is life grievable? London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Danielsen, Hilde, and Eirinn Larsen. 2013. Likestillingslandet Norge 1990–2013. In Norsk likestillingshistorie 1814–2013, ed. Hilde Danielsen, Eirinn Larsen, and Ingeborg W. Owesen, 186–223. Oslo: Fagbokforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eriksen, Thomas Hylland. 1993. Typisk norsk—Essays om kulturen i Norge. Oslo: Huitfelt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Et angrep på homofile er et angrep på våre grunnleggende verdier. 2016. Verdens Gang (VG), June 14. http://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/orlando-massakren/et-angrep-paa-homofile-er-et-angrep-paa-vaare-grunnleggende-verdier/a/23711192/. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • Fernando, Mayanthi L. 2014. Intimacy surveilled: Religion, sex, and secular cunning. Signs 39 (3): 685–708. doi:10.1086/674207.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gressgård, Randi E. 2010. Multicultural dialogue: Dilemmas, paradoxes, conflicts. Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gressgård, Randi E., and Christine M. Jacobsen. 2003. Questions of gender in a multicultural society. NORA—Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research 11 (2): 69–77. doi:10.1080/08038740310002923.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2008. Krevende toleranse. Islam og homoseksualitet. Tidsskrift for Kjønnsforskning 32 (2): 22–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2014. Citoyens intolérables: Tolérance, Islam et homosexualité. Nordiques 28: 41–49.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gullestad, Marianne. 2002. Det norske sett med nye øyne. Kristisk analyse av norsk innvandringsdebatt. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. Plausible prejudice: Everyday practices and social images of nation, culture and race. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hernes, Helga. 1987. Welfare state and woman power: Essays in state feminism. Oslo: Norwegian University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen, Christine M. 2011. Islamic traditions and Muslim youth in Norway. Leiden: Brill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobsen, Christine M., and Dag Stenvoll. 2010. Muslim women and foreign prostitutes. Victim discourse, subjectivity and governance. Social Politics 17 (3): 270–294. doi:10.1093/sp/jxq011.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kapferer, Bruce. 2015. When a joke is not a joke? The paradox of egalitarianism. In The event of Charlie Hebdo—Imaginaries of freedom and control, ed. Alessandro Zagato, 93–112. New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klausen, Arne-Martin. 1995. Fakkelstafetten: En olympisk overtyre. Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 1996. Lillehammer-OL og olympismen. Oslo: Ad Notam Gyldendal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kleeman, Jenny, Tom Silverstone, and Mustafa Khalili. 2016. Norway’s Muslim immigrants attend classes on western attitudes to women—Video. The Guardian, August 1. https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/aug/01/norway-muslim-immigrants-classes-western-attitudes-women-video. Accessed 3 Aug 2016.

  • Kugle, Scott Sir ajal-Haqq. 2010. Homosexuality in Islam: Critical reflection on gay, lesbian, and transgender Muslims. Oxford: Oneworld Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Külick, Don. 2009. Can there be an anthropology of homophobia? In Homophobias: Lust and loathing across time and space, ed. David A.B. Murray, 19–33. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lister, Ruth. 2009. A Nordic Nirvana? Gender, citizenship, and social justice in the Nordic welfare states. Social Politics 16 (2): 242–278. doi:10.1093/sp/jxp007.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lode, Veslemøy, and Lars Molteberg Glomnes. 2009. “Fortjener” du å være norsk? Ta testen her. Dagbladet, June 5. http://www.dagbladet.no/2009/06/05/nyheter/politikk/statsborgerskap/test/morten_tjessem/6545981/. Accessed 3 Aug 2016.

  • Longva, Anh Nga. 2003. The trouble with difference: Gender, ethnicity, and Norwegian social democracy. In Multicultural challenge (Comparative social research, volume 22), ed. Grete Brochmann, 153–175. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Malm, Mari Sand, and Gunnar Thorenfeldt. 2015. Kan bli Oslos nye ordfører: Her er Sultans mest kontroversielle uttalelser. Og dette mener han i dag. Dagbladet, September 14. http://www.dagbladet.no/2015/09/14/nyheter/shoaib_sultan/valg15/mdg/politikk/41090281/. Accessed 3 Aug 2016.

  • Martinsson, Lena, Gabriele Griffin, and Katarina Giritli Nygren, eds. 2016. Challenging the myth of gender equality in Sweden. University of Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meek, Kristine, and Halvor Hegtun. 2006. Homo på kafé—Hetero i moské. Aftenposten, March 2. http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Homo-pa-kaf---hetero-i-mosk-416355b.html. Accessed 3 Aug 2016.

  • Midtbøen, Arnfinn H. 2015. Citizenship, integration and the quest for social cohesion: Nationality reform in the Scandinavian countries. Comparative Migration Studies 3 (3): unpaginated.

    Google Scholar 

  • Midtbøen, Arnfinn H., and Mari Teigen. 2013. Sosial investering i kjønnslikestilling? Flerdimensjonale perspektiver på norsk aktiveringspolitikk. Tidsskrift for Kjønnsforskning 37 (03–04): 294–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Narvesen, Richard Ruben. 2010. Bestem deg, er du homo eller muslim?—Jeg er et menneske!: En kvalitativ studie av livshistoriene til åtte lesbiske, homofile og bifile med muslimsk bakgrunn. Master thesis, Avdeling for samfunnsfag, Høgskolen i Oslo.

    Google Scholar 

  • Puar, Jasbir. 2007. Terrorist assemblages: Homonationalism in queer times. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Rana, Muhammad Usman. 2008. Den sekulære ekstremismen. Aftenposten, February 25. http://www.aftenposten.no/meninger/kronikk/Den-sekulare-ekstremismen-310699b.html. Accessed 3 Aug 2016.

  • Ryan, Kerry, and Tim McNamara. 2011. Testing identities: Language tests and Australian citizenship. In Uniformity and diversity in language policy: Global perspectives, ed. Catrin Norrby and John Hajek, 180–195. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stokke, Olga. 2014. Her blir syriske kvoteflyktninger forberedt på norsk kultursjokk. Aftenposten, September 14. http://www.aftenposten.no/norge/Her-blir-syriske-kvoteflyktninger-forberedt-pa-norsk-kultursjokk-70024b.html. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • Thorbjørnsrud, Berit. 2003. Weeping for the Muslim Cinderellas. A lament of tears shed though not shared. Tidsskrift for Migrasjonsforskning 4 (2): 133–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trägårdh, Lars. 1997. Statist individualism: On the culturality of the Nordic welfare state. In The cultural construction of Norden, ed. Bo Stråth and Øystein Sørensen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.

    Google Scholar 

  • White Paper. 1996–1997. Om innvandring og det flerkulturelle Norge, No. 17 (1996–1997). Stortingsmelding, Kommunal- og arbeidsdepartementet, Norwegian Government. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/stmeld-nr-17-1996-1997-/id191037/. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • ———. 2000–2001. Levevilkår og livskvalitet for lesbiske og homofile i Noreg, No. 25 (2000–2001). Stortingsmelding, Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet, Norwegian Government. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/stmeld-nr-25-2000-2001-/id470716/. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • ———. 2003–2004. Mangfold gjennom inkludering og deltakelse, No. 49 (2003–2004). Stortingsmelding, Arbeids- og sosialdepatementet, Norwegian Government. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/stmeld-nr-49-2003-2004-/id405180/. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • ———. 2009–2012. Handlingsplan for å fremme likestilling og hindre etnisk diskriminering (2009–2012). Handlingsplan, Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet, Norwegian Government, April 16. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/handlingsplan-for-a-fremme-likestilling-/id555077/. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • ———. 2014. Høring—forslag til endring i statsborgerloven krav om at søkere mellom 18 og 67 år skal beherske et minimum av norsk muntlig og bestå en test i samfunnskunnskap. Høringsnotat, Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet. Norwegian Government, October 24. https://www.regjeringen.no/contentassets/7ad9bc8bf8524a5c8a8f1ad33f7bbba7/horingsnotat.pdf. Accessed 14 Dec 2016.

  • ———. 2015–2016. Likestilling i praksis –Like muligheter for kvinner og menn No. 7 (2015–2016). Stortingsmelding, Barne- og likestillingsdepartementet. Norwegian Government. https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/meld.-st.-7-20152016/id2456562/sec1. Accessed 7 Dec 2016.

  • Wikan, Unni. 1995. Mot en ny norsk underklasse. Oslo: Gyldendal.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Women’s and Gender Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Christine M. Jacobsen

Authors
  1. Christine M. Jacobsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Synnøve Bendixsen

  2. University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Mary Bente Bringslid

  3. University College Southeast Norway, Skien, Norway

    Halvard Vike

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jacobsen, C.M. (2018). The (In)egalitarian Dynamics of Gender Equality and Homotolerance in Contemporary Norway. In: Bendixsen, S., Bringslid, M., Vike, H. (eds) Egalitarianism in Scandinavia. Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59791-1_14

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59791-1_14

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-59790-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-59791-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation