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“Mothers’ Freedom Is the Key to Women’s Emancipation:” Feminist Efforts to Expand Maternity Legislation in the Interwar Period

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Maternity Policy and the Making of the Norwegian Welfare State, 1880-1940

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Abstract

During the interwar period, Norwegian feminists transformed maternity support from a form of economic protection, one that in many cases was tainted by a rhetoric of dependence and included means-testing, to an economic right. Situated within the larger history of European feminist struggles for economic rights in the interwar period, this chapter examines feminist efforts to get motherhood recognized as a service women performed for the state, a service that deserved recognition and compensation. They built on the Castbergian Children’s Laws and the maternity insurance laws and worked to expand these laws to include more women, especially middle-class, married women. The chapter outlines the two strategies feminists used to achieve this goal. One involved treating motherhood as a profession that should be paid for by the state and ultimately led to the passage of Norway’s first universal social policy in 1946. The other sought to increase women’s ability to combine motherhood with paid employment outside the home by lobbying for better and more comprehensive forms of maternity leave that could enable all mothers to work outside the home without suffering economic discrimination. The chapter demonstrates how these feminist efforts contributed to the crafting of a Norwegian welfare state that contained dual paths to economic support for mothers, which continues to characterize maternity policies in place in Norway today.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A 1924 law officially restored the medieval name of “Oslo ” to the city, effective January 1, 1925. I follow this chronology and refer to the city as “Oslo ” after January 1, 1925 and “Kristiania” prior to this date.

  2. 2.

    Translation is my own. Underlined in original. S1939/27 Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor , Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  3. 3.

    See for example: Morgenposten, February 10, 1939 and February 28, 1939; Dagbladet , February 11, 1939; Norsk Handels-og Sjøfartstidende, February 21, 1939; Norges Kvinder, February 24, 1939.

  4. 4.

    Dagny Bjørnaraa to Director Ormestad , February 20, 1939, S1939/27 Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor , Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  5. 5.

    Karen Offen, European Feminisms, 1700–1950: a Political History (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000), 272.

  6. 6.

    Gisela Bock, and Pat Thane, eds., Maternity and Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States, 1880s–1950s (New York: Routledge, 1991), 11.

  7. 7.

    Ann Taylor Allen, Feminism and Motherhood in Western Europe 1890–1970: The Maternal Dilemma (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), 142.

  8. 8.

    Offen , European Feminisms, 277.

  9. 9.

    Offen , European Feminisms, 282.

  10. 10.

    In 1923 Arbeiderpartiets kvindeforbund was dissolved and replaced by Arbeiderpartiets kvinnesekretariat later called Landssekretariatet in 1927. This organization was not separate from the Labor Party, but was rather a committee that fell under the Labor Party’s Executive Committee.

  11. 11.

    Silke Neunsinger, Die Arbeid der Frauen, Die Krise der Männer: Die Erwerbstaetigkeit verheirateter Frauen in Deutschland und Schweden, 1919–1939 (Uppsala: Uppsala University Press, 2001), 89–94.

  12. 12.

    Anne-Lise Seip, Veiene til velferdsstaten: norsk sosialpolitikk 1920–75 (Oslo : Gyldendal, 1994), 19.

  13. 13.

    Ibid., 19–25.

  14. 14.

    The number of married women who worked in the 1920s was half of the levels in the 1910s. See: Ida Blom, and Sølvi Sogner, eds., Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie: fra vikingtid til 2000-årsskiftet (Oslo : Cappelen akademisk forlag, 1999), 345.

  15. 15.

    For an excellent discussion of Labor politics during the interwar period see: David Redvaldsen, The Labor Party in Britain and Norway: Elections and the Pursuit of Power Between the World Wars (London: I.B. Tauris, 2011).

  16. 16.

    This is not completely accurate for this period, but Kari Melby has argued this based on what evidence is available in Blom, Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie, 248.

  17. 17.

    For a good overview of women’s participation in Nordic politics see Elina Haavio-Mannila, Drude Dahlerup, Maud Eduards, et al., eds., Unfinished Democracy: Women in Nordic Politics (New York: Pergamon Press, 1985).

  18. 18.

    Statistisk sentralbyrå, “Stortingsvalg, Personer med stemmerett, avgitte stemmer og valgte representanter,” http://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/tabeller/25-2.html, Accessed April 17, 2013.

  19. 19.

    The percentage of women voters did not slip below 45 percent throughout the 1920s and 1930s and in 1936 over 50 percent of voters were women. Statistisk sentralbyrå, “Stortingsvalg, Personer med stemmerett, avgitte stemmer og valgte representanter,” http://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/tabeller/25-2.html, Accessed April 17, 2013.

  20. 20.

    There were also small numbers of women representatives in parliament. In 1921, Karen Platou was the first elected to parliament and by 1933 there were three women representatives in parliament. Statistisk sentralbyrå, “Stortingsvalg, Personer med stemmerett, avgitte stemmer og valgte representanter,” http://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/tabeller/25-2.html, Accessed April 17, 2013.

  21. 21.

    Bock, Maternity and Gender Policies, 6.

  22. 22.

    Kari Melby, “Husmorens epoke, 1900–1950,” in Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie, eds. Ida Blom and Sølvi Sogner (Oslo : Cappelen Akademisk Forlag, 1999), 247–248; Synnøve Hinnaland Stendal, “‘…under forvandlingens lov’: en analyse av stortingsdebatten om kvinnelige prester i 1930-årene” (PhD diss., University of Lund, 2003), 280–283.

  23. 23.

    Stortingsforhandlinger, forhandlinger i Odelstinget, June 5, 1914, 219.

  24. 24.

    “Mødreforsikringen,” Nylænde , August 1, 1915, 229.

  25. 25.

    Margarete Bonnevie, “Hva kan gjøres for å sikre kvinners lønn, arbeidsvilkår og avansement,” NKN Foredrag ved 11 landsmøte Oslo September 1938. MS 4 2912:7, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  26. 26.

    “Rostratt – ansvar,” Kvinden, February 1, 1912.

  27. 27.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Om kommunal morspensjon,” MS 4 2416:III, mødreforsikring—morstrygd, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  28. 28.

    Ella Anker, “Barnetrygd,” Kvinden, February 1, 1930.

  29. 29.

    Kari Melby, “Husmorens epoke, 1900–1950,” in Med kjønnsperspektiv på norsk historie, 247–248.

  30. 30.

    There was a marked decrease in the birth rate from 26 per 1000 births in 1920 to 19 in 1925 and 17 in 1930. Statistics Norway, http://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/, Accessed June 9, 2013.

  31. 31.

    For an example of this, survey the headlines of Kvinden in the late 1920s and 1930s.

  32. 32.

    Gro Hagemann, “Maternalism and Gender Equality,” in Reciprocity and Redistribution: Work and Welfare Reconsidered, ed. Gro Hagemann (Pisa, Italy: Pisa University Press, 2007), 80.

  33. 33.

    Kvinden, August 1, 1936, 17.

  34. 34.

    This also included discussions of eugenics. Most of the feminists studied here carefully separated eugenics from their demands for maternity benefits for women. For a good overview of the relationship between eugenicism and social policies in Scandinavia see: Gunnar Broberg and Nils Roll-Hansen, eds., Eugenics and the Welfare State: Sterilization Policy in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland (East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, 1996).

  35. 35.

    This was inspired by the Myrdals ’ ideas about social engineering and applied to the family, social, and economy. Inger Elisabeth Haavet, “Milk, Mothers and Marriage: Family Policy Formation in Norway and its Neighboring Countries in the Twentieth Century,” in The Nordic Model of Marriage: A Historical Reappraisal, eds. Niels Finn Christiansen, Klaus Petersen, Nils Edling, and Per Haave (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 2006), 205.

  36. 36.

    For a discussion of the affects of this state intervention in private life see: Jacques Donzelot, The Policing of Families, trans. Robert Hurley (London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979); Detley J.K. Peukert, Grenzen der Sosialdisziplinierung: Augstieg und Krise der deutschen Jugenforsoge, 1878–1932 (Cologne: Bund Verlag, 1986).

  37. 37.

    Allen , Feminism and Motherhood, 64. Katti Anker Møller’s papers also contain a pamphlet detailing the English version of these demands. MS 4 2416:VI National Endowment of Motherhood, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  38. 38.

    Ida Blom, “Voluntary Motherhood,” in Maternity and Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States, 1880s–1950s, eds. Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (New York: Routledge, 1991), 29; Inger Elisabeth Haavet, “Hvor mye er en mor verd? – Mødrenes forkjemper 125 år,” in Katti Anker Møller: Mødrenes forkjemper 125 år (Bergen: Senter for humanistisk kvinneforskning, 1994), 9.

  39. 39.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Om mødreforsikring,” MS 4 2416:III.

  40. 40.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Mødrehjælp,” Kvindernes Enhetsfront Oplysningsarbeide, June 7, 1925, MS 4 2416:VI, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  41. 41.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Om mødreforsikring,” MS 4 2416:III mødreforsikring—morstrygd, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  42. 42.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Om mødreforsikring,” MS 4 2416:III mødreforsikring—morstrygd.

  43. 43.

    For a classic discussion of this, see: Viviana Rotman Zelizer, Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children (New York: Basic Books, 1985).

  44. 44.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Mødreforsikring,” MS 4 2416:III Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  45. 45.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Krav om fødehjem og mødrehjem,” MS 4 2416:I.

  46. 46.

    Katti Anker Møller was a proponent of “voluntary motherhood” and led the birth control movement in Norway. She opened a Mother Hygiene Office in Oslo in 1924 that dispersed contraceptive information and birth control devices. Møller also supported the revision of the abortion law and wanted women to have the legal option of terminating their pregnancies.

  47. 47.

    To this end, Møller opened the Mother Hygiene Office in Oslo . Katti Anker Møller, “Moderskapets frigjørelse, foredrag holdt 1. gang i Kristiania 1915,” in Katti Anker Møller: Mødrenes forkjemper 125 år (Bergen: Senter for humanistisk kvinneforskning, 1994), 91.

  48. 48.

    Katti Anker Møller, “Kvindernes fødselspolitik, Venstrekvinnelaget, Kristiania, 1919” in Moderskapets frigjørelse. To foredrag-fra 1915 og 1919, ed. Katti Anker Møller (Oslo : Tiden, 1974).

  49. 49.

    Ibid., 40.

  50. 50.

    Sigrid Undset, “Begrepsforvirring,” (1919) reprinted in Essays og artikler 1910–1919, ed. Liv Bliksrud (Oslo , 2004), 329–346.

  51. 51.

    Katti Anker Møller to Mrs. Michelet , MS 4 2416:VI Kvinnenes fødselspolitikk, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  52. 52.

    “Venstrekvinnelaget,” Nylænde , 1919, 126. Møller later felt vindicated when she was able to present her speech on mothers’ wages at the International Women’s Conference held in Oslo in 1920 .

  53. 53.

    The periodical even changed its name from Kvinden, or The Woman, to Arbeiderkvinnen, or The Working Woman, during her reign.

  54. 54.

    Augusta Aasen, “Kvindernes Fødselspolitik,” Kvinden, June 1, 1919, 42.

  55. 55.

    Ibid.

  56. 56.

    Kirsten Hofseth, “Fra stemmerettskrav til kvinneregjering: et historisk studiehefte” (Oslo : Det norske arbeiderpartiet, 1988), 5.

  57. 57.

    Kvinden, September 1, 1909.

  58. 58.

    “Likelønnsystemet supplert med barnetillegg,” Kvinden, March 1, 1928.

  59. 59.

    Kvinden, October 1, 1924, 2.

  60. 60.

    “Arbeiderklassen på skilleveien: Hjem eller fabrikker?” Kvinden, May 1, 1929, 66.

  61. 61.

    Anne-Lise Seip and Hilde Ibsen , “Family Welfare, Which Policy? Norway’s Road to Child Allowances,” in Maternity and Gender Policies: Women and the Rise of European Welfare States, 1880s–1950s, eds. Gisela Bock and Pat Thane (New York: Routledge, 1991), 42–43.

  62. 62.

    Anne-Lise Seip, Veiene til velferdsstaten: Norsk sosialpolitikk, 1920–1975 (Oslo : Gyldendal, 1994), 176.

  63. 63.

    Inger Elisabeth Haavet, “Befolkningspolitikk og familiepolitikk,” in Langsomt ble landet et velferdssamfunn: trygdens historie, 1894–1994, eds. Øyvind Bjørnson and Inger Elisabeth Haavet (Oslo : Gyldendal, 1994), 120.

  64. 64.

    Seip , Veiene til velferdsstaten, 177.

  65. 65.

    “De fraskilte kvinners kår,” Kvinden, nr. 7, 1937, 2.

  66. 66.

    Det norske Arbeiderparti program 1927, Norsk sammfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste, www.nsd.uib.no, Accessed April 16, 2013; Haavet, “Befolkningspolitikk,” 121.

  67. 67.

    Statistiske Meddelelser (Oslo : Det statistiske centralbyrå, 1936), 142.

  68. 68.

    24 out of the 28 municipalities gave mothers’ pensions to widows only. Ibid.

  69. 69.

    Ibid.

  70. 70.

    “Omsorgen for de enslige mødre,” Kvinden, June 1, 1926, 42.

  71. 71.

    Den norske arbeiderpartiets protokoll, 1935, 35–36.

  72. 72.

    In fact, many social democratic women supported initiatives to grant family wages to civil servants even though this did not affect members of their own social class. Seip and Ibsen, “Family Welfare, Which Policy,” in Maternity and Gender Policies, 46.

  73. 73.

    Ella Anker, “Frem med kvinnesakene!” Kvinden, July 1, 1929, 100.

  74. 74.

    This is because many people argued that the current wage was already a family wage, and if the family wage system was implemented single workers would see their wages reduced. See: Seip , Veiene til velferdsstaten, 183.

  75. 75.

    Seip and Ibsen, “Family Welfare, Which Policy,” 48.

  76. 76.

    Ibid., 45–47.

  77. 77.

    Ella Anker, “Likelønnsystemet supplert med barnetillegg,” Kvinden, March 1, 1928, 26.

  78. 78.

    Ibid.

  79. 79.

    Ella Anker, “Mødrenes arbeidsforhold,” Kvinden, July 1, 1927, 83.

  80. 80.

    Ella Anker, “Barnetrygd,” February 1, 1930, 19.

  81. 81.

    Det norske arbeiderpartis program 1930, Norsk sammfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste, www.nsd.uib.no, Accessed April 16, 2013.

  82. 82.

    In 1913 parliament created a committee on family subsidies for civil servant wages. This was put into practice during the First World War to help compensate for price increases. The economic crisis during the 1920s led to discussions of abandoning this practice. See: Seip , Veiene til velferdsstaten, 181.

  83. 83.

    Seip and Ibsen, “Family Welfare, Which Policy,” 48.

  84. 84.

    Norske Kvinners Nationalraad 7th landsmøte 1925, 12. MS 4 2912:7, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  85. 85.

    Seip and Ibsen, “Family Welfare, Which Policy,” 47.

  86. 86.

    Margarete Bonnevie, “Hva kan gjøres for å sikre kvinners lønn, arbeidsvilkår og avansement,” NKN Foredrag ved 11 landsmøte Oslo September 1938. MS 4 2912:7, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  87. 87.

    Child Allowances Bill, 1937, 77.

  88. 88.

    Ella Anker, “Likelønnsystemet supplert med barnetillegg,” Kvinden, March 1, 1928, 26.

  89. 89.

    Seip and Ibsen, “Family Welfare, Which Policy,” 50.

  90. 90.

    Ibid., 40.

  91. 91.

    Hagemann, “Maternalism and Gender Equality,” 77.

  92. 92.

    This included work for “equal pay for equal work.” Most often their efforts focused on middle-class women’s occupations such as teachers, but the NKF was also concerned with workplace regulations for industrial women workers.

  93. 93.

    The complimentary gender order had its roots in the Enlightenment. See Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990).

  94. 94.

    “Kvindens retslige stilling,” Kvinden, April 1, 1910.

  95. 95.

    “1ste. Mai,” Kvinden, May 1, 1910.

  96. 96.

    “Saerbeskyttelse for kvinder,” Kvinden, August 1, 1914.

  97. 97.

    “Nogle ord om arbeiderbeskyttelse og særlov for kvinder,” Nylænde , June 1, 1908.

  98. 98.

    See: Gro Hagemann, “Protection or Equality? Debates on Protective Legislation in Norway,” in Protecting Women: Labor Legislation in Europe, the United States, and Australia, 1880–1920 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1995).

  99. 99.

    “Saerbeskyttelse for kvinder,” Kvinden, August 1, 1914.

  100. 100.

    “Kvinderne og Washingtonkonferansen,” Kvinden, February 1, 1920.

  101. 101.

    Norsk kvinnesaksforening : Kons. Til brev og møtereferater inntil 1922, Norske Kvinneforening 1904–1915, Randi Blehr, Riksarkivet.

  102. 102.

    Nylænde , February 1, 1897 and March 1, 1897.

  103. 103.

    “I anledning av Kvindernes fødseslpolitik,” Nylænde , May 15, 1919, 150.

  104. 104.

    Of course, there were also conflicting opinions within these feminist groups, but the focus here will be on the official stance of the organizations.

  105. 105.

    Maternity Protection Convention, 1919 (No. 3) Convention Concerning the Employment of Women Before and After Childbirth, http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12100:0::NO::P12100_ILO_CODE:C003, Accessed March 30, 2013.

  106. 106.

    St. prp. nr. 27 (1921) and St. prp. nr. 70 (1927); Norske kvinners nasjonalråd , årberetning 1922. MS 4 2912:65 Arbeidervernloven, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  107. 107.

    St. prp. Nr 70 (1927), “Om vedtakene fra de Internasjonale Arbeidskonferanser,” 14.

  108. 108.

    Ot. Prp. nr. 46 (1928), “Om endringer i lov om sykeforsikring,” 3.

  109. 109.

    Susan Pedersen, Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the Welfare State: Britain and France, 1914–1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 135–178.

  110. 110.

    “Kvinners og barns erhervsmessige arbeide: svangre kvinners fabrikkarbeide,” Kvinden, July 1, 1927, 50.

  111. 111.

    Norsk Kvinnesaksforening II , Korrespondanse og henvendelse, Ms fol. 3868:6, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  112. 112.

    NKN to Kommunal og Arbeidsdepartement, undated, MS 4 2912:65 Arbeidervernloven, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket. An article printed in Kvinden on July 1, 1927 also supported this argumentation.

  113. 113.

    St. prp. Nr. 70 (1927), “Om vedtakene,” 11.

  114. 114.

    NKF to Ministry of Social Affairs, January 27, 1939, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening II . Korrespondanse og henvendelse Ms fol. 3868:6, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  115. 115.

    Statistisk sentralbyrå, “Stortingsvalg, Valgte representanter, etter parti, 1906–2001,” www.ssb.no/a/histstat/aarbok, Accessed March 26, 2013.

  116. 116.

    Redvaldsen, The Labor Party in Britain and Norway, 74.

  117. 117.

    The Norwegian Labor Party received just over 40 percent of the vote in 1934. Statistisk sentralbyrå, “Stortingsvalg, Valgte representanter, etter parti, 1906–2001,” www.ssb.no/a/histstat/aarbok, Accessed March 26, 2013; Det Norske Arbeiderpartis arbeidsprogram 1933, Norsk sammfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste, www.nsd.uib.no, Accessed April 14, 2013.

  118. 118.

    Stortingsforhandlinger 1935, Ot. prp. Nr. 31, 38.

  119. 119.

    Ibid., 38–40.

  120. 120.

    Stortingsforhandlinger 1936, Instillinger til Odelstinger Inst. O. VI, 20–21.

  121. 121.

    Stortingsforhandlinger 1936, Forhandlinger i Odelstinget, 266.

  122. 122.

    This did conflict with the ILO maternity convention, however, and was eventually changed back to “must” in the 1950s to coincide with international requirements. See: Bjørnson and Haavet, eds., Langsomt ble landet et velferdssamfunn, 127.

  123. 123.

    Karl Frimann Dahl was not an elected member of parliament. He was a Supreme Court Justice who starting filling in for Alfred Martin Madsen (Arbeiderparti) on the Social Committee in 1935. Norsk sammfunnsvitenskapelig datatjeneste, www.nsd.uib.no, Accessed April 14, 2013.

  124. 124.

    Stortingsforhandlinger 1936, Instillinger til Odelstinger, Inst. O. VI, 20–21.

  125. 125.

    Ferdinand Rømcke, Lov om Arbeidervern av 19. juni 1936 (Oslo : Olaf Norlis Forlag, 1936), 81.

  126. 126.

    For some parliamentarians this may have been for no other reason than that it would be difficult to police such a prohibition of parturient women’s work. Stortingsforhandlinger 1936, Instillinger til Odelstinger, Inst. O. VI, 20–21.

  127. 127.

    These breaks were to be in addition to other legally-mandated breaks but it was left up to the employer to decide whether breastfeeding breaks were to be paid.

  128. 128.

    Rømcke, Lov om Arbeidervern av 19. juni 1936, 80.

  129. 129.

    Almost all occupations were covered by the law except for the fishing industry, the airline industry, certain types of agriculture, and public administration.

  130. 130.

    Correspondence, November 14, 1927, Oslo trygdekontor , Personalet, Spørsmål om lønn under nedkomst, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  131. 131.

    Civil servants have typically been the most powerful people in Norway, because the royal family and aristocracy were quite weak.

  132. 132.

    Some of these teachers received salary for this leave, but were expected to pay for their substitutes out of this salary.

  133. 133.

    Correspondence, October 24, 1927, Oslo trygdekontor , Personalet, Spørsmål om lønn under nedkomst, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  134. 134.

    Ibid.

  135. 135.

    Norsk Kvinnesaksforening II . Korrespondanse og henvendelse, Ms fol. 3868:6, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  136. 136.

    NKF to Oslo Municipal Chairman, January 29, 1938, Norsk Kvinnesaksforening II . Korrespondanse og henvendelser, Ms fol. 3868:6, Håndskriftsamlingen, Nasjonalbiblioteket.

  137. 137.

    Oslo Municipality to Oslo Social Welfare Office, March 1, 1939, Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor, Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  138. 138.

    The extensive press coverage may have been the reason that the Oslo Social Welfare Office was not forced to reverse this policy decision. See: Oslo Social Welfare Office board meeting, February 15, 1939, Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor, Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  139. 139.

    Oslo Social Welfare Office to Oslo Municipality, March 10, 1939, Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor, Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  140. 140.

    Oslo Social Welfare Office board meeting , February 15, 1939, Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor, Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  141. 141.

    Oslo trygdekontor , Personalet, Spørsmål om lønn under nedkomst, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

  142. 142.

    The Oslo Social Welfare Office continued to be an anomaly in regards to granting this paid leave to its female public servants until long after World War Two. “Barselkvinnen 1937–1957,” Arbeidstilsynet, juridisk avdeling, Riksarkivet.

  143. 143.

    Dagny Bjørnaraa to Director Ormestad February 20, 1939, S1939/27 Permisjon under nedkomst, Oslo Trygdekontor , Sakserie Personal og ansettelsessaker 1939–1943, Statsarkivet i Oslo.

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  1. Luther College, Decorah, IA, USA

    Anna M. Peterson

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Peterson, A.M. (2018). “Mothers’ Freedom Is the Key to Women’s Emancipation:” Feminist Efforts to Expand Maternity Legislation in the Interwar Period. In: Maternity Policy and the Making of the Norwegian Welfare State, 1880-1940. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75481-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-75481-9_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-75480-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-75481-9

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