Archive
2018

The rocky road to sex change treatment in Norway
In the 1950s, the first successful gender reassignment treatment was carried out. Since then, major developments have taken place within medicine and law, but also when it comes to our perceptions of gender, according to historian Sigrid Sandal.

Major gender gap in health research
Women’s bodies are different from men’s. We need more knowledge to better understand women’s health, says medical doctor and Professor Johanne Sundby. She finds support in a new report on the same topic.

A fit body gives men career advantages
Lisa M. B. Sølvberg has interviewed ten Norwegian upper class men about body, nutrition and physical activity. According to her, leaders’ views on physical exercise may affect whom they choose to employ.

Whiteness and racism in Scandinavian poetry
Xenophobia, double standards and guilt are central themes in the poetry collections that Kristina Leganger Iversen has studied. The fact that the works have received mixed reviews from the critics has been an important prerequisite for the project.

Simone de Beauvoir: From Sartre’s secretary to feminist style icon
When Simone de Beauvoir’s feminist classic The Second Sex was published in Norway in 1970, both sexuality and existentialism were downplayed. “She was made popular,” says Ida Hove Solberg, who has examined the Norwegian translations of de Beauvoir’s work.

Pregnant women are scared away from hospitals in Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, the authorities want more women to give birth in hospital. The aim for better figures overshadow the quality of the health care service to poor women, according to Birgit Kvernflaten.

Women with reduced functional abilities are considered asexual
To participate in the labour market and to have a family are things most people take for granted. Women with functional disabilities are deprived of many opportunities. The explanation may be both functional ability and gender, according to researcher.

School, worries and body-image pressure make more girls mentally ill
More and more young girls seek help for mental problems. “Generally, girls take things more seriously than boys. This applies to school, friends and family,” says researcher Anders Bakken.

Norway prioritises aid to support girls’ education, but forgets the jobs
Can education meet girls’ challenges in developing countries? Not on its own, according to researchers behind a new report. They call for more goal-oriented measures to combat inequality.

Twice as many boys as girls start school late
More boys than girls begin school a year late and more girls than boys begin a year early. But researchers are not certain whether maturity is the explanation.

The contraceptive pill: A story of sexual liberation and dubious research methods
In 1967, Norwegian women were finally allowed to decide for themselves when to get pregnant. The contraceptive pill has had enormous significance for women’s emancipation, but researchers doubt whether it would have been approved today.

Talk of equality is risky business for career in the oil industry
White men dominate leader positions in the Norwegian petroleum industry. If you’re a woman and want to climb the career ladder, you need to keep your mouth shut when there’s talk of gender and equality, according to researchers.

Sexual harassment is about masculine power
The #metoo campaign has shown that sexual harassment in the workplace is a large-scale societal problem. Now, researchers want to change focus from spicy stories to constructive debate on sexuality and power.
2017

Men control Norwegian nature
Women are more or less absent in the management of outfield and nature conservation areas. Gender equality has been neglected within Norwegian nature management, according to researcher.

Norwegian equality measures criticised by experts
Norway met criticism in the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for its lack of efforts on matters of gender equality. There is now a hope that the critique may contribute to the implementation of important measures.

Can good leadership solve academia's gender and diversity problems?
Ever wondered what it takes to achieve a gender balanced and diverse staff? In academia, the most knowledge-intensive sector in society, the answers are hard to find. In this podcast, the experts discuss barriers and offer solutions.

Returned girl soldiers in Congo are stigmatised
Congolese girl soldiers are labelled violent and sexual, also by international media and aid organisations. This hampers the girls’ reintegration, according to researcher Milfrid Tonheim.

How do gender perspectives in migration health look like?
We ask Abdi Gele, Research Director at the National Expertise Center for Migration and Minority Health (NAKMI).

Iranian women become political players through Facebook
By mourning women as martyrs in Iran, they become recognised as political players, says Gilda Seddighi. She has studied Facebook pages dedicated to dead or incarcerated Iranians.

Design may alter gender stereotypes
Subconscious attitudes towards women and men affect design. According to researcher Nina Lysbakken, designers need to be aware of their own power to shape ideas about gender.

Sex Purchase Act has altered Swedes’ attitudes towards prostitution
While the number of Swedes supporting the sex purchase ban is rising, more people also feel positive towards a ban on selling sex. Thus, the goal of transferring stigma from seller to buyer is still not achieved.

Mum takes more responsibility for the children, even in gender equal couples
The social and moral responsibility for the children lies primarily with the mother, particularly at celebrations and festive seasons, according to Kristine Warhuus Smeby.

Eternal witch-hunt for the fat body
“The fat body carries a secret that has to be revealed at all costs; it is a living symptom that something has ‘gone wrong’,” says Camilla Bruun Eriksen. She has studied the representation of fat bodies in popular culture.

Communication is key to understanding female circumcision
Lack of communication hampers the prevention of female genital mutilation, according to anthropologist Rachel Issa Djesa. She has observed encounters between Norwegian authorities, health personnel and Somali women in Norway.

Dad becomes leader, mum becomes mum
A new study shows that the gender gap in management increases after couples have their first child.

Girls choosing the hard sciences are not alike
Boating with grandad may affect one’s choice of education just as much as gender does, according to researcher Marianne Løken. She is critical to the gender stereotypical recruitment campaigns to the hard sciences.

Cool to be queer in the Norwegian music scene
Norwegian musicians make careers from experimenting with queer gender identities. According to musicologist Agnete Eilertsen, pop music shows that the gender norms are changing although there is still a shortage of queer musicians.

Justifying gender equality through Islam
Young Norwegian Muslims are more liberal than their parents’ generation when it comes to equality and homosexuality, but both groups find support for their view in Islam, according to Levi Geir Eidhamar’s study.

Changing attitudes towards public breastfeeding in Norway
According to Norwegian researchers, the nursing breast has a safe place within the cafe scene, but they warn against increasing puritanism and less rights for the mother.

Women dealers empowered by selling drugs
Female drug dealers are a minority. According to sociologist Heidi Grundetjern, they gain self-confidence by succeeding in a cutthroat business, but they do not challenge the male dominance.