Archive
2015
 
Online computer games force women into the closet
          Women conceal their gender in order to avoid harassment in the gaming community and in the outside world.
        
       
Why women's football isn't real football
          The female body is not suited for real football, according to debaters in the online debate forum of Norway's biggest tabloid newspaper. Why is football the only sport in which women’s performance is constantly compared to men’s?
        
       
Rich stay-at-home mums produce the winners of tomorrow
          They used to work in the financial services industry in London, but left their career and became fulltime mothers in Norway. Not because they need to look after house and husband, but in order to spend time with the children.
        
      2014
 
All boys are not poor school achievers, and all girls are not smart pupils
          According to a new doctoral thesis, the answer to why pupils perform differently in school is not found by looking at girls and boys as separate groups.
        
       
The man's full time job is not up for discussion
          The modern man is a dad with a capital D, and he doesn’t mind cleaning  the house every once in a while. But it is not his responsibility that  mum has to work part time in order to make family life work.
        
       
Why Norwegian birth rates are higher than in the rest of Europe
          The Norwegian birth rate is higher than in the rest of Europe not only because they put their faith in the welfare state. They can’t imagine a good life without children.
        
       
Children of immigrants choose gender equality
          The Norwegian-Pakistani daughters are raised by stay-at-home mothers in gender traditional homes. But following in their mothers footsteps is not an option. Even after having children, they return to their paid jobs.
        
       
Blond, sexy and immigrant
          Migration equals boat refugees, asylum seekers, poverty, domestic workers, and racism in the new country. But migration is also beautiful Swedish women who find it easy to succeed in the United States.
        
       
Short commutes enable women to work full time
          In order to manage a full time job it is necessary for women to have short distances between home, work, kindergarten and the supermarket.
        
       
Dad is important for his children's development
          A sensitive and attentive father has a positive influence on his child’s  development. But only if he spends a considerable amount of time with  the child during its first year.
        
       
Rich, white men at the top of CERN
          Women physicists at CERN are locked in a structure and culture that is  highly male dominated at all levels. The women’s movement and gender  equality have not reached the physics fields, according to a history of  science researcher. 
        
       
Norwegian ban on buying sex affects immigrant women
          With increased focus on human trafficking fighting prostitution has become a higher status issue in the police force. But the police do not go after prostitution as such; they go after prostitutes with an immigrant background.
        
       
Rich boys more competitive in economic experiments
          Why do we make the choices that we do? Are we born this way or have we become this way? Behavioural economists look for answers through economic and math experiments in the laboratory.
        
       
FGM-politics based on emotions, not facts
          Both female genital mutilation and forced marriage became part of the political agenda in Norway as a result of media publicity. According to a new report from Fafo, measures against female genital mutilation in particular are not based on knowledge and have been blown out of proportion.
        
       
Gender blind research on innovation
          Are new ideas primarily shaped within male dominated industries? Due to gender stereotypes, some businesses are valued more than others, claims Norwegian researcher.
        
       
Class more important than gender for school performance
          There is no doubt that boys and girls perform differently at school. But simply looking at gender in order to understand why is not enough.
        
       
Gender equality politics cause problems when minority families meet the Child Welfare Services
          Parents with minority background are perceived as second-rate parents compared to the Child Welfare Service's ideals regarding Norwegian gender equality.
        
       
Hidden lesbian lives in façade marriages
          Lesbian women in China want to be as normal as possible. This involves being married to a man. If you’re not married in China there’s something wrong with you.
        
       
30 years of failed campaigns against FGM
          Despite years of heavy investment, female genital mutilation still has major support in countries such as Somalia and Ethiopia. Well intentioned campaigns initiated by international organisations are being met with skepticism. "Changes must come from within," say researchers.
        
       
Unisex rooms made gender insignificant in the army
          The researchers behind a new report on gender equality in the Norwegian army describe the phenomenon as “degenderisation”. When boys and girls shared the same room, gender was no longer significant.
        
       
Norwegian schools reproduce racism and gender stereotypes
          Norwegian textbooks juxtapose a positive, liberal Norwegian sexuality with a negative non-Norwegian, often Muslim, sexuality. And nobody agrees on what racism entails or how the topic can be taught in the classroom.
        
       
Higher status than one's partner makes both men and women vulnerable to intimate partner violence
          Having a higher income or education than your partner could be risky, as a higher socio-economic status than ones partner increases the chance of psychological violence and abuse. This applies to both men and women.
        
       
Weight loss surgery increases social acceptance, but the body remains problematic
          All of a sudden the once obese women are treated with respect in society. But underneath the clothes the skin is saggy and it takes a long time to become familiar with the “new” stomach.
        
       
Burning porn in Norway, fighting rape in France
          Why did Simone de Beauvoir fight rape in France while Unni Rustad simultaneously became famous in Norway by burning porn magazines? Factors such as national differences and personal experiences may help explain why the struggle against sexual violence manifested itself so differently in the two countries.
        
      2013
 
Breivik's compendium reveals the logic behind anti-feminism
          The terrorist’s compendium puts into system the philosophy behind the misogyny we find in online comments, claims Jørgen Lorentzen.
        
       
Female criminals more interesting to the media than women's suffrage
          An in-depth look into Norwegian newspapers from 1913 shows that most of the stories about women involved female criminals. The fact that women’s suffrage was introduced in Norway went unnoticed.
        
       
Mum and dad least equal at Christmas
          The greatest gender differences concerning the division of labour occur during the Christmas preparations. There will be no magical Christmas without mum's efforts.
        
       
Media images of women are getting worse
          The way in which women are represented in the media is getting worse every day, according to professor of Communication and Media Studies Liesbet van Zoonen. However, the representation of the Norwegian female politicians Siv Jensen and Erna Solberg, may be the exception from the general rule. 
        
       
Mixed signals in Nordic prostitution policy
          In Norway condoms are distributed to prostitutes, while in Sweden this runs counter to its zero-tolerance policy. The idea of a common Nordic model for dealing with prostitution is not reflected in practice.
        
       
Scandinavian views on the gender equal university
          Swedish universities have made the most progress in renewing the academic culture and Norwegian institutions have designed effective measures, but in Denmark the prevailing belief is that gender equality has already been achieved.