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.

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.

The history of divorce reveals hidden stories of love, domestic violence and societal ideals for a healthy marriage.

When Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen interviewed three generations of Norwegian women and men, she discovered how the emotional perception of gender has developed over time.

Futurism practically cleared the way for feminism, according to Madeleine Gedde Metz.

Cecilia Brækhus is just one of several Norwegian female athletes who has contributed to putting women’s boxing on the map, both in Norway and internationally, according to researcher Anne Tjønndal.

Straddling the legs around a cello was considered immoral; sitting by the piano was more becoming for a lady. Thus, women became important for the development of piano composition and play.

Eye, space and body – these are three key words that apply not only to the work of art historian Anne Wichstrøm on female artists from 1850 to 1900, but also to her own life.

Why is killing one’s enemies regarded as more important than raising children? This question was posed by the philosopher “Sophia” as early as the 1700s. “Feminist philosophy didn’t emerge in the 1960s. Questions like these have a long-standing tradition in the field,” says philosopher Tove Pettersen of the University of Oslo.

A book on a shelf at the university bookstore in Lund was the start of a research career for Karin Widerberg, Professor of Sociology at the University of Oslo.

In the 1800s, Norwegian missionaries had to strike a balance between Christian virtues and the new, modern man’s role. The solution was to be meek before God and mighty before men.

A minor revolution took place in the course of one generation: Norwegian women went from being homemakers to wage-earners. This has been highly significant for the Norwegian economy over the past 40 years.

Badly written, trivial, unlikely plot, rubbish, aimed at immature young women. Comments on modern Pulp Fiction? No, these reviews are approximately 250 years old.  

If a nineteenth century country girl wanted to show romantic feelings for a boy, she might give him a self-knitted codpiece as a token of love. The knitted codpiece is one of many objects displayed at an exhibition about women’s rights and living conditions in Norway.

Camilla Collett is famous for writing one novel, but her authorship consists of a large body of essays. Tone Selboe directs the attention to the essayist Camilla Collett in a new book.