Women thriving in local councils
It is no secret that Norwegian municipal councils have many challenges when it comes to gender equality. Nationwide, only just above a third of the council representatives are women. 401 out of 430 municipal boards have a male majority.
In the project ‘Showcasing women in local politics’, the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and of Regional Development are spending 20 million kroner to do something about just this fact. The goal is an even distribution of men and women in the municipal councils, especially in leading positions.
KUN follows four municipalities in Trøndelag. The aim is to reveal possible gender differences in what is expected of members of municipal councils and in the experience of participating in municipal work.
The municipalities of Osen, Rissa, Steinkjer and Verdal have all been working systematically in order to make women thrive in local politics. Speech- and debate training, coaching, media training and network between female politicians across borders and parties are examples of measures initiated by the municipalities.
The work pays off! During the autumn of 2009 KUN conducted a survey among 113 municipal politicians in order to examine the efficiency of the abovementioned measures. The result is uplifting: the survey shows that women find the task of being the people’s elected interesting. They reported that they are taken seriously, and that they receive support for their causes. Women in the age group 40+ are the group who report the most positive experiences.
Among the younger men the picture is somehow different. Several report that there is a conflict between the position as an elected and their private life. The younger men also report on being met with less understanding and consideration of their own situation in trying to combine work and family life.
KUN concludes that the applied measures are successful and that it is important to include men of today, who often have custody of their children, when facilitating diversity in local politics.
“- I enjoy being involved
-participate in developing the municipality
-desire for power and influence”
(women in Nord-Trøndelag about why they wish to remain in local politics).
For years, Steinkjer municipality has been a good model for gender equality. But the male farmer is still dominating the agricultural picture. Men own most of the property and influence the farms more than women do.
The agricultural office in Steinkjer has actively addressed these problems. At their request, KUN has conducted a survey among the farmers in the area, to find out which measures should be taken in order to promote gender equality in agriculture. The goal is to ensure a diverse, motivated and competent agricultural population for the future.
An important insight derived from KUNs report is that the political intentions to create a diverse agricultural environment open up new possibilities, and allow for several new alternatives for women who wish to pursue farm work. The tasks of a farmer are not only to ensure settlement and to produce food, but also to maintain the cultural landscape and perhaps to produce niche products or work with farm tourism. For the agricultural office, these perspectives require a broadening of their scope, so that the focus is not only on the one driving the tractor.
Ownership is another important issue in KUN’s work for the agricultural office. We wish to examine the relationship between women’s ownership of the farm and their participation in the daily operations of the farm. Might a greater share of female owners result in more actively involved female farmers? The agricultural office will provide courses in the value of ownership and in the different models of ownership to advisors and to the office for family counseling in the municipality.
In the longer run, agricultural offices in other parts of Norway will also be able to reap the fruits of the experience from KUN’s work in Nord-Trøndelag. KUN has been assigned the task of developing a national guide to gender equality work in the agricultural sector. This guide will contain specific advice on how to ensure that both women and men are actively involved in agriculture.
“KUN has been an inspiration and a driving force in this work. Our cooperation and the resulting written material will be of great use in our further work on gender equality in agriculture in Steinkjer municipality” (Gunnar Vorum, unit leader, Steinkjer municipality).
Publisert: 05.10.11 14:21
Sist oppdatert: 05.10.11 14:26
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