Japanese International Symposium: The Egalitarian NorwayKeynote SpeechGender Equality in Norway: Advances and Paradoxes Priscilla RINGROSEProfessor, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Abstract 'The image of the egalitarian North does not spring from innocent observation, but is, like most national myths, carefully and continually reproduced by key actors in both academic and political contexts.' -Simone Abram Abram, S. (2008). Reproducing the Norwegian Myth: Egalitarianism and the NormalCTTC Reports This presentation discusses key themes of Norwegian gender equality research, namely working life, family life and reproduction, LGBTQI issues and national and migrant minorities, in relation to Abram's contention. What are the recent developments in these thematic areas? To what extent can they be hailed as significant achievements? Or, as Abram suggests, is gender equality in these areas inflated by academic and politicians in the interest of a carefully constructed myth of nation? Statistically speaking Norway consistently figures at the top of reports published by the global institutions and NGOs in terms of gender, life expectancy at birth, gross national income at purchasing power parity per capita, gender gap, and welfare of mothers. But are these statistics papering up the cracks in the equality stakes? Are gender studies researchers also colluding in constructing a mythical model gender equality state? We suggest that although gender studies scholarship in Norway generally acknowledges many of the achievements of the welfare state in the realm of gender equality, researchers in this field are critically interrogating for the in the "success story" that is Norway, as examples from the thematic areas above will demonstrate. Priscilla RINGROSE Priscilla RINGROSE is Professor of Gender Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Center for Gender Studies, at the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture. She is the leader of a Research Council of Norway (RCN) project (2017-2021) relating to newly arrived adolescent migrants, entitled “Language, Integration, Media: A Majority Inclusive Approach to Migration”. From 2012-2016, she led the RCN funded project “Buying and Selling (gender) Equality: Feminized Migration and Gender Equality in Contemporary Norway”. Her publications focus on the gendered and/or racialized contact zones between individuals and cultures in situations of war and migration, both in the European and Middle Eastern contexts.
