Survey finds that just over 50% of Norwegian men think there is a need for International Women’s Day

A new survey from Respons Analyse shows that just over half of Norwegian men think there is a need for International Women’s Day and 10% do not know when it is.

Survey shows 43% of men feel no need for International Women’s Day

The findings from a survey conducted by Respons Analyse show that there are huge differences in opinion between gender when it comes to International Women’s Day. Some 1,200 people were surveyed about the specifics of March 8, International Women’s Day.

Though overall support for the day was high (68% of respondents felt that there was a need for a day) a gender imbalance was found the respondent’s gender was analyzed. Only 57% of men felt that there was a need for the day compared to 79% of women whilst over a quarter of men (28%) felt there was no need for it compared to just 9% of women. Some 15% of men did not know either way.

Anette Trettebergstuen (AP), Minister of Culture and Gender Equality, spoke to NTB about the results of the survey. She felt that, “it was not good that so many men do not know when the day is, but it only gives me the inspiration to raise the gender equality issue and to fight on. I think we must get men on board in the fight for gender equality.”

Survey on Authorities’ Gender Work shows women less satisfied

Coinciding with the Respons Analyse survey was one released by the Directorate for Public Administration and Financial Management. It carried out a survey where they measured the satisfaction of people with the authorities’ gender equality work.

Using a scale of 1-100, survey respondents were asked how well the authorities safeguard equality between men and women. On average, men gave a score of 71 whilst women only gave 61. This made for an overall average of 66 (for 2021) which is 8 points lower than the record set in 2013.

These results did not surprise Trettebergstuen. She blamed the previous Solberg government for the loss in faith of gender equality saying that, “We have had eight years with the Conservative government that has toned down the equality banner, and not done much. We have eight lost years in gender equality, which we have plans to make up for.”

Solberg does not think survey findings reflect her government’s work

Former Prime Minister, and current Conservative Party Leader, Erna Solberg believes that the survey’s findings are not a true reflection of her government’s work. Solberg spoke to NTB about the gender equality work her government did saying, “The most dramatic thing we did was the threefold division of maternity leave, which many women disagreed with, as they thought they had less time with their children. It is a gender equality issue, which many women would say is a bad issue for women.”

Solberg also raised the issues that do not necessarily get a lot of publicity but, nonetheless, are important in the fight for gender equality. She spoke particularly of women in marginalized or minority communities believing that, “the fight for immigrant women to get jobs and Norwegian language training is important, and that social control is an important gender equality problem, but there may not be issues that everyone is equally concerned about.”

Men should be included in the battle for gender equality too

The current government felt it was important to include men in the fight for gender equality. Anette Trettebergstuen explained that it was vital to raise men’s issues and problems in order to include them in the battle for true gender equality. It should not be, she said, a fight pitting men against women. Trettebergstuen said plans were in progress to, “to set up a men’s committee to look at men’s challenges. We can lift the fight if we recognize that men also have gender equality challenges.”

Source : © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

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