The number of mothers who work full time has increased significantly over the past ten years.
‘It’s due to a gender equality policy that works,’ said senior adviser, Ole Sandvik, of Statistics Norway (Statistics Norway, SSB).
The new statistics from SSB are from the Labour Force Survey, which shows that between 2006 and 2016, the part-time percentage of working mothers decreased from 37.4 to 28.7%.
‘There are still many mothers who aren’t at work, but looking at those who are in work, there is a surprisingly big increase in the percentage who work full time. It’s a good result from an equality perspective’, said Sandvik to Dagsavisen newspaper.
From 2006 to 2016, full-time employment increased by 11% among mothers in total, while increasing by 17% among mothers with at least three children.
‘It is still the case that the number of children, and the youngest childrens’ age, plays a part in whether mothers are at work, and how much they work. For fathers, we see little of that effect, apart from fathers with the youngest children’.
Sandvik pointed, in particular, to the difference between temporary absence among those with children aged between 2 and 3 years after the parental leave has been deducted. Here, the number was almost the same between parents in 2016, while in 2006 mothers with children in this age had almost 70% higher absenteeism than the fathers.
‘This also reflects other developments in society. Women take longer education than before, they have children later in life, and more women are in leadership positions’, said Sandvik.
© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today
