The Christian Democratic Party’s (KrF) Ida Lindtveit Røse, who heads the party’s early childhood committee, wants to remove the current arrangement with three divisions of maternity leave.
Røse, who acted as Minister for Children and Families when party leader and minister Kjell Ingolf Ropstad took his paternity leave, believes the families themselves must be allowed to decide the distribution, according to newspaper VG.
“Many families experience that the leave is predetermined and gives too little freedom,” Røse believes.
Today, the scheme is such that parents can divide 16 weeks of leave between them, while mother and father have a quota of 15 weeks each.
Øvstegård: Attack on gender equality
Half of KrF’s early childhood committee wants a completely free distribution of maternity leave, while a minority proposes a quota of ten weeks each for mother and father.
The Socialist Left’s (SV) Freddy André Øvstegård, who sits on the family and culture committee in the Norwegian parliament (Storting), believes the proposal is a backward step for gender equality efforts.
“I think this is a major attack on gender equality in Norway and not least on the father’s right and opportunity to be with his children during the first, and most important time in a child’s life,” he said.
The early childhood committee’s proposal is one of the inputs to KrF’s new program, which will be presented later this autumn.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
Norwegians seem much more ideological, but I grew up in a much more liberal, mainstream Protestant, Presbyterian environment.
I moved over to Norway to look after my little son with the mutual understanding I would retire and become Mr. Mom – great film. 🙂
I really enjoyed being so, and although it proved too hard for someone just starting her 30+-year (over here) career to continue, my time with my little son and then baby daughter were wonderful. (And I wish I had spent more time like that with my older children back in the States.)
I see dads out with their babies and young children in the shopping malls, and they too seem very happy. Their children certainly are. 🙂
For normal, working Norwegian couples, it would seem more logical for them to decide for themselves how many weeks each should have for parental leave, with maybe a 10 week minimum for the one – presumably the one making more income.
Like the Christian Democrats, I tend to believe in traditional family roles, but – again – being a full-time dad for some weeks is a wonderful experience which the States should adopt.
(There are other Scandinavian arrangements – like comprehensive recycling – which the States should adopt too, of course.)