Silenced at the border: Norwegian gender equality policies in national branding

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors investigate how the national branding of Norway takes form through voicing and silencing of various features of Norwegian gender-equality policies. A key insight from studies of nation-branding is that ‘branding matters’. The aim of different nation-branding strategies is to influence how countries are perceived by both state- and non-state actors in the international community. The Nordic countries have been portrayed as ‘nirvanas’ of gender equality or – more soberly – as a group of countries more characterized by equality than others. Gender-equality-oriented family policies constitute a main sub-area of Norway’s gender-equality policies. Gender mainstreaming has been the official strategy of gender-equality policy in Norway for 40 years – that is to say, since the adoption of the Gender Equality Act in 1978. Quota policies and preferential-treatment arrangements are hallmark of Norwegian gender-equality policy. Conservative governments, for example, may tend to emphasize female entrepreneurship and girls’ equal access to education more than quota and family policies.