Regional gender inequality in the Norwegian culture of equality

Abstract

This research project has its origin in statistical findings indicating that there has been a long-standing regional variation in the attainment of gender equality in Norway whereby the southern region has been identified as the least gender-equal. This is likely to be caused by an interaction of economic, political and cultural structures. Nevertheless, the understanding of this phenomenon remains incomplete since the cultural dimension too often ends up as a residual category or a dependent variable. The project seeks to explore the cultural dimension by asking how persons themselves understand and justify gender inequalities and everyday life choices. By drawing on ‘repertoires of justification’, as developed by Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot, the present analysis provides insight into how culturally embedded values are mobilised when parents discuss labour and domestic responsibility.