Norwegian Parental Leave Program

By Claire Braund, Executive Director Women on Boards

Men a crucial part of Norwegian parental leave scheme

The Norwegian Minister for Children, Equality and Gender, Audun Lysbakken, will take four months paid parental leave over the northern winter to look after his young daughter.

Speaking at the Boardroom Impact Conference in Oslo in October 2010, Mr Lysbakken said this was expected of him and would send a clear signal that this is normal behaviour for working fathers in Norway.

“We need to change the mental state and make modern fatherhood accepted in all our male dominated industries,” Mr Lysbakken said.

The role of men in Norway’s best practice parental leave scheme is seen as crucial to addressing the problem of women not returning to work after maternity leave and being penalised for taking a career break.

In 2009 the male component of the fully paid government scheme was extended to 10 weeks, and a proposal is currently before cabinet to expand the scheme to 47 weeks fully paid or 57 weeks at 80 per cent with 12 weeks for fathers. The father’s entitlement cannot be used by the mother and is lost if not taken.

Mr Lysbakken said that placing an emphasis on the father’s 12 week entitlement was one way of ensuring employers expectations concerning leave and absence would be more equally shared across male and female employees. In other words, both sexes would be seen as an equal ‘risk’ due to family commitments.

It was clear from Mr Lysbakken and Norway’s Minister for Trade and Industry, Tronde Giske, who opened the conference, that utilising all the available human capital and increasing the fertility rate were mutually inclusive concepts at the heart of many government policies.

“The issue of one of trade and industry not of gender,” Mr Giske told the conference. “While gender equality is important in its own right, it is an important part of developing business and fulfilling the potential of our economy.”

According to Mr Lysbakken, women and men have the right to expect the same opportunities to participate in the labour market, decision making and society, as well as sit on company boards and take care of children.

Claire Braund, Executive Director of Women on Boards, attended the Boardroom Impact Conference in Oslo, Norway on 12-13 October 2010.