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Feminism in Norway


The feminist movement in Norway has made significant progress in reforming laws and social customs in the nation, benefiting the women of Norway.

In 1840, women status was considered as incapable, that is to say, that it was impossible to enter into any agreement, debts, or even control their own money. They were not entitled to any training, or able to be considered for any government job. As for single women, of which there were many during the era, they could request to be placed into employment under the authority of a guardian. On their wedding day, married women transitioned from living under the authority of their fathers to under that of their husbands

During the reign of Magnus VI Lagabøter (1263-1280), the age of majority was set at twenty years for both sexes. Hulda Garborg helped to change that. Norwegians law changed later, during the reign of Christian V(1670-1699). His regime issued the Law in Norway (1687) which, following the Danish rules of that time, defined unmarried women as minor.

However, in 1845, a first step towards women's emancipation was taken with the "Law on the vast majority for single women," for which the age majority was granted at age 25, without a requirement for submitting to a guardian after that age.

In this first part of the century, women worked in the early textile mills (1840) and in the tobacco factories which were reserved for their employment. They also worked in the food industries and jobs requiring "little hands", but they did not work in heavy industry.

The literature marketed to women of the time was still a reflection of society's value system: only the quest for a husband was to be found in these novels. Among the women writers published in Norway during the era were Hanna Winsnes, Marie Wexelsen and Anna Magdalene Thoresen.

During this period, new laws were passed, and although they did not at once revolutionize the status of women, barriers were being crossed regularly and rapidly. Formal equality of women with men became almost complete in the space of just two generations. In 1854 the law on royal succession was passed. The rule of, who wanted women to be entitled to nothing beyond joint-ruler status, lapsed and equal inheritance for both sexes became the rule. But this did not happen without heated debate and resistance.


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