Opting out by free will? Cultural preconditions for negotiating ideals of career and motherhood in contemporary Norway

This paper explores the contemporary cultural preconditions for women opting in or out of career trajectories. A study of two distinct, but intertwined debates taking place in Norwegian media constitutes the empirical basis for the paper. In 2007, a heated debate on career women’s shortcoming as “good mothers” took place in Norwegian media, even making it to the front pages of the nation's largest newspapers. A few years later (2012-2013) an intense debate followed on the issue of career women choosing either to work part time, or not at all, when becoming mothers. These two debates showcase the paradoxical situation facing women in making choices about family and work life. The debate on “career women returning home” is fueled by a perceived prejudice towards career women who opt out work life for the sake of taking care of their children. The idea of prejudice against women choosing childcare over career is created despite the fact that women who stick to ambitious career goals whilst rearing children are subject to harsh critique. In other words: the current discourses reveal clear contradictions and tensions between varieties of norms for femininity. Femininity is strongly tied to motherhood in general, and Norwegian culture in particular. Having children is even interpreted as a “cultural imperative” in the Norwegian culture (Ravn 2007). At the same time, Norway has strong traditions of gender equality in terms of dual-earning households and a particular focus on promoting women to top management positions through e.g., corporate board gender quotas. However, this paper seeks to avoid a categorization of types of feminity, and rather focuses on concepts overflowing the frames of femininity, in order to enhance the horizon for discussing feminist theories of gender and gendered practices. Thus, this paper focuses on “leadership” and “free choice” as two different concepts transcending the discourses of motherhood and career ambitions. Exploring how these concepts are discursively produced and how different and often conflicting meanings are ascribed to them, provides a basis for a nuanced discussion of the tension between (post)-structural and liberal feminist theories in understanding contemporary practices of opting out of careers.