Founded | 28 June 1884 |
---|---|
Founders | Gina Krog and Hagbart Berner |
Focus | Gender equality |
Headquarters | Majorstuen, Oslo |
Methods | Law reform, political advocacy |
President | Anne Hege Grung |
Affiliations | International Alliance of Women |
Website | kvinnesak |
The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (Norwegian : Norsk Kvinnesaksforening; NKF) is Norway's oldest and preeminent women's and girls' rights organization that works "to promote gender equality and all women's and girls' human rights through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy." [1] [2] [3] Founded in 1884, NKF is Norway's second oldest political organization after the Liberal Party. NKF stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive mainstream liberal feminism and has always been open to everyone regardless of gender. Headquartered at Majorstuen, Oslo, NKF consists of a national-level association as well as regional chapters based in the larger cities, and is led by a national executive board. NKF has had a central role in the adoption of all major gender equality legislation and reforms since 1884. [3]
NKF was founded on the initiative of Gina Krog and Hagbart Berner by 171 prominent women and men of the progressive liberal establishment, including five Norwegian Prime Ministers, and was modeled after the predecessors of the League of Women Voters in the U.S. From the early years the association worked to bring women into the political mainstream. Traditionally the most important association of the Norwegian bourgeois-liberal women's rights movement and historically associated with the Liberal Party, NKF is today a big tent coalition with members from the centre-left to the centre-right. The association has always been Norway's most important mainstream feminist organization and has successfully campaigned for women's right to education, the right to vote, the right to work, the adoption of the 1978 Gender Equality Act, and the establishment of the Gender Equality Ombud. At the behest of NKF and affiliated organizations, Norway became the world's first independent country to introduce women's suffrage in 1913. NKF founded the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association.
In line with its roots in 19th century first-wave liberal feminism, political and legal reform remains its primary focus, and it has always concentrated on lobbying government bodies in a professional way. As a result of its focus on legal reform, the association has always attracted many lawyers and other academics. NKF members had key roles in developing the government apparatus and legislation related to gender equality in Norway; during the 1970s, the "Norwegian government adopted NKF's [equality] ideology as its own", [4] and NKF's political tradition is closely linked to the concept of state feminism. In foreign policy NKF has a liberal internationalist outlook and generally supports Norwegian official foreign policy. Starting with the presidency of Eva Kolstad, from 1956, NKF focused strongly on the United Nations, and NKF members have been appointed to key UN bodies including UNCSW and the CEDAW Committee; the CEDAW convention remains an important focus of NKF. NKF is a member of the International Alliance of Women (IAW), which has general consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and participatory status with the Council of Europe, and is also generally considered as a sister organization of the National Organization for Women. NKF's logo is a stylized sunflower, adopted in 1894, based on the model of the liberal American suffrage movement.
The Norwegian Association for Women's Rights was founded in 1884 by 171 prominent Norwegians, led by the liberal politician and women's rights pioneer Gina Krog and liberal Member of Parliament and the first editor-in-chief of Dagbladet Hagbart Berner. It was modeled after the American National Woman Suffrage Association, the predecessor of the League of Women Voters. [5] The organization's founders included 87 men and 84 women, overwhelmingly prominent liberal public figures. [6]
From its establishment, the organization was strongly associated with the Liberal Party; its 171 founders included five Norwegian Prime Ministers, several leaders of the Liberal Party, and many liberal Members of Parliament, as well as the editors of the large liberal newspapers and public figures such as novelist Alexander Kielland. Three of the first Presidents of the organization, Anna Stang, Randi Blehr, and Fredrikke Marie Qvam, were all wives of Norwegian Prime Ministers. NKF grew out of overlapping milieus connected to the political elite and liberal media in Norway, particularly the women's rights association Skuld that had been founded the previous year by the first women to pursue higher education in Norway, but also Læseforening for Kvinder (founded by Camilla Collett in 1874), Nissen's Girls' School, Kristiania Lærerindeforening, the influential political and cultural magazine Nyt Tidsskrift , and the liberal newspaper Dagbladet . [7] Membership has always been open to both women and men, and among the board members in the first years were several prominent lawyers such as the conservative prime minister Francis Hagerup and the attorney-general Annæus Johannes Schjødt. Historian Aslaug Moksnes has noted that NKF is a women's rights organization, not a women's organization; the distinction has always been important to NKF.
NKF is traditionally the main bourgeois or liberal women's rights organization in Norway. Cathrine Holst noted that "the bourgeois women's rights movement was liberal or liberal feminist. The bourgeois women's rights advocates fought for women's civil liberties and rights: freedom of speech, freedom of movement, the right to vote, freedom of association, inheritance rights, property rights and freedom of trade – and for women's access to education and working life. In short, women should have the same freedoms and rights as men." [8]
Among the important causes that the NKF has campaigned for are women's suffrage (achieved in 1913), the right to work (in the 1930s), abolishment of the common taxing for spouses (the 1950s), right to equal schooling (the 1960s), the establishment of the Gender Equality Council (Norwegian : Likestillingsrådet) in 1972, the Gender Equality Ombud in 1978, and the adoption of the Gender Equality Act (1979). The government apparatus concerned with gender equality, including both the Gender Equality Council and the Gender Equality Ombud, were largely built by NKF members.
Key NKF members initiated the establishment of the National Association for Women's Suffrage and the Norwegian National Women's Council. NKF inherited the former's founding membership in the International Alliance of Women (IAW) in 1937.
The association also initiated the establishment of the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association (Norwegian : Norske Kvinners Sanitetsforening), a humanitarian organization, which grew to become Norway's largest women's organization with around 250,000 members at one point. Historically, NKF was the most important association of the Norwegian bourgeois-liberal women's movement (associated chiefly with the Liberal Party), in contrast to the labour women's movement (associated with the Labour Party), and was traditionally dominated by liberal women from the upper and educated middle class, as well as by liberal men. [9] With the increasing reformism of the Labour Party, many Labour politicians joined NKF in the postwar era. Today, NKF is a nonpartisan organization.
The 1936 bylaws described NKF's main aim as "women's full equality with men in state and society" and NKF's working methods as influencing legislative processes, cooperating with the government and influencing public opinion. [10]
During the presidency of Eva Kolstad (1956–1968), NKF became strongly involved in international cooperation through the United Nations and contributed significantly to early UN gender equality policies, and Kolstad was elected as a member and vice chair of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in 1968, the year she stepped down as NKF President, after being nominated as the joint candidate of the Nordic governments. Kolstad later became a cabinet minister in Norway, the leader of the Liberal Party, and then the world's first Gender Equality Ombud. During the 1970s and 1980s, the lawyers Karin M. Bruzelius and Sigrun Hoel led the organization. Bruzelius became the first woman to head a government ministry as Permanent Secretary in 1989 and later became a Supreme Court Justice. Hoel served as the deputy Gender Equality Ombud during Kolstad's tenure and as acting Gender Equality Ombud.
In the early 1980s, NKF was responsible for the government-funded information campaign "Women and the election". In the late 1980s, NKF initiated the TV-aksjonen campaign to raise funds for "Women in the Third World", and NKF co-founded the campaign's successor Forum for Women and Development in 1995. During the presidency of diplomat and psychologist Torild Skard (2006–2013), the former Chairman of UNICEF, NKF renewed its focus on the United Nations, and NKF initiated the establishment of the Norwegian Women's Lobby, the umbrella organization of the Norwegian women's movement. Skard was succeeded as President by Professor Margunn Bjørnholt in 2013, by the Norwegian Parliament's First Vice President Marit Nybakk in 2016, by Supreme Court Justice Karin M. Bruzelius in 2018, [11] and by Professor Anne Hege Grung in 2020.
The organization had its offices in Sehesteds gate 1 in Oslo for many years and now has its offices in Majorstuveien 39 at Majorstuen in central Oslo.
NKF differed markedly from the second-wave feminist movement in its liberal and moderate political outlook, formal style of organization, emphasis on cooperation with the government and focus on legal and policy issues, and also in its membership dominated by lawyers and academics, prioritization of professional lobbying methods and lack of interest in grassroots activism. Elisabeth Lønnå describes NKF by 1970 as "an almost dignified organization" that had its "origins in the Liberal Party and had a liberal platform, centered on the main idea of equality for all citizens and based on the idea of fundamental human rights". Lønnå notes that NKF had long traditions, a clearly defined form of organization, an established network, well formulated policies and principles, and that it spent most of its resources on lobbying government bodies in a professional way. According to Lønnå it was the "only feminist organization that was primarily based on the idea of gender equality". In contrast to the many new feminist organizations that sprung up in the 1970s but quickly lost most of their membership, NKF was strengthened in the 1980s. [12] The government's gender equality apparatus viewed NKF as its main civil society partner and recognised the association's historical role in spearheading the struggle for equality. [13]
NKF has traditionally referred to its political platform as kvinnesak, a term that in this context means women's rights and that has always been associated with the liberal women's rights movement in Norway. However, supreme court justice and two-time NKF President Karin M. Bruzelius has noted that NKF has always used the term women's rights synonymously with the struggle for gender equality, the association's overarching aim since the 19th century. [14] NKF expressed scepticism towards the term "feminism" as late as 1980 because it could foster "unnecessary antagonism towards men", [15] but accepted the term some years later as it became the mainstream general term for the women's rights struggle in the western world. Today the tradition that NKF represents is generally known as liberal feminism in English. NKF works to represent the interests of all those who identify as women and girls. [16]
Although it grew out of 19th century progressive liberalism, NKF, like modern liberal feminism itself, is not limited to liberalism in a modern party-political sense, and NKF is non-partisan and broadly representative of the democratic political spectrum from the centre-left to the centre-right; its members tend to be affiliated with parties like the social-liberal Liberal Party, the social democratic Labour Party, the reformist socialist Socialist Left Party, the centrist Green Party, the liberal-conservative Conservative Party, or the Centre Party. NKF seeks the centre ground and to speak for the majority of all those who identify as women and girls, and NKF has always sought broad political support among women and men for reforms aimed at improving women's rights, believing its nonpartisan approach is the most effective way to advocate for women's rights and obtain practical results. Norwegian supreme court justice and two-time NKF President Karin Maria Bruzelius has described NKF's liberal feminism as "a realistic, sober, practical feminism". [3]
While NKF was modeled after a predecessor of the League of Women Voters in the U.S., it is also generally seen as the Norwegian counterpart of the National Organization for Women in the U.S.
The United Nations has been a major focus of NKF since the presidency of Eva Kolstad starting in 1956. NKF is a member of the International Alliance of Women (IAW), having inherited the founding membership of its de facto subsidiary, the National Association for Women's Suffrage. IAW was the fourth organization to receive general consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in 1947. In its international work, particularly at the UN level, NKF cooperates with its sister organizations in the IAW family such as the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, the Danish Women's Society, the Fredrika Bremer Association, the Deutscher Frauenring and the All India Women's Conference. Several NKF members have served on the IAW international board, notably including NKF presidents Margarete Bonnevie, Eva Kolstad, Clara Ottesen, Karin M. Bruzelius and Margunn Bjørnholt. [17] NKF was a founding member of the Joint Organization of Nordic Women's Rights Associations in 1916, and still cooperates with the other Nordic national women's rights associations through IAW.
Since 1884, [NKF] has understood the struggle for women's rights as fundamentally the same issue as the struggle for gender equality in society. [NKF] has always been open to all people regardless of gender. [NKF] fights for gender equality and for all those who identify as women and girls.
— NKF
NKF is traditionally the main bourgois-liberal women's rights organization in Norway and applies a human rights approach to its work for gender equality. Today NKF stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive liberal feminism and works "to promote gender equality and women's and girls' human rights through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy." [3] [20] NKF describes itself as "an inclusive and non-partisan feminist organization made up of women and men who champion the rights of all girls and women." [21] NKF's main focus is women's political, legal, and human rights, and Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen notes that NKF has "always been liberal and involved in a broad range of issues." [22] NKF focuses on "eliminating attitudes, laws and regulations that are discriminatory towards women and girls and which prevent gender equality". [3] [20]
NKF President Margarete Bonnevie said that NKF will work for solutions that are in the best interest of all women and society, "be the captain who keeps a steady course" in the struggle for equality and "set out the main policy objectives and seek to get the government, parliament and local government bodies to implement the reforms that are required;" accordingly NKF views itself as the leader of the women's movement and struggle for equality in Norway. [18] [19] NKF views gender equality as a human right [23] and argues that women's rights and human rights for all are fundamentally the same issue. [24] [25] NKF has always understood the struggle for women's rights to be identical with the struggle for gender equality, the association's overarching aim since the 19th century. [14]
NKF works for the human rights of all girls and women and for a gender equal society. NKF's core issues include "women's political rights, legal equality, women's representation in politics, and gender equality in education, employment, and economic justice" and "violence against girls and women (and) the strengthening of the gender perspective in foreign, security, and development policies." [1]
Political rights, legal equality and representation of women in politics is the most important traditional core focus of NKF.
Equal education, working life and economic justice is the second traditional core focus of NKF.
NKF's main focus in foreign policy is the strengthening of women's rights. NKF has a strong focus on the United Nations system. NKF played a key role in the development of women-focused development projects and initiated the establishment of what became the Forum for Women and Development. NKF is generally supportive of Norwegian official foreign policy, and in line with its liberal feminist political platform and bourgeois origins, the association maintained a pro-Western stance throughout the Cold War. NKF has never been pacifist; NKF founded the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association, originally intended as an affiliate of the Norwegian Red Cross that aimed to support the Norwegian military in a potential conflict with Sweden during the dissolution of the countries' union in 1905. NKF's non-partisan position meant that NKF consciously adopted a neutral stance on many issues not related to gender equality, especially issues that divided opinion among the political centre in Norway, such as Norwegian membership in the European Union. [14] Clara Ottesen, the NKF President during the membership debate, was herself a member of the executive board of the European Movement in Norway at the time. NKF refused to support anti-nuclear campaigns in Norway from the 1970s, as it would be at odds with official Norwegian (and NATO) security policy during the Cold War, and argued that the issue was unrelated to women's rights. [14]
NKF supports safe and legal abortion, birth control, and reproductive health education for all. NKF initiated the establishment of the NGO Sex og politikk that promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights domestically and internationally. In line with the liberal feminist focus on the "public world"—such as laws, political institutions and working life—NKF originally paid little attention to issues of sexuality, and this gradually changed during the 1960s and 1970s when the issue of abortion became important to the association. [26]
NKF has worked to end violence against women since the 19th century. Since the 1980s the topic has become increasingly important for NKF. NKF has mostly focused on legal regulation of violence, and works closely with lawyers and scholars in the field of women's law. NKF worked to abolish the practice of government-sanctioned prostitution in the 19th century, but the association has focused less on this topic than radical organizations in the modern era. Traditionally liberal/mainstream feminists are critical of prostitution, although they may differ on the most appropriate means to help people exit prostitution and combat human trafficking. Alan Soble notes that "contemporary liberal feminists object to prostitution (...) primarily because much of it involves coercion and choices that are not autonomous." [27] In the 21st century NKF supported the ban on buying sexual services in Norway. In line with its pragmatic perspective and emphasis on human rights, NKF has also been willing to listen to different perspectives in this complex area, with a main focus on combating human trafficking and exploitation. NKF and the women's rights movement pay attention to researchers in the field, acknowledge that the question of criminalization is complex, and emphasize that it must be discussed in a nuanced and academic manner, including from a human rights perspective. Among NKF's sister organizations within IAW there are differing opinions on whether criminalization is an appropriate means to help people exit prostitution and combat human trafficking. NKF's U.S. counterpart, NOW, has also been divided on this issue. [28]
NKF is part of the liberal women's rights movement and thus shares the mainstream feminist position on LGBT+ rights. NKF views LGBT+ rights as an integral part of feminism and the human rights framework NKF's work is based on, and opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in all areas, including homophobia and transphobia. [29] [1] NKF has always viewed itself as inclusive and non-discriminatory. Then-President Eva Kolstad wrote in 1959 that the struggle for women's rights is "a struggle for the free human" and in the 1960s Kolstad was an early advocate of gay rights. [30] Nevertheless, during the 1970s the association showed little interest in lesbian rights and argued that lesbian issues did not concern NKF. [31] [32] Since the late 20th century NKF has more consistently adopted LGBT+-inclusive policies and a more intersectional approach. [1] [33] This is in line with developments in human rights law; for example, law professor, CEDAW expert and NKF member Anne Hellum has noted that the CEDAW committee views "women" as a complex and multidimensional category that includes lesbians and trans women, and that both groups are protected by the convention. [34] For example, NKF supported legal protections against discrimination and hate speech on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in the Penal Code in 2018. [29] NKF's LGBT+-inclusive views are aligned with its parent organization, the International Alliance of Women (IAW) and with its sister organizations in the IAW family. During the 2021 session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) NKF's parent organization, IAW, co-hosted a CSW forum together with NKF's Icelandic sister organization, the Icelandic Women's Rights Association, on how the women's movement could counter "anti-trans voices [that] are becoming ever louder and [that] are threatening feminist solidarity across borders." [35] NKF's largest chapter, its Oslo branch, noted that "the anti-gender movement is now working systematically in a number of countries and in several international forums to reverse and undermine the rights of both women and sexual minorities" and that the association "stands in solidarity with international women's rights and LGBT+ organizations in the fight against these setbacks." [36] In 2023 former IAW President Marion Böker participated in the podcast "Trans Inclusion in the Women's Movement", highlighting how the mainstream women's rights movement is trans-inclusive and how the exclusionary narrative that dominates much of the media is being driven by and playing into the hands of anti-democratic forces. [37]
NKF's president is the highest national-level official and chairs the national board (landsstyret) and the executive board (sentralstyret). NKF's presidents have been:
No | Image | Name | Tenure | Background | Party |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hagbart Berner | 1884–1885 | Lawyer and Member of Parliament | Liberal | |
2 | Anna Stang | 1885–1886 | Teacher, usually titled Statsministerinde ("Madam Prime Minister") | Liberal | |
3 | Ragna Nielsen | 1886–1888 | Teacher, headmistress and liberal politician, also President of Riksmålsforbundet | Liberal | |
4 | Anna Bugge | 1888–1889 | Lawyer and diplomat | Liberal | |
5 | Ragna Nielsen | 1889–1895 | Teacher, headmistress and liberal politician, also President of Riksmålsforbundet | Liberal | |
6 | Randi Blehr | 1895–1899 | Humanitarian leader, usually titled Statsministerinde ("Madam Prime Minister") | Liberal | |
7 | Fredrikke Marie Qvam | 1899–1903 | Humanitarian leader, usually titled Statsministerinde ("Madam Prime Minister"), also President of the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association | Liberal | |
8 | Randi Blehr | 1903–1922 | Humanitarian leader, usually titled Statsministerinde ("Madam Prime Minister") | Liberal | |
9 | Aadel Lampe | 1922–1926 | Teacher and liberal politician, deputy member of parliament | Free-Minded Liberal | |
10 | Fredrikke Mørck | 1926–1930 | Teacher and editor | Liberal | |
11 | Anna Hvoslef | 1930–1935 | Aftenposten journalist | Conservative | |
12 | Kitty Bugge | 1935–1936 | Union leader | Liberal | |
13 | Margarete Bonnevie | 1936–1946 | Writer and liberal politician | Liberal | |
14 | Dakky Kiær | 1946–1952 | Headmistress and liberal politician | Liberal | |
15 | Ingerid Gjøstein Resi | 1952–1955 | Linguist and liberal politician | Liberal | |
16 | Marit Aarum | 1955–1956 | Economist, civil servant and liberal politician | Liberal | |
17 | Signe Swensson | 1956 | Physician and Member of Parliament | Conservative | |
18 | Eva Kolstad | 1956–1968 | Cabinet minister, Liberal Party leader, Norway's first Gender Equality Ombud | Liberal | |
19 | Clara Ottesen | 1968–1972 | Economist, civil servant, aid worker, UN expert | Liberal | |
20 | Kari Skjønsberg | 1972–1978 | Associate professor of literature and Labour Party politician | Labour | |
21 | Karin M. Bruzelius | 1978–1984 | Supreme Court Justice | ||
22 | Sigrun Hoel | 1984–1988 | Lawyer and Gender Equality Ombud | ||
23 | Irene Bauer | 1988–1990 | Labour Party politician, civil servant (Director in the Ministry of the Environment) | Labour | |
24 | Siri Hangeland | 1990–1992 | Lecturer | SV | |
25 | Bjørg Krane Bostad | 1992–1994 | Civil servant | ||
26 | Kjellaug Pettersen | 1994–1998 | Civil servant (Special Adviser with the Ministry of Education) | ||
27 | Siri Hangeland | 1998–2004 | Lecturer | SV | |
28 | Berit Kvæven | 2004–2006 | Chief engineer at the Norwegian Climate and Pollution Agency, former Vice President of the Liberal Party, Political Adviser to the Minister of Consumer Affairs and Administration (Eva Kolstad), former President of Tekna | Liberal | |
29 | Torild Skard | 2006–2013 | Senior Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, former Member of Parliament, Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of UNICEF | SV | |
30 | Margunn Bjørnholt | 2013–2016 | Professor of Sociology | Greens | |
31 | Marit Nybakk | 2016–2018 | First Vice President of the Norwegian Parliament, Norway's longest-serving woman member of parliament of all time, former President of the Nordic Council | Labour | |
32 | Karin M. Bruzelius | 2018–2020 | Supreme Court Justice | ||
33 | Anne Hege Grung | 2020– | Professor of Theology |
NKF's logo is a stylized sunflower. It was adopted in 1894, based on the model of the liberal American suffrage movement led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony from the 1860s; by the late 19th century, the sunflower had become the main international symbol of women's suffrage. The logo was also used as the logo of NKF's journal Nylænde , edited by Gina Krog. NKF states that the sunflower represents the association's "roots in the first wave of feminism and our systematic work since 1884 to promote gender equality through constructive political reforms within the framework of liberal democracy". [38]
NKF published the journal Nylænde (New Land) from 1887 to 1927, edited by Gina Krog until her death in 1916 and then by Fredrikke Mørck. Nylænde was the first women's rights journal in Norway and was regarded as one of the most influential political journals of the country in its time. It played a major role in the early women's rights movement and the struggle for women's suffrage. [39] It was also a leading journal of literary criticism; Marius Wulfsberg has stated that "it was Gina Krog and her [Nylænde] reviewers who really made Ibsen famous." [40]
From 1950 to 2016 NKF published the journal Kvinnesaksnytt (Women's Rights News) that included news and analysis of Norwegian and international women's rights issues. The editors of Kvinnesaksnytt included Ingerid Gjøstein Resi, Marit Aarum, Eva Kolstad, Kari Skjønsberg, Karin M. Bruzelius, Torild Skard and Margunn Bjørnholt. [41]
NKF's highest honour is its honorary membership, which was first awarded to Camilla Collett in 1884. Since 2009, NKF also awards the Gina Krog Prize, named after its founder.
Since 2009, the association has awarded the Gina Krog Prize, named after its founder Gina Krog. The prize has been awarded to
Liberal feminism, also called mainstream feminism, is a main branch of feminism defined by its focus on achieving gender equality through political and legal reform within the framework of liberal democracy and informed by a human rights perspective. It is often considered culturally progressive and economically center-right to center-left. As the oldest of the "Big Three" schools of feminist thought, liberal feminism has its roots in 19th century first-wave feminism seeking recognition of women as equal citizens, focusing particularly on women's suffrage and access to education, the effort associated with 19th century liberalism and progressivism. Liberal feminism "works within the structure of mainstream society to integrate women into that structure." Liberal feminism places great emphasis on the public world, especially laws, political institutions, education and working life, and considers the denial of equal legal and political rights as the main obstacle to equality. As such liberal feminists have worked to bring women into the political mainstream. Liberal feminism is inclusive and socially progressive, while broadly supporting existing institutions of power in liberal democratic societies, and is associated with centrism and reformism. Liberal feminism tends to be adopted by white middle-class women who do not disagree with the current social structure; Zhang and Rios found that liberal feminism with its focus on equality is viewed as the dominant and "default" form of feminism. Liberal feminism actively supports men's involvement in feminism and both women and men have always been active participants in the movement; progressive men had an important role alongside women in the struggle for equal political rights since the movement was launched in the 19th century.
Katti Anker Møller was a Norwegian feminist, children's rights advocate, and a pioneer of reproductive rights.
Betzy Aleksandra Kjelsberg was a Norwegian women's rights activist, suffragist and a member of the feminist movement. She was a politician with the Liberal Party and the first female board member of the party.
The International Alliance of Women is an international non-governmental organization that works to promote women's rights and gender equality. It was historically the main international organization that campaigned for women's suffrage. IAW stands for an inclusive, intersectional and progressive liberal feminism on the basis of human rights and liberal democracy, and has a liberal internationalist outlook. IAW's principles state that all genders are "born equally free [and are] equally entitled to the free exercise of their individual rights and liberty," that "women's rights are human rights" and that "human rights are universal, indivisible and interrelated."
Jørgine Anna Sverdrup"Gina" Krog was a Norwegian suffragist, teacher, liberal politician, writer and editor, and a major figure in liberal feminism in Scandinavia.
State feminism is feminism created or approved by the government of a state or nation. It usually specifies a particular program. The term was coined by Helga Hernes with particular reference to the situation in Norway, which had a tradition of government-supported liberal feminism dating back to the 1880s, and is often used when discussing the government-supported gender equality policies of the Nordic countries, that are linked to the Nordic model. The term has also been used in the context of developing countries where the government may prescribe its form of feminism and at the same time prohibit non-governmental organizations from advocating for any other feminist program. In this sense it is possible to distinguish between a liberal state feminism found in Western democracies such as the Nordic countries, and a somewhat more authoritarian state feminism that is often also linked to secularism, found e.g. in certain Middle Eastern countries.
The feminist movement in Norway has made significant progress in reforming laws and social customs in the nation, advancing the rights of the women of Norway.
Margarete Ottilie Bonnevie was a Norwegian author, women's rights advocate and politician for the Liberal Party of Norway. A liberal feminist, she served as the 13th President of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (NKF) from 1936 to 1946 and is credited with reviving the liberal women's rights movement in the 1930s. Bonnevie said that NKF should work for solutions that are in the best interest of all women and society, "be the captain who keeps a steady course" in the struggle for equality and "set out the main policy objectives and seek to get the government, parliament and local government bodies to implement the reforms that are required."
Clara Ottesen was a Norwegian government official, economist, aid worker and politician.
Marit Johanne Aarum (1903–1956) was a Norwegian economist, liberal politician, civil servant and feminist.
Fredrikke Andrea Møllerup Mørck was a Norwegian liberal feminist, editor, and teacher. She served as the editor-in-chief of the women's rights magazine Nylænde from 1916 to 1927 and as the 10th president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights from 1926 to 1930.
The Norwegian Women's Lobby is a feminist policy and advocacy organization in Norway and works for "the human rights of girls and women in all their diversity, to eliminate all forms of discrimination against all girls and women and to promote a gender equal society." It is described as the country's "main, national, umbrella organization" for women's rights. NWL understands women's human rights and discrimination in an intersectional perspective and works to represent the interests of all those who identify as women and girls. NWL is funded by the government over the national budget. The mission of the organization is to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls on the basis of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and other fundamental international agreements relating to women's human rights. It works to integrate women's perspectives into all political, economical and social processes.
The National Association for Women's Suffrage was a Norwegian association for women suffrage, active from 1898 until 1913. It was founded by members of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (NKF), and the two organizations were closely related, at times sharing the same president.
Aadel Lampe was a Norwegian women's rights leader, liberal politician, teacher for deaf children and suffragist in the late 19th and early 20th century. She was elected as a deputy member of the Storting in 1922, as one of the first women elected to the Norwegian parliament, and served as president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights from 1922 to 1926.
Sigrun Hoel is a Norwegian lawyer, academic, government official and feminist. She served as the 22nd President of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (NKF) from 1984 to 1988, succeeding supreme court justice Karin M. Bruzelius. Before she became the national President she was chair of the Oslo chapter from 1980 to 1984 and Vice President of NKF from 1982 to 1984. She was acting Gender Equality Ombud in 1984, 1988 and 1991.
Siri Hangeland is a Norwegian feminist, civic leader and politician.
The Norwegian National Women's Council was founded on 8 January 1904 as an umbrella organization for the various Norwegian women's associations. It was established by Gina Krog whose international contacts had revealed that the International Council of Women was keen to include a delegation from Norway. As a result of diminishing interest, the organization discontinued its work at the end of 1989.
Anna Louise Beer (1924–2010) was a Norwegian lawyer, judge and women's rights activist who was president of the Norwegian National Women's Council from 1973 to 1979.
Anne Hege Grung is a Norwegian professor of interreligious studies and a feminist, and the President of Norway's preeminent women's and girls' rights NGO, the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (NKF). In 2020, she succeeded supreme court justice Karin M. Bruzelius as NKF President.
Kvinnesaksnytt was a Norwegian liberal feminist journal on women's rights that included news and analysis of Norwegian and international women's rights issues, seen from the perspective of the liberal or mainstream women's rights movement. It was published by the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, the country's main women's rights organization, from 1950 to 2016, and was Norway's main women's rights journal for 66 years. It was the successor of the association's earlier journal Nylænde (1887–1927), one of the most influential political magazines in Norway since the 1880s.
Kvinnesak er kampen for et likestilt samfunn. For Norsk Kvinnesaksforening har det alltid vært et grunnleggende poeng at jenters og kvinners rettigheter og menneskerettigheter for alle er to sider av samme sak