In spite of increased labour market participation in recent decades, women in Norway still have high part-time rates and seldom work more than their partners. Given that an aging population implies a projected large labour demand in many Western countries, it is important to explore potential...

The presence of children still tends to reinforce a traditional division of labour in couples in many countries. This paper explores possible changes in the relationship between parenthood and the division of labour in Norway from 1980 to 2010 – a period with reduced gender differences in time...

An equal division of paid and unpaid work is a central political ambition in Norway. Yet, couples’ division of paid work has been less studied than their division of unpaid work. This paper shows that women seldom work more than their partner, but equal sharing is now increasing. Still, about...

This paper analyzes the (re)entry of Norwegian mothers into full-time and part-time employment following the first and second birth. Based on theories of job search and human capital depreciation and appreciation a semi-parametric hazard model is estimated, expressing the entry rate as a...

This paper compares the employment patterns of women after first and second birth in Finland, Norway and Sweden during 1972-92, focusing on the impact of parental leave and childcare programs on the transitions to full-time and part-time work. The results unanimously point to the great...

Universal parental leaves with job protection and earnings compensation increase women’s attachment to the labour market, but very long leaves may have negative consequences both at the individual and the societal level. Some scholars have therefore argued that generous family-friendly...

The underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship is consistent over cultures and countries, and is even higher in Norway than in most other industrialised societies. In spite of a growing literature, the reasons for this pattern are still not well understood. In this paper I explore an area...

While long total work hours (paid plus unpaid work) have usually been framed as a problem for employed women, researchers now ask whether more involved fathering practices imply a double burden for men, too. Based on the Norwegian Time Use Survey 2010, and using three different measures of total...

The number of housewives has declined significantly in most Western countries, but there is now a renewed interest in the homemaker role in the media and public discourse. Utilising representative survey data from 2007 we examine the prevalence and characteristics of the housewife role in...

Considering the high female part-time rates in Norway, one may envisage a sizeable additional labour supply if more part-time working women would switch to full time. In view of an ageing population and increased demand for labour in the future, we investigate this issue by studying married and...