ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that even if the social security system in Norway has ‘rescued’ caregivers to a certain extent from being totally dependent upon a provider, a partner, such a system largely relies on the existence of familial arrangements and private sources of maintenance. It explores the outlines and systemic structures of financing care in the Norwegian social security legislation and their advantages and disadvantages from the perspective of caregivers. The chapter describes the social rights earned independently by housewives. The various social rights connected to private care in the social security legislation could be seen as a kind of salary for care-work. In Norway, a constant development towards more extensive social compensation schemes for care in the home has taken place in the 1990s, although there is a long way to go before all care workers are given full economic compensation.
