ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors investigate how the national branding of Norway takes form through voicing and silencing of various features of Norwegian gender-equality policies. A key insight from studies of nation-branding is that ‘branding matters’. The aim of different nation-branding strategies is to influence how countries are perceived by both state- and non-state actors in the international community. The Nordic countries have been portrayed as ‘nirvanas’ of gender equality or – more soberly – as a group of countries more characterized by equality than others. Gender-equality-oriented family policies constitute a main sub-area of Norway’s gender-equality policies. Gender mainstreaming has been the official strategy of gender-equality policy in Norway for 40 years – that is to say, since the adoption of the Gender Equality Act in 1978. Quota policies and preferential-treatment arrangements are hallmark of Norwegian gender-equality policy. Conservative governments, for example, may tend to emphasize female entrepreneurship and girls’ equal access to education more than quota and family policies.
