Pram Countries: Baby Carriages From Symbols of Good Motherhood to Gender Equal Parenting in the Nordic Countries

This article explores prams and strollers, also called baby carriages and buggies, as material objects and fabricated images in the Nordic region. Prams are frequently associated with a Nordic gender equality model, a development that this article argues is of recent vintage. For much of the late-19th and 20th centuries, prams in the Nordic countries were linked primarily with motherhood, despite shifting notions of what constituted childcare, gender roles and the welfare state. In tracing the development of prams, their usage and the narratives that surrounded them, this article examines prams’ evolution from highly gendered objects to avatars of Nordic exceptionality. Pram usage came to represent vital characteristics of a new Nordic model that developed around the turn of the millennium and which carried a reputation for equality between men and women, including in gender-neutral parenting. In following these developments, the article contends that the history of prams presents a useful perspective for exploring the material contestations and the impact of welfare states, as well as the Nordic model concept.