The Rise of State Men’s Politics in Norway Since the 1970s

This article examines how the Norwegian state has addressed men and masculinity in gender equality policy, a field historically centred on women. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of government and parliamentary documents from the 1970s to around 2024, it traces changing ways of positioning men as subjects of policy. It distinguishes between “policies affecting men,” which primarily pursue other objectives, and “men’s politics,” which explicitly targets men. Within men’s politics, I distinguish “masculinity politics,” aimed at changing men’s roles and practices, from “men’s interest politics,” which prioritizes their rights and needs. The historical analysis shows how these approaches emerged and overlapped. Early reforms in family law and parental leave often affected men indirectly. From the late 1980s, initiatives such as the father’s quota and positive discrimination in education and care work sought to change men’s practices. More recently, boys’ education, violence against men, and men’s health have increasingly been treated as policy concerns in their own right. Rather than replacing earlier approaches, these developments have made Norwegian gender equality policy concerning men more layered.