Paper short abstract:

In Norway, there has been discussions for several decades over how and if the Norwegian gender equality legislation and the Norwegian state's obligation to promote gender equality in all spheres of society according to the CEDAW convention should follow this up with religious communities.

Paper long abstract:

This paper with analyse a specific case within religious gender politics in Norway, namely the statement in the present government's governmental platform that they will require 40% representation of women in the boards of religious communities. Through document analysis and qualitative interviews with stakeholders, the arguments in play will be identified, discussed and analyzed engaging with Anne Phillips argumentation that gender justice may be negotiated away in political interactions between state and religion (Casanova and Phillips 2009). Phillips argues that religious communities are not democratically organized entities, and that religion as a collective endeavour does not focus on individuals, but on the collective. This entails that, generally speaking, women’s human rights is subordinated the right of freedom of religion by religious communities. Mutual dependence between faith communities/religious NGOs and the state limits the space for gender fair religious politics. Can we find such mutual dependence in the Norwegian context?