The Birth of a Welfare State: Feminists, Midwives, Working Women and the Fight for Norwegian Maternity Leave, 1880-1940 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Anna M. Peterson Graduate Program in History The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Birgitte Søland, Advisor Robin Judd Susan Hartmann Copyright by Anna M. Peterson 2013 Abstract This dissertation analyzes interactions between politicians, bureaucrats and diverse groups of women over the issue of maternity legislation in Norway between 1880 and 1940. It adds to a rich historiographic debate on welfare state development, women’s roles in the creation of welfare policies, the Scandinavian model of welfare and the institutionalization of women’s birth experiences. During the sixty years that this study encompasses, Norwegian maternity legislation underwent drastic and dynamic changes. From their initial implementation in 1892, maternity policies expanded in coverage, application and protections. This dissertation traces the history of this development along several lines, including local and national political processes and women’s collective and individual influence. While women’s access to maternity provisions steadily increased during this period, these achievements were fraught with struggles. Historical context shaped the types of arguments women could use to advance political debates about maternity. In many cases, these hindrances led to the creation of policies that promoted maternity legislation at the expense of certain groups of women’s autonomy. ii Women did not act as a monolithic group when it came to maternity policies. Feminists, midwives and working women actively participated in the creation of Norwegian maternity policies and adapted them to fit their particular needs and interests. These groups of women transformed maternity leave from a mandatory, restrictive form of state control over women’s reproduction to a benefit that all working women had a right to receive. In order to achieve more beneficial maternity policies, these groups of women embraced arguments that resonated with contemporary concerns. Late-nineteenth factory legislation had established maternity as an area of state intervention mainly because it fell in line with what other more industrialized countries were doing at the time. These early maternity policies restricted mothers’ economic activities and women responded by demanding significant changes to maternity legislation. During the early twentieth century feminists and midwives, in particular, used the political focus on infant mortality rates and public health to push for compensatory maternity benefits for women. This led to more comprehensive maternity policies for working-class women. In 1913 Norwegian women won the right to vote, and during the interwar period feminists used women’s new status as full citizens to frame maternity as an issue of women’s rights. These efforts led to the passage of comprehensive and generous policies in the 1930s. The rhetorical framework that women constructed in order to achieve these results had a lasting impact on the development of maternity policy in Norway long into the postwar period. iii The structure of this dissertation follows these periods of maternity policy development. Chapter 1 examines the context that led to the passage of Norway’s first maternity leave law in 1892 and explains why feminists, midwives and working women were largely uninvolved in this development. Chapter 2 looks at women’s use of the rhetoric of state protection for women and children and how this affected the maternity provisions included in the passage of the Castberg Laws in 1915. The focus of Chapter 3 is on women’s attempts in the 1910s to tie public health initiatives to the struggle for greater maternity provisions under the Norwegian health insurance act. Chapter 4 investigates the rhetoric of rights feminists used to push for the expansion of maternity benefits in the interwar period. iv For Dalton v Acknowledgments This dissertation was written with the help of many individuals and institutions who deserve an enormous amount of thanks. First of all, this project could never have been completed without the guidance of my advisor, Birgitte Søland. She has been there for me throughout every step of this process with encouragement and support. Her invaluable insights have made this a better dissertation and me a better scholar. For this I owe her my deepest gratitude. A number of other scholars have been influential in the development and completion of this project. I appreciate all of the time and energy Susan Hartmann and Robin Judd have given me and this dissertation. Their comments and suggestions have contributed to the development and refinement of my ideas and for that I thank them. I would also like to acknowledge James Bartholomew for giving me the opportunity to broaden my historical perspective and incorporate cross-cultural comparisons in my work. Additionally, several professors outside of Ohio State have offered advice and criticism on this project, specifically Melissa Gjellstad, Glenn Kranking and Gro Hagemann. My participation in the Trans-Atlantic Summer Institute in European Studies at the University Minnesota introduced me to an interdisciplinary approach to this research which informed my overall methodology. vi This dissertation would not have been possible without the generous funding I have received. The American-Scandinavian Foundation funded a year-long research trip to Norway which enabled me to finish my research and undertake the bulk of the dissertation writing. Additional trips to Norway were funded through a Coca-Cola Critical Difference for Women Dissertation Grant and a Bradley Foundation fellowship. I am also grateful for the financial support I received at Ohio State including the Genevieve Brown Gist Research Award, Retrieving the American Past Award, College of Arts and Humanities Small Grant Award and the Ohio State Department of History Research Fellowship. I would also like to thank the Centre for Gender Research at the University of Oslo for sponsoring my application for the American-Scandinavian Foundation fellowship and for providing me with a supportive and enriching environment in which to write my dissertation. All of the faculty, staff and students at the Centre deserve recognition for this, but I would like to particularly thank Unn Conradi Andersen, Anne Bitsch, Tone Brekke, Greta Gober, Beatrice Halsaa, Øystein Gullvåg Holter, Trine Rogg Korsvik, Marianne Inez Lien, Jørgen Lorentzen, Stina Hansteen Solhøy, Rannveig Svendby, Cecilie Thun and members of the Gender Equality Research Group. My research abroad was also facilitated by the generosity of archivists, librarians and a variety of others. Archivists and librarians at the National Archives, National Library, Oslo City Archives, and various regional archives greeted my project with enthusiasm and helped me identify key sources which strengthened and informed this project. I am also grateful for the warm welcome I received from the staff at the National vii Association of Midwives who not only shared their organizational records with me, but also friendly conversation and numerous cups of coffee. Lastly, I am indebted to Joron Pihl for graciously granting me access to Katti Anker Møller’s personal papers housed in the Manuscript Collection at the National Library. I could not have finished this dissertation without the support of friends and family in both the United States and Norway. These are the people who provided me with the love and encouragement necessary for undertaking and completing such a project. In Norway, Gitte Moen and Ingolf Grønvold and Birgitte and Anders Hartmann kindly hosted me while I conducted preliminary research in Oslo. The coffee breaks, glasses of wine and dinners I shared with Unn Conradi Andersen, Anne Bitsch, Greta Gober, Trine Rogg Korsvik, Joana Serrado, Stina Hansteen Solhøy and Rannveig Svendby also helped make my stay in Norway not only productive but enjoyable. I am thankful for my Ohio State colleagues David Dennis, Matt Yates, Leigh Fine, Sri Thakkilapati, Mark Soderstrom, Lindsey Patterson, Gulsah Torunoglu, Noel Voltz, Stephanie Honchell, Dan Watkins, Frank Blazich, Peggy Solic, Laura Herron, Jessica Wallace, and Kara Barr who provided me with intellectual support and friendship. My family, especially my mother, Diane Peterson, has always been there for me with unconditional love and a sympathetic ear. Finally, my partner Dalton Little has been a constant source of encouragement and compassion throughout this journey. I am immensely grateful for his unwavering belief in me. He sacrificed his time, and perhaps even a piece of his sanity, in order to help me achieve my academic goals. This dissertation is dedicated to him. viii Vita May 2003 .......................................................Kittson Central High School, Hallock, MN 2004................................................................B.A. Scandinavian Studies, Concordia ........................................................................College, Moorhead, MN 2009................................................................M.A. History, University of North Dakota 2009 to present ..............................................Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of History, The Ohio State University Publications “Making Women’s Suffrage Support an Ethnic
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