CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2019
| Author | Einarsen, Lauritz Guldal |
|---|---|
| Title | The Rise and Fall of Left-Feminism in Post-World War II Norway: The Case of Kirsten Hansteen (1903-1974) |
| Summary | This thesis offers an amendment of the political history of Norway through a left-feminist perspective. It explores the political work of the first woman in a Norwegian government, Kirsten Hansteen (1903–1974), who, despite her pioneering role, is all but absent from Norwegian historiography. Based on archival research and feminist content analysis, the thesis uncovers the history of the left-feminist movement in Norway as well as Hansteen’s political activities in the years 1945–1949, during which she was a representative in the Norwegian Government and the Parliament for the Communist Party of Norway. The thesis’s main question is: Which role did Kirsten Hansteen play in the post-World War II Norwegian left-feminist movement? Through writing a partial political biography about Hansteen, this thesis explores how the World War II-context led to a left-feminism in Norway that perceived social inequality, gender inequality and fascism as intertwined. The larger women’s movement in Norway was characterised by a strong spirit of cooperation coming out of the war, which gradually crumbled as Cold War anti-communism increased, and the initially influential left-feminist movement became the target of hostility. This thesis shows how the anti-war position of left-feminists implicated them in the debate about Norway’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949, shedding light on the Norwegian women’s movement as a Cold War arena. It further illustrates the ways in which processes of anti-communism and misogyny impacted Hansteen’s political work and the organisations she was involved in, shaping the Norwegian political landscape and women’s movement with long term effects. Such conflicts and discourses are a part of broader historical processes which have also affected how left-feminist women such as Hansteen have been remembered. This thesis argues that Hansteen personified the Norwegian left-feminist movement, and because she did not perceive women’s oppression as a gender-only issue, Hansteen has been neglected in the historiography of Norwegian women’s movements and feminisms. |
| Supervisor | Haan, Francisca de |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2019/einarsen_lauritz.pdf |
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