Norwegian Women's Lobby

The Norwegian Women's Lobby (NWL; Norwegian: Norges kvinnelobby) is a politically independent human rights political advocacy organisation in Norway, and is described as the country's "main, national, umbrella organization" for women's rights.[1] NWL is inclusive and "works to represent the interests of all those who identify as women and girls."[2] It states that it "brings together both the key women’s organisations and the leading experts on women’s rights in Norway"[2] and that it has a focus on being a "cooperation partner for the government [and] to contribute to the representation of the Norwegian women's movement in international forums."[3]

Norwegian Women's Lobby
Formation27 January 2014
TypeNGO
FocusGender equality
Location
MethodsLaw reform, political advocacy
Membership
10 NGOs
President
Ragnhild Hennum
Websitewww.kvinnelobby.no

It has ten member organizations with a total of nearly 50,000 members and was founded in 2014 by the Norwegian women's organisations on the initiative of Torild Skard, the former chairman of UNICEF, and in accordance with the recommendations of the government-appointed Gender Equality Commission. Its member organizations include the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights and the Norwegian Women's Public Health Association, the oldest and largest women's organizations in Norway, respectively.

Its principal aim is to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls on the basis of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action and other fundamental international agreements relating to women's human rights. It works to integrate women's perspectives into all political, economical and social processes.

History and organisation
Torild Skard, the former Chairman of UNICEF, initiated the establishment of the Norwegian Women's Lobby.

The Norwegian Women's Lobby was founded on 27 January 2014 by eight nationwide women's rights organisations.[2] The establishment followed several years of prior discussion in the Norwegian women's movement, where Torild Skard, the former chairman of UNICEF, had been the key proponent for the establishment. The organisation currently has ten member organisations. Its establishment was in accordance with the recommendations of the government-appointed Gender Equality Commission (chaired by Hege Skjeie) of 2010.[4] It is modelled after the European Women's Lobby and similar organisations. The first president was Margunn Bjørnholt. In 2017 Ragnhild Hennum, a professor of public law, pro-rector of the University of Oslo and director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, was elected president of the organisation.

NWL is inclusive and "works to represent the interests of all those who identify as women and girls."[2] The organisation aims to promote women's human rights, based on the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Beijing Platform for Action[5] and other fundamental international agreements.[6][2][7] Its member organisations include all the significant women's rights organisations of Norway and have been championing women's human rights since 1884; the founding organisations were described by the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud Sunniva Ørstavik as "the very foundation of the efforts to promote women's rights in Norway."[6] As a civil society umbrella organisation, the Norwegian Women's Lobby only accepts nonpartisan organisations as members. The Norwegian Women's Lobby is led by an elected political leadership, the executive board. The organisation is advised by an independent body of experts, the Expert Committee that includes some of Norway's main experts in this area, e.g. CEDAW expert Anne Hellum and formerly Hege Skjeie.[8]

The Norwegian Women's Lobby has a particular focus on the United Nations system and prepares shadow reports to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on Norway's implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women; the 2017 report was coordinated by Supreme Court Justice Karin Bruzelius, a member of the Norwegian Women's Lobby's expert committee.[9] The first Norwegian NGO CEDAW shadow report was initiated by the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights during Torild Skard's tenure as president, and the Norwegian Women's Lobby's reports represent a continuation of that work.

Most of the member organisations are also participating in the Forum for Women and Development, which focuses on development issues in the Global South. The Norwegian Women's Lobby by contrast has a broader focus on women's issues nationally and internationally.

In 2018 NWL and five other key NGOs organised the customary torchlight parade in Oslo in honour of that year's Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, who were awarded the prize for their work to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.[10]

NWL has received funding from the centre-left city government of Oslo.[11]

Member organisations

Presidents
  1. Margunn Bjørnholt (2014–2016), Professor of Sociology and president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights
  2. Gunhild Vehusheia (2016–2017), attorney-at-law, former executive director of Legal Aid for Women
  3. Ragnhild Hennum (2017–), Professor of Public Law, pro-rector of the University of Oslo and director of the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights

Expert Committee

NWL's Expert Committee is a permanent body of experts tasked with making policy recommendations in fields that affect women and girls and gender equality, and works under the sponsorship of the Norwegian Women's Lobby. Established in 2016, the expert committee was initially chaired by professor of sociology Cathrine Holst. The additional initial members of the committee were supreme court justice Karin Bruzelius, professor of gender studies Beatrice Halsaa, professor of public law Anne Hellum, professor of history Eirinn Larsen and (until her death in 2018) professor of political science Hege Skjeie, the former chair of the government-appointed Gender Equality Commission. In 2020 Nita Kapoor, Helga Eggebø, Johanne Sundby and Mari Teigen were appointed to the committee.[8]

References
  1. Çağatay, Selin; Liinason, Mia; Sasunkevich, Olga (2021). "Transforming Conditions of Feminist and LGBTI+ Activism". Feminist and LGBTI+ Activism across Russia, Scandinavia and Turkey. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 83–142. ISBN 978-3-030-84451-6. In contemporary Scandinavian countries, civil society is structured around one main, national, umbrella organization for women’s, respectively, LGBTI+ people’s rights (...) These organizations are: Sveriges kvinnolobby (Swedish Women’s Lobby), Norges kvinnelobby (Norwegian Women’s Lobby), RFSL in Sweden, LGBT Denmark, FRI in Norway, and Kvinderådet i Danmark (Danish Women’s Council).
  2. "The Norwegian Women's Lobby – an umbrella organisation for the Norwegian women's rights organisations". NWL. Archived from the original on 2022-03-15. Retrieved 2022-03-15.
  3. "Norges kvinnelobby – en paraplyorganisasjon for den norske kvinnebevegelsen". Archived from the original on 2022-01-09. Retrieved 2022-01-09.
  4. Norwegian Official Report 2011:18 "Struktur for likestilling" and Norwegian Official Report 2012:15 "Politikk for likestilling"
  5. Beijing Platform for Action, United Nations
  6. Gratulerer, Norges kvinnelobby! Archived 2014-01-29 at the Wayback Machine, Gender Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, 29 January 2014
  7. Norsk kvinnebevegelse slår seg sammen i ny lobby, Kureren, 29 January 2014
  8. "Expert Committee". kvinnelobby.no. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  9. "Foreword," in Shadow Report to the CEDAW Committee, 2017: Supplementary information from the Norwegian Women’s Lobby to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in relation to the 9th Periodic Report of Norway, Norwegian Women's Lobby, 2017
  10. "Fakkeltog for Nobels fredspris 2018". Norwegian Peace Council. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
  11. "Hva er voldtekt – og hvordan få overgripere straffet?". Litteraturhuset. Retrieved 2018-11-26.
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