Gender and Care in Transnational Families: Empowerment, Change, and Tradition

Abstract

In Norway, the majority population has generally accepted and internalized gender egalitarian values. Public childcare is universal and for parents plays an important role in work-family balance. The male-breadwinner model has become a contested family model. Local care and welfare regimes aim to integrate women and migrants into the labour market and children into local communities. For migrant mothers who come from European contexts dominated by the Catholic Church and gender conservative family values, developing new care strategies in Norway can cause social tensions, transnational challenges as well as individual empowerment. This chapter discusses how local gender regimes and public-care arrangements in Norway influence Polish and Italian mothers’ migration experiences.