Representation is about the fact that when society consists of people with many different identities, different groups must be represented in all parts of society – in the media, in leadership positions, in politics, on stage, behind the camera, and more.

For example, when women make up approximately half the population, approximately half of key positions in society should also be held by women.

• About 1 in 5 Norwegians are multicultural. At least 13 percent have roots in non-western countries.

• Approximately 1 in 5 Norwegians have a disability.

• Around 10 percent are LGBT+ people.

• Norway consists of many different people: national minorities and indigenous people, people with different religions, different socio-economic backgrounds, people of all genders and of all ages.

Does Norwegian cultural life reflect society?

• There are fewer people with a multicultural background in arts and culture than in the population.

• Few Norwegian cinema films are about disabled people, Sami people or queer people.

• Disabled people are hardly represented in arts and culture at all.

• Art by Sami people and national minorities is poorly represented in Norwegian museums.

• Many genres and fields in arts and culture are fairly divided by gender, and in those parts of cultural life with the highest income and prestige, there are often most men.

• People with a multicultural background make up only 3 percent of the sources in the Norwegian media in 2020. A survey from 2018, found that women with an ethnic minority background make up less than 1 percent of mentioned or quoted sources.
  

• A media analysis from 2017 shows that if immigrants are mentioned from a problem perspective, it is twice as often stated which country the person originally comes from. Whereas when the article has a positive story, immigrants are more often referred to as Norwegian.
  

• 7 percent of managers and board representatives in cultural industries are immigrants. Most of them are from countries in Europe.
  

• I 2019 only two out of 98 board members in state-funded cultural institutions in Norway were persons with non-western background.
  

• A report from 2019 showed that 2 out of 3 of the sources representing the culture industry are men.

• The proportion of female artists on Norwegian festival stages has been between 23 and 33 per cent throughout the 2010s and the 2020s.

Is everyone equally safe at work?

1 out of 5

Trakasseringsbarometeret 2023 reports that 21 percent of Norwegian employees have experienced at least one form of unwanted sexual attention during the past year. Women, young people and temporary employees are more at risk.

Minorities are more exposed to sexual harassment than the general population

• Among people with a gender-crossing expression, 69 percent state that they have been exposed to unwanted sexual attention and/or sexual harassment during the past year.

• Among people with an ethnic minority background 54 per cent have experienced sexual harassment.

• Among people with disabilities 34 per cent have experienced sexual harassment.

• Among people who are not heterosexual, 33 percent have experienced sexual harassment.

• By comparison, the figure is 19 per cent among women and men who do not belong to any minority group.

What does research say about discrimination in the Norwegian labour market?

Recent studies of employment discrimination in Norway show that different ethnic groups in Norway have different chances of being called for a job interview. Researchers have sent out fictitious job applications for real advertised positions in the Norwegian labor market. All the fictitious applicants are equally qualified, what varies are are the names and ethnicity of the fictitious applicants.

• Applicants with Norwegian names have a 36% chance of an interview
• Applicants from Western Europe and the United States have a 29% chance
• Applicants from Eastern Europe and Russia have a 28% chance
• Applicants from Southeast and East Asia have a 27% chance
• Applicants from South America have a 26% chance
• Applicants from South Asia have a 22% chance
• Applicants from Africa have a 22% chance
• Applicants from the Middle East and North Africa have a 19% chance

The study has also focused on the effect of gender and religious affiliation.

Muslim men from countries outside Europe have a 14% chance of getting an interview, where those applying with Norwegian names without religious affiliation have almost a 40% chance.

Applicants from countries outside Europe with a connection to Islam must therefore apply for more than twice as many positions to get the same number of interviews as majority people.

A Norwegian study sent out fictitious job applications where all the fictitious applicants were equally qualified, and some of the applications mentioned that the candidate uses a wheelchair.

Applicants who inform that they use a wheelchair have 48 per cent less chance of being called for an interview.

Men evaluate career-driven women more negatively.

In 2015, college lecturers at the Høyskolen Kristiania conducted an experiment with over 100 students. The students were divided into two groups. They were presented with a story about a successful and career-driven person who was called Hanna in one half and Hans in the other. The students were then asked to evaluate Hanna/Hans.

Just over half answered that they liked Hans. Only a third liked Hanna.

72 percent saw Hans as a good leader, compared to 54 percent for Hanna.

Many thought that Hanna was bossy (67 per cent), compared to 54 per cent for Hans.

While women rated Hans and Hanna equally, men rated Hanna more critically than Hans. Men thought Hans was a better parent, they would rather drink beer with him, and preferred him as a colleague and mentor.

Several international studies find the same tendency. Women are often perceived more negatively when they behave in the same way as men.