Women in North-Troms – Always employed

The days were long, and the workload almost unstoppable. She sacrificed everything for the family, and for long periods she managed everything alone, when her husband was out fishing.

“You know, it was basically the women who did almost all the farming, so close to cutting wood and such. I think there were few places where it was the man who was in charge.”

(Health nurse Valborg Mørch Soleng)

Raising, house and food care, fishing, farming, harvesting, care of the sick and old, duodji, charity….. The list of North Troms women’s tasks and roles is long. Her efforts were invaluable in the neighborhood and rural community. Nevertheless, her work is underestimated and almost invisible in the history books.

The work the women did is impossible to imagine today. They had knowledge of how to manage nature, medicinal use and health, and they were concerned with frugality and reuse. Hard work combined with charity and selflessness was the norm they lived by.

In inter-war multicultural North Troms, the Laestadianism was strong. Poverty was great and the Norwegianization policy was about to destroy the Sami and Kven language and culture. This was also a time when women were in the process of assuming new positions and roles in politics and working life.

The roles of both women and men have changed after the war. The knowledge, qualities and values ​​that women stood for have had little place in modern society. Today we know that we have a lot to learn from previous generations, both when it comes to managing nature and caring for our fellow humans.