Scandinavian Journal of History

ISSN: 0346-8755 (Print) 1502-7716 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/shis20

Widows, widowers and the construction of the

Norwegian welfare society, c. 1900-1960s

Ida Blom

To cite this article: Ida Blom (2004) Widows, widowers and the construction of the Norwegian
welfare society, c. 1900-1960s, Scandinavian Journal of History, 29:3-4, 263-275, DOI:
10.1080/03468750410008806

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03468750410008806

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 Scand. J. History 29, pp. 263±275. ISSN 0346-8755

Widows, Widowers and the Construction of the

Norwegian Welfare Society, c. 1900±1960s

Ida Blom

ABSTRACT. The paper analyses the gradual changes in assistance offered to

widows and widowers between 1900 and 1964. It highlights the conflicts
between the principle of the family as provider of welfare and the principle of
self-help embodied in poor relief, in varying municipal pensions during the
inter-war period and in the right to economic assistance legitimised through
the Mothers' and Widows' Pension Act in 1964. The development is seen as
part of the construction of a welfare society, built on the perception of men as
wage-earners and providers, women as wives and mothers. These perceptions
of masculinity and femininity resulted in gender-differentiated needs in the
case of widowhood, and in gender-differentiated means of covering such
needs. Civil status had no importance for men's role as wage-earners, while it
was decisive for the economic situation of women. Focusing on the problem of
economic support, the paper discusses solutions at the individual private level,
at the municipal level and at the national level. The different weighting of
widows as mothers or as providers is taken into consideration, and so are
consequences of demographic changes in the widowed population.

1. Introduction
In the pre-industrial society, safety was offered mainly through family and
household networks.1 Where that did not suffice public assistance through the poor

Ida Blom, born 1931, Professor emerita, dr. philos. dhr., Department of History, University of Bergen. Her published
works include Kampen om Eirik Raudes Land (Oslo, 1973 ), Barnebegrensning ± synd eller sund fornuft?
(Bergen, 1980 ), Den haarde Dyst ± fùdsler og fùdselshjelp i Norge gjennom 150 aÊr, (Oslo, 1988 ), Det er
forskjell paÊ folk ± naÊ som fùr. Om kjùnn og andre former for sosial differensiering (Oslo, 1994),
ªFeberens ville roseº ± Tre omsorgssystemer i tuberkulosearbeidet 1900±1960, (Fagbokforlaget, 1998 ) She
is also the co-Editor and co-author on a number of other publications. She is currently engaged in research on cultural and
political aspects of disease, focusing on tuberculosis and venereal disease.
Address: Department of History, University of Bergen, Sydnesplass 7, 5007 Bergen, Norway. E-mail: Ida.blom@
hi.uib.no

1
With the kind permission of the editors of the Journal of Women's History, this article is a re-working of
an earlier version, I. Blom, ªWidowhood: From the Poor Law Society to the Welfare Society. The
Case of Norway, 1875±1964º, Journal of Women's History, vol. 3, No. 2 (Fall, 1992), pp. 50±81.

DOI 10.1080/03468750410008806 # 2004 Taylor & Francis

264 Ida Blom

law system was another source of security, but the stigma attached to poor relief
made most people do their utmost to avoid this solution. During the 20th century
the growth of an industrial urban society was accompanied by the slow emergence
of the welfare state, changing the principles of social policies from the critical
scrutiny of needs as embodied in the poor laws to the acceptance of universal rights
to social security for all citizens. No one should be obliged to appeal to the
compassion of the more fortunate in order to cover the most basic needs. Social
status should no longer have an impact on how a crises situation was handled.
These ideas were driving forces behind a growing system of insurances where a
combination of private and public contributions offered assistance in case of
accidents at work, (1894), unemployment (1906) and sickness (1909). Critical
periods in the lifecycle, childhood, motherhood and old age, were also assisted
through decisions to prohibit child labour, (1892) and to support needy mothers
(1915). After a pause in this development due to the crises in public economies
during the 1920s and early 1930s, new attempts were made to continue this
development. Old-age pensions were introduced in 1936. During the post-war
years, economic growth and full employment paved the way for a continued
expansion of welfare initiatives, reaching a summit with the People's Pension
(Folketrygden) in 1966, uniting all provisions in one and the same law.
The development was characterized by two principles. The self-help principle
underlined the need for each individual as part of the labour force to contribute to
his or her own security. Wage earners were given priority in the process of creating
a welfare state. The other principle was to see the family partly as premises for
other provisions, partly as an active partner in the production of welfare. A number
of welfare measures, such as assistance to mothers and children and old age
pensions, were based on worries for the status of the family and on considerations of
population policies. The intention was to safeguard future needs for labour and to
have each generation contribute at its best to the common good.2
These principles had different implications for men and women. While the
household had been the basic unit of production in the pre-industrial society,
industrialisation and urbanisation increasingly separated men's work from the
family setting. Paid work came to be considered the prototype for productive work,
while women, working in the home without pay, were perceived as provided for by
husbands or fathers.3 Urban middle class understandings of men as providers,
women as wives and mothers stamped welfare provisions throughout the period.
While young and single, women might be included in welfare initiatives as female
workers, earning a good deal less than their male counterparts. When they married,
they were either subsumed under the rights of their husbands, or in special cases
favoured as mothers of dependent children.

2
éyvind Bjùrnson and Inger Elisabeth Haavet, Langsomt ble landet et velferdssamfunn. Trygdens historie
1894±1994, pp. 11±22. For an exhaustive study of the creation of the Norwegian welfare state, see
Anne-Lise Seip, Sosialhjelpstaten blir til. Norsk sosialpolitkk 1740±1920. (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1984)
and Anne-Lise Seip, Veiene til velferdsstaten. Norsk sosialpolitikk 1920±1975. Gyldendal norsk forlag;
(Oslo, 1994).
3
Bjùrnson and Haavet 1994, p. 21. Ida Blom, ªNùdvendig arbeid ± skiftende definisjoner og praktiske
konsekvenserº, Historisk Tidskrift, vol. 1 (1985), pp. 117±141.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

 Widows, Widowers and the Norwegian Welfare Society 265

These different perceptions of masculinity and femininity had repercussions for

the situation of widows and widowers. The death of a spouse might threaten the
existence of the household. A widow would lose the person who had provided for
her and her children, a widower would lose the person who took care of his children
and produced the services he needed in order to perform his work. The widow's
problem was that of economic support, while the widower needed assistance with
household and family activities. Numerically, the problem was greater for widows
than for widowers. Since men married at a later age than women, many more
women survived to experience widowhood. This situation remained stable all
through the period.4
The problems of widowhood could be solved at different levels. Widowed
persons mostly found solutions at the individual private level. When that failed,
public support at the municipal or the national level had to be called in.

2. Private individual solutions

In pre-industrial society, remarriage had been an accepted way to solve the
problem for both widows and widowers. But since men tended to remarry a lot
more often than women, and since men mostly married women who had not
previously been married, this solution contributed to the greater number of widows.
Although the numerical difference diminished greatly over time, it was still of some
importance in the 1960s.5 But during the 19th century, marriage as an
arrangement to solve economic problems gradually lost acceptance. Feelings,
not economic necessities, took over as the reason for marital relationships.
This made it more difficult to use marriage as a solution to the problems of
widowhood.
The problem of economic support was of minor importance for a widower. He
would usually continue his work, whatever that might be, until stopped by old age
or death. As Ida Bull has shown, in the pre-industrial society even some widows
might continue the trade of a deceased husband. The Norwegian laws on craft and
commerce in 1839 and 1842 respectively, confirmed old practices of guilds'
regulations. Widows over the age of 25 were allowed to trade in towns, while
an artisan's widow had to prove her ability to continue the craft. She also had to
be over 40 years of age and prove that she had no other way of earning a living.
Crafts like weaving, baking, brewing etc. ± activities that were seen as women's
responsibility within the household ± was open for anybody to practice. In 1894, a
change of law allowed women to practice a craft on the same conditions as for
men.6 Even widows of civil servants sometimes for a while continued to perform the
duties of a deceased husband. As a wife, she would quite often have a good deal of
knowledge within her husband's trade. But since no women had access to the

4
StaÊle Dyrvik, ªDen befolkningshistoriske bakgrunnenº, in StaÊle Dyrvik & C. J. O'Neill, eds. Norges
befolkning, (Cappelens Almabùker, J. W. Cappelens Forlag A. S., 1975), Table. 9, p. 22.
5
Blom, op. cit. (1992), Tables 1, 2a and 2b.
6
Ida Blom and Anna Tranberg, eds. Nordisk lovoversikt. Viktige lover for kvinner ca. 1810±1980. (Nordisk
MinisterraÊd, Oslo, 1985), pp.146±147.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

266 Ida Blom

education needed to perform, for instance, as a clergyman, physician or lawyer, this

way of solving a widow's economic problems was an exception.7
Widows of civil servants were a very tiny part of all widows. A study of
widowhood in Bergen in 1875 including all widowed persons has shown that about
half of the widows in this town earned their living by a combination of activities,
such as sewing, knitting, washing and in other ways helping out in other people's
homes.8 Other occupations ± a small group of workers, a few listed as working in
offices, finance and trading ± mirrored the coming industrial society. Both widows
and widowers received economic assistance from family members. While this
confirms Peter Laslett's finding of a combination of family support and self-help for
the elderly, this combination was much more common for widows than for
widowers.9 Some combined different sources of income with poor relief, but only a
minority (16% of widows, as compared to 11% of widowers), relied solely on this
stigmatising public support.10 Clearly, the will to avoid the degradation
accompanying public assistance through poor relief was strong. The ability to do
so was greater for widowers than for widows.
Other assistance at the individual level might be obtained from philanthropic
institutions, offering either board and lodging or a small sum to help fence off the
worst poverty. Such assistance was mostly aimed at widows from the well-off middle
classes and only a fraction of all widows benefited from these provisions. The agony
involved for a middle class widow to have to earn her own money is sometimes
revealed in titles stated in census material, such as `pianoforte informatrice' or
`corn-operatrice'.11 Anyway, the new possibilities opening for women to be
gainfully employed, be it in factories, shops, offices or as teachers and nurses, were
meant primarily for young and unmarried women. Marriage almost always led a
woman to retire from the labour market. Finding a job after years of marriage was
a difficult project.
From the end of the 19th century, public welfare measures gradually eased the
lives of people in a crises situation. What assistance would the burgeoning welfare
state offer widows and widowers?

3. Municipal assistance
Around 1900, public support would first and foremost be found under the Poor
Law. Comments to statistics published by the Central Bureau of Statistics in 1874
described the situation as follows: ª ¼ the need for public support is strongest
among those that might be called `the deserving poor', such as orphans or very old

7
Ida Bull, ªProfessions, absolutism and the role of widowsº, Scandinavian Journal of History (2004), pp.
193±208.
8
Blom op. cit. (1992), pp. 62±63 and pp. 66±67.
9
Pat Thane, Old Age in English History. Past Experiences, Present Issue. (Oxford University Press, Oxford
and New York, 2000), pp. 120±124, Peter Laslett, ªFamily, Kinship and Collectivity as Systems of
Support in Pre-Industrial Europe: A Consideration of the `Nuclear-Hardship' Hypothesisº, Continuity
and Change, vol. 3 (1988), pp. 153±176. Peter Laslett and R. Wall, eds. Household and Family in Past
Time (Cambridge, 1972).
10
Blom, op. cit. (1992), p. 57.
11
Blom, op. cit. (1992), pp. 58±59.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

 Widows, Widowers and the Norwegian Welfare Society 267
12
widows and widows with many children ¼ º Widows were over-represented
among people receiving poor relief in Bergen in 1875. They also much more often
than widowers were left with dependant children.13 Clearly the family aspect of
poor relief was important. This did not change substantially during the coming
decades. But even for ªthe deserving poor,º outdoor relief meant presenting oneself
and possible dependents twice yearly at the so-called poor inspection. Anyone
interested could be watching while family after family was scrutinised by poor-law
authorities deciding who were worthy of continued assistance. Only the sick and the
very old were spared this ordeal. From the middle of the 1890s, procedures became
more humane and widows with dependent children were given priority.14
Guilds and later trade unions also sometimes assisted widows. As late as in 1913
the bakers' association donated a fund for needy old bakers that would give them or
their widows free housing in an old people's home.15 Such homes dated back at
least to the 17th century, as witnessed by the Widow's House (Enkehuset) from 1663
in Bergen.
As in the case of many problems to be solved by public assistance, also where
widowhood was concerned, municipalities often preceded the state in adopting
provisions for needy individuals. Around 1900, a number of urban and rural
municipalities adopted old-age pensions for municipal civil servants. If the husband
had paid his yearly contribution to the municipal pension fund and if the marriage
had lasted for at least five years before the husband retired, a widow would receive
a pension. This pension was meant for her as an individual, not as a mother of
dependent children. It was calculated as a percentage of the late husband's income
according to a sliding scale, giving slightly more money to widows of low-income
husbands than to those of high-income husbands.16 Although the amount was
small, the municipal pension was an improvement for this small group of widows.
The pension was gradually increased, in Bergen from 1916 also allowing support
for children under the age of 16. Pensions usually amounted to about 30% of the
salary of the deceased husband. It was not meant to maintain the standard of living
a woman might have had before being widowed. But then the pension schemes
were not adopted with the express intention of assisting widows or the families of
the deceased civil servant. It was also meant to reduce expenses over the poor relief
account. An important reason given for adopting the pension scheme was that
competition between state and municipality for civil servant personnel made it
important to adjust municipal wages and pensions according to the rates used by
the state.17
While the 20th century progressed, widowhood would continually occur at a
later stage in a person's lifecycle. This meant that widows with dependent children

12
Quoted from Seip, op. cit. (1984), p. 141.
13
Comprising 9% of the population widows made up 21% of those receiving poor relief in the town of
Bergen in 1875. Blom, op. cit. (1992), p. 61.
14
Egil Ertresvaag, Et bysamfunn i utvikling 1800±1920. Bergen bys historie, vol. III (Universitetsforlaget,
Oslo, Bergen, Tromsù, 1982), pp. 504±509.
15
Fortegnelse over Legater og Stiftelser i Bergen i 1924, no. 181.
16
Indstilling no. 57/1906 ang. Oprettelse af en Pensionskasse for Bergen kommunale Tjenestemñnd.
Bergen kommuneforhandlinger 1906, I, pp 379±445. (Municipal documents).
17
Aarsberetning no. 1, 1907 for Bergens kommunale pensjonskasse, p. 329.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

268 Ida Blom

became rarer, and that an increasing number of widowed persons might benefit
from possible public provisions to care for the elderly. The question of an old age
pension had been discussed in Norway since the middle of the 19th century, but did
not materialize on the national level until 1936. It was openly admitted that
investing in the wellbeing of old people was less productive than assisting families in
taking care of children. Concern for future labour was of importance. But as
marital fertility dropped after the turn of the century, old-age pensions could be
seen as a help to families who might be able to invest more in children if the burden
of providing for old parents was eased. A proposal for a national old age pension
was presented to Parliament in 1923, but the critical economic situation did not
allow this new expenditure.18
Consequently, also in the question of provisions for the elderly, municipal
authorities preceded the state. As from 1915, an increasing number of
municipalities adopted some forms of old age pensions, not least to ease the
burden of poor relief. Pensions were usually extremely low, means tested ± where
also children's ability to support their aging parents were taken into consideration ±
and dependent on an immaculately moral lifestyle.19 In Oslo more lenient
provisions were adopted in 1917. By 1923, some form of old age pensions were
adopted by 43% of Norwegian municipalities. This, of course, also included
support of a good deal of widows. Calculations show that in 1923, municipal old-
age pensions covered 31% of the Bergen widows. The intention was to cover ªthe
minimum needed to keep aliveº. The pension included free medical assistance and
hospital treatment. But it was made clear that no one would be able to move to this
city to obtain a brighter life in old age. The condition for receiving this pension was
that the deceased husband had lived in Bergen for the past 15 years.20
However, many needy widows ± those under 70 years of age and who had not
been married to a municipal civil servant (or to a civil servant working for the state
(see below) were still left to fend for themselves. Worries over the falling birth rate
prompted a policy focusing on the survival of the new-born much more than on
easing old age. In some instances, assistance to mothers also offered a little help to
widows.
Starting with Kristiania in 1920, some municipalities adopted mothers' pensions.
The initiative for this reform came from the women's organization of the Labour
Party. A minority wanted to limit the pension to widows, since these women had
shown that they were able to create a home, a capability not always expected with
unmarried mothers. But the majority accepted a pension for all single mothers,
widows, unmarried and even divorced mothers, with dependent children under the
age of 15. To protect the city against a flow of needy women, the pension was only
given to those who had lived there for the past 15 years. Also, the idea was not to
have mothers devote all their efforts to the children. The pension was so low that it
would have to be supplemented by some earnings. The wish to support oneself

18
Bjùrnson and Haavet, op. cit. (1994), pp. 140±157.
19
Ibid., p. 153.
20
Indstilling no. 58, 1921±22, Bergen Kommuneforhandlinger, I, pp. 236±273, and Indstilling no. 25,
1923, ibid., pp. 59±62. The percentage of widows involved has been calculated on the basis of
figures in the municipal documents and figures in the census of 1920.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

 Widows, Widowers and the Norwegian Welfare Society 269
21
should not be weakened. By 1935, 28 municipalities had adopted municipal
mothers' pensions. This meant that widows with dependent children might avoid
asking for poor relief. In the 1960s, about 170 municipalities had established a
mother's pension that served widows with dependent children.22 In Oslo,
conditions still were that the widow was disabled or because of childcare could
not provide for her household. The pension was not meant to cover all needs, since
a mother of one or two children was expected to be able to assume waged work.23
Although assistance was given in order to strengthen the welfare produced in the
family, the self-help principle was still strong, and mirrored the old perception of
public assistance as help only for those who had absolutely no other means of
support. But in the 1960s, it may also be seen as a forerunner of a later
understanding that any woman, with or without children, ought to have her own
income.
Other municipalities subscribed to the dominant idea of women as primarily
wives and mothers, and the family as an important producer of welfare. When in
1937 the Aker municipality adopted a mother's pension, it was meant to cover all
basic needs and enable the mother to `sacrifice herself for the home and the
care and nursing of her children',24 a privilege usually limited to mothers
supported by a husband. The ideology of domesticity was stretched to also cover
mothers who needed public support. But when in 1948 the municipalities of
Aker and Oslo amalgamated, a choice had to be made between two different
perceptions of motherhood. The self-help principle won: A shortage of labour
substantially weakened the ideology of domesticity. As stated in a municipal
document:

As women are very badly needed on the labour market, it is unreasonable that
a mother with one child in any situation shall receive a pension to enable her
to spend the whole day looking after the child ¼ in addition to looking after
children, an able-bodied mother will have retained an important part of her
ability to work, an ability that can and should be used for waged work.
Especially a mother with one or two children will not find room for all her
working-capacity in the home, and will not even be satisfied with being at
home without working to support herself and her children.25

The idea of a municipal mothers' pension, embracing widows, was discussed in

Bergen during the 1930s, but dropped in 1939 for budgetary reasons. It was not
until 1949 that a municipal pension for all single mothers was adopted here. It

21
Bjùrnson and Haavet, op. cit. (1994), pp. 120±122.
22
Odelstingsproposisjon no. 34, 1963±1964, Om lov om enke- og morstrygd (Parliamentary
document).
23
Anne-Lise Seip and Hilde Ibsen, ªFamily welfare, which policy?º in Gisela Bock & Pat Thane,
Maternity and Gender Policies. Women and the Rise of the European Welfare States 1880s±1950s (Routledge,
London and New York, 1991), pp. 40±59, on pp. 42±44. See also Seip Socialhjepstaten blir til, p. 198.
24
Sakhefte I, Saker som blir aÊ behandle i Oslo bystyremùte 14. December 1948, kl. 18. Sak 105, p. 32.
This printed municipal document is found in Bergen Town Archive among documents concerning
the adoption of a mother's pension in 1949.
25
ibid., pp. 36±37.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

270 Ida Blom

granted support for the widow and for children under the age of 16, if still at school
or receiving some sort of education, until the age of 20. The support included free
medical assistance, burial assistance and assistance at paying expenses at
confirmation of a child. Like in Aker, but contrary to the situation in Oslo, in
Bergen a mother was meant to spend all her time with her children, and a condition
for receiving the pension was that she had to ªgive the child proper careº and did
not ªneglect its educationº. If this happened, the child could be placed in a
children's home and the mother would lose her pension. Safeguarding against
abuse, another condition was that there should be absolutely no doubt that she was
alone in providing for her children.26 There was no mention of the needs of the
labour market. The family principle and the ideology of domesticity weighed
heavier in Bergen than in Oslo.
In 1960, municipal mothers' pensions covered 92% of the urban and 40% of the
rural population. But conditions for obtaining this assistance varied widely; in some
municipalities only widows were included.27
Civil status was important where economic support for women was concerned. A
married woman was not supposed to support herself, whereas a widow, even a
widowed mother, in some municipalities, such as in Oslo, would have to shoulder
some of the provider responsibility to complement her pension. In Bergen, the
demand for high quality childcare was given priority. In the majority of cases it was
the widowed mother, not the widow herself, who was assisted through municipal
support. This was a problem for widows under the age of 70 and with no
dependent children. They would not be eligible for an old-age pension, neither
would they find support through any of the municipal mothers' pensions. Like the
Bergen widows in 1875, they would have to rely on a combination of self-support
and family assistance in order to avoid poor relief, now termed social assistance.
Only widows of municipal civil servants would receive a personal municipal
pension.

4. Welfare state provisions

The earliest form of economic support for widows at national level is to be found
with widows of civil servants working for the state. This dates back to the 18th
century, when civil servants set up a pension fund for ªtheirº widows. As Ida Bull
has pointed out, this arrangement started when the ideology of domesticity made
itself felt within the upper classes.28 All civil servants were supposed to contribute to
the fund and pensions varied with the rank of the deceased husband, for military as
well as for other civil service personnel. Problems began as life expectancy rose and
the fund grew proportionally. The fund was rearranged in 1848, paying an extra

26
26 Bergen kommuneforhandlinger 1939, II, p. 220. Innstilling om morstrygd og ufùrhetstrygd,
no. 157/1949. Bergen Kommune Forhandlinger 1949, I, pp. 447±458.
27
Indstilling III from the Comite to consider the question of family pensions (Komite til utredning av
spùrsmaÊlet om familiepensjonering) appointed by royal resolution (kgl. Res.) of 13 February 1958,
submitted on 28 December 1962, pp. 16±17. Attachement to Odelstings proposisjon no. 34,
1963±64. (Parliamentary documents).
28
Ida Bull, ªEnkers levebrùd i et fùrindustrielt bysamfunnº, Historisk tidskrift, vol. 3 (1986), pp. 318±342.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

 Widows, Widowers and the Norwegian Welfare Society 271

bonus to widows on top of the fixed pensions. In the early 1880s, these bonuses
amounted to 40% of the regular pension. When in 1885 the fund was again
rearranged, it was decided that no widow would receive a pension that amounted
to more than one fifth of her late husband's salary. Again a sign that pensions were
not meant for the widow to retain her former standard of living.
By application a widow might receive speedy and extraordinary support, if she
could convince Parliament of her husband's exceptional service to the country. In
such cases even widows with ample means might receive a pension. State pensions
could also be augmented in order to attract people to jobs that were otherwise not
too tempting, such as physicians working in remote parts of the country.29 Such
provisions indicate the importance attached to a husband's ability to provide, not
only for his wife, but also for his widow. The ideology of domesticity corresponded
to very practical and material interests common for the two spouses. They would
both work to advance his career and through that secure her maintenance, and, if
necessary, a safer widowhood. The family might be seen as a common enterprise
for wife and husband, building the foundation of an economically safe life, even
after the death of a husband.
Yet another national provision assisted a minority of widows. A small assistance
to all single mothers, including widows, came with the Castberg Children's Laws in
1915. One of these laws legislated a means-tested allowance to support single
mothers during the first six months of a child's life. It was granted through a
municipal committee, especially set up for the purpose, consisting of politicians,
physicians and other ªrespectable citizensº. Since the responsibility for implement-
ing the laws was left to the municipalities, effects varied greatly, but some widows
profited from these provisions.30
Although the burgeoning welfare society focussed on child survival, citizens in
difficult situations such as sickness and old age also gradually received some
economic support. How did this affect widows and widowers?
Welfare policies built on the self-help principle and gave priority to wage-
earners. This meant that a number of provisions were more easily available to men
than to women, and consequently widowers benefited more than widows. The
important sickness insurance scheme from 1909 did not include widows. But old-
age pensions from 1936 did. These pensions were means-tested and covered only
the bare necessities, but they did not have the stigma of poor relief. Some
municipalities, especially in urban areas, continued to pay a supplementary
municipal pension. With the law on child allowance of 1946, the principle of
universality was introduced in public assistance policies. Anyone would receive
these allowances as from the second child and they were paid to the mothers, also to
widowed mothers. The principle of universality was embodied in revisions of the
Sickness Insurance Act in 1956 and the Old Age Pensions Act in 1957. They now
included all citizens. But old-age pensions continued to be graded according to
income generated before retirement. Equality across class boundaries was not fully

29
Blom, op. cit. (1992), pp. 66±67.
30
Between 1915 and 1940, 6% of all the Bergen mothers who received this support were widows.
Blom, op. cit. (1992), p. 63; Bjùrnson and Haavet, pp. 118±119.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

272 Ida Blom

achieved and women who had not earned their own living received only the
smallest pensions.31 That was the situation for most widows.
By 1964, about half of all widows were old enough to benefit from the Old Age
Pension Act. Thirteen percent of all widows were included in special pension
schemes that had been arranged for widows under 70 years of age. They comprised
war widows, disabled widows, widows whose husbands had been killed in accidents
at work, widows of unemployed husbands, widows of husbands in government and
municipal services, including workers, and widows of sailors, fishermen and forestry
workers. A number of private funds supplemented such pensions. Most of these
pensions were allotted to widows with dependent children and to widows aged
50±70. The remaining 37% of widows ± about 50,000 women ± were without any
economic support.32
The Widows' and Mothers' Pension Act of 1964 for the first time brought
economic support to all widows, but only for the first difficult period after a
husband's death. A continuous pension was reserved for widows who had been
married for a minimum of five years or had dependent children fathered by the
deceased husband, and who could not expect to earn more than a third of the wage
ªnormal for work suitable for herº. A sliding scale made the pension reducible
according to any amount the widow might earn. The pronounced intention of the
Widows' and Mothers' Pension Act was to get widows to support themselves. They
would therefore be eligible for economic support and some support with childcare
as long as they were training for an occupation.33 The principle already applied in
Oslo since 1920 of urging widows to provide for themselves and their children was
at work. Widows may have been given some priority over divorced and single
mothers who were also included in the pension act. At least for the first couple of
years the law was functioning, widows were the overwhelming number of women
supported. No unmarried mothers and only very few divorced mothers received
any assistance.34 The traditional view of marriage as a precondition for mothers to
be regarded as worthy of support may still have had some impact.

5. Widowhood and welfare state

It is characteristic of the gendered differences in widowhood that none of the public
support schemes discussed here applied to widowers. They continued to support
themselves and pay for the service they might need. Their rights according to the
growing welfare provisions derived from their capacity as wage-earners and had

31
Innstilling om Lov om mors- og enkestùnad. Indstilling III from the Comite to consider the question
of family pensions (Komite til utredning av spùrsmaÊlet om familiepensjonering) appointed by royal
resolution (kgl. Res.) of 13 February 1958, submitted on 28 December 1962, pp. 16±17. Attachment
to Odelsting's proposition no. 34, 1963±64. (Parliamentary documents). Bjùrnson and Haavet
pp. 287±290. Kari Wñrness, ªKvinner og trygdº, in Jon Eivind Kolberg & Kari Wñrness, Trygd og
samfunn. Nytt syn paÊ samspillet mellom trygdeordninger og smfunnsutvikling (Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1979),
pp. 30±49.
32
Innstilling om Lov om mors- og enkestùnad, p. 1.
33
Innstilling om Lov om mors- og enkestùnad, pp. 10±13 and pp. 23±26.
34
In 1960 only 4% of all children were born out of wedlock. Rikstrygdeverkett, AÊrsmelding og
regnskap 1965 og 1966.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

 Widows, Widowers and the Norwegian Welfare Society 273

nothing to do with their civil status. The loss of a wife was not considered to cause a
man any economic problems.
For women, that was just the opposite. They were included in a number of
welfare measures through husbands or fathers. The loss of a spouse led to a
considerable reduction of their economic resources. When widowed, public
assistance mainly served them as mothers, not as independent individuals. Although
the principle of self-help was working for both widowers and widows, the family
principle, seeing the family as an important producer of welfare and considerations
of population policies, tied widows closely to the production of future generations.
True, pension rights introduced in 1964 depended in part on what the widow
herself might earn, but the length of the marriage and whether there were
dependent children strongly influenced such rights.
Who were the proponents of widows' rights? A small organization, The Protection
of Norwegian Widows, (Norske Enkers Vern), during the 1920s and1930s attempted to
assist widows. It was hoped that contributions from wealthier members would
provide help for less fortunate widows. Small sums were paid to needy widows
out of a fund created by membership contributions, but very few profited from
their work. The organization was little known and traces of its existence stop in
1939.35
Since early in the 20th century, some of the benefits for widows came as part of
plans to assist needy mothers. Widows then figured as the more worthy part of these
mothers. This was also the case when women of the Labour Party worked for the
Oslo municipal mothers' pension, adopted in 1920. The question of some state
support for widows had been discussed several times since1948 when the plan for
the People's Pension had been drawn up. But there was little organized activity to
promote the idea. Widows' problems did not surface to any important extent, when
politicians discussed welfare provisions. The most active seem to have been women
from the Labour Party. When in 1964 the principles behind the Oslo pension were
broadened to cover the whole nation, five out of eight members of the
parliamentary committee were women belonging to this party.
Much to the surprise of MPs, the 1964 Law was criticised by representatives of
the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights (Norsk Kvinnesaksforening).
Although some members of this organization expressed full support for the new
law, others maintained that it did not encourage women to become economically
independent and did not give assistance to widowed fathers. This was seen as
strengthening the perception of women as housewives and mothers, men as
providers, and thus creating further obstacles for economically-active women and
for obtaining equal pay. This point of view was also aired by one left-wing labour
party MP, (Finn Gustavsen) who suggested a committee to study what could be
done to promote gender equality. Working for gender equality, part of the women's
movement was critical of provisions that, if ever so vaguely, tied them to the home.
They supported the self-help principle behind welfare provisions.

35
A few letters dating from the years 1937, 1938 and 2939 and the laws of the association have been
found in the archives of the Norwegian branch of the International Women's Association (Norske
kvinners nasjonalraÊd) at the University Library, Oslo. Ms. 4, 2912:48.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

274 Ida Blom

This criticism was met in two ways, mirroring the two principles behind welfare
policies.36 Defending the family principle and simultaneously the principle of
equality in difference traditionally adopted by another part of the women's
movement, some saw the critique as an attack on the housewife and mother and
emphasized the important work these women performed within the family. It was
even feared that the law might weaken a widow's wish to solve problems through
re-marriage.37 Others defended the law as a help to self-help, assisting widows to
prepare for self-maintenance. It was said that society had changed so much that
there was little work left to do within the family, but plenty of opportunity for
women on the public labour market. Resistance to employ elderly women was seen
as the main problem now to be overcome. The critique had no consequences for
the law with was enacted on June 12, 1964.38 In 1966, the Widows' and Mothers'
Pension `Act was included in the all-comprising People's Pension Act. (Folk-
etrygden).

6. Widows ± a social problem?

Public support was more easily obtained for some groups of widows than for others.
Two groups of widows were seen as warranting public attention. Traditionally, the
very poor would be defined as constituting a social problem and assisted, if
necessary, within the stigmatizing poor-relief system. At the other end of the social
scales, widows of civil servants were assisted by government schemes, upheld by the
contribution of husbands, and sometimes also meted out in accordance to the
deceased husbands' importance to the nation. Such assistance was not considered
stigmatizing, rather seen as in line with privileges for important individuals dating
back to the period of absolute monarchy.39 If few, in a nation without nobility, until
the final decades of the 19th century, civil servants were the backbone of the
political system. Their economic ability and their social position placed them
beyond comparison with paupers. Also, the perception of a husband as responsible
for maintaining his family, even after his own death, corresponded well with
prevailing perceptions of masculinity.40
Problems were most pronounced for widows of the so-called respectable working
class and lower middle class for whom there were no public policies. The municipal
mothers' pensions organised in the wake of the First World War were defended less
by the need to support widows than by the need to counteract the falling birth rate
and secure the survival of young children. Widows with very young children
therefore received a little public assistance. Elderly widows were not included.
The gender and age-specific impact of industrialization and the gendered
division of the labour market widened the gulf between men's waged participation

36
Blom, op. cit. (1992), pp. 70±71.
37
Wñrness, op. cit. (1979), pp. 41±42.
38
Blom, op. cit. (1992), pp. 70±71.
39
Ida Bull, ªProfessions, absolutism and the role of widowsº, Scandinavian Journal of History (2004), pp.
193±208.
40
Ida Blom, ªChanging Gender Identities in an Industrialising Societyº, Gender and History, vol. 2,
(Summer, 1990), pp. 131±147.

Scand. J. History 29 (2004)

 Widows, Widowers and the Norwegian Welfare Society 275

on the labour market and women's unwaged work in the household. During the
inter-war years, married women were explicitly ousted from the labour market to
avoid double income families and reserve paid work for married men as well as for
young and unmarried women. Women's unwaged work in the household was no
longer perceived as work, ªreal workº was defined as waged work.41 Social security
schemes, such as sickness insurance and old-age pensions, rested on this perception
of work and included women as wives of insured husbands, but not widows. What
Tamara Hareven has called ªthe cult of efficiencyº, gradually ousting elderly
people from waged work, also placed elderly widows at the bottom line on the
labour market.42 Finally, it should not be overlooked that public involvement in the
economic maintenance of women collided with the middle class ideology of
domesticity, and may have made middle class widows fear to be stigmatized as
paupers.43 Middle class and upper-working class widows might have preferred
economic assistance through family networks, through voluntary informal charity
or through guilds and trade unions. This was largely the solution until after the
Second World War.
The Widows' and Mothers' Pension Act was an expression of a period of
transition from the male-provider family to the two-wage-family. Between 1950
and 1970 married women's economic activity outside the household rose from
5±20% of all married women.44 An expanding economy stimulated the demand for
labour and weakened the ideology of domesticity. But the idea that a married
woman, or a widowed mother, might be a wage-earner was still new. Public
measures encouraging women to get an education and find paid work were hotly
debated, as witnessed in the case of the Widows' and Mothers' Pension Act.
If the death of a spouse resulted in an emotional loss for both men and women,
throughout the 20th century the problem of economic survival added much more
to a widow's sufferance than to a widower's. Caught between the principle of self-
help and that of the family as an important provider of welfare, widows continued
to shoulder a substantial burden, even if ± by and by ± welfare policies offered them
some economic assistance.

41
Blom, op. cit. (1987).
42
Tamara Hareven, ªFamily Time and Industrial Time: The interaction Between Family and Work in
a Planned Industrial Townº, Journal of Urban History, vol. 1 (1975); Tamara Hareven, Family Time and
Industrial Time: The Relationship between the Family and Work in a New England Industrial Community.
(Cambridge University Press, 1982).
43
Ida Blom, ª `Hun er den Raadende' Changes in Women's Work and Family Responsibilities in
Norway since the 1960sº, in Pat Hudson & W. R. Lee, eds. Women's Work and Family Income in
Historical Perspective (Manchester University Press, Manchester, 1990), pp. 157±182.
44
Olav Ljones, Kvinners yrkesdeltaking i Norge. Samfunnsùkonomiske studier 39. Statistisk Sentralbyrp
(Oslo, 1979), p. 29.

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