{"id":15,"date":"2008-12-02T08:30:53","date_gmt":"2008-12-02T12:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=15"},"modified":"2008-12-02T08:30:53","modified_gmt":"2008-12-02T12:30:53","slug":"not-so-homogenous-a-population-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/not-so-homogenous-a-population-after-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Not so homogeneous a population after all"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in several\u00a0earlier blogs, the Norwegian population isn’t as homogeneous as it used to be nor as most people believe it is.\u00a0 Not everyone in Norway has blond hair and blue eyes.\u00a0 A good portion of the northernmost part of the country is inhabited by a minority, indigenous population,\u00a0the Sami <\/strong>people.\u00a0 Samis<\/strong> inhabit the northern regions of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.\u00a0 It wasn’t until 1990 that the Norwegian government recognized the Sami <\/strong>as a people with their own language, culture, and government.\u00a0\u00a0Even though the Sami <\/strong>are a native minority (some of whom look quite different in physical appearance than a non-Sami<\/strong> Norwegian), Norwegians still seem to encounter issues with immigrants.<\/p>\n

According to the Statistisk Sentralbyr\u00e5 <\/strong>website (www.ssb.no<\/em><\/a>)<\/em>, there are 460,000 innvandrere <\/strong>(immigrants) in Norway.\u00a0 Of these, 79,000 are Norwegian-born persons with immigrant parents.\u00a0 Innvandrere <\/strong>in Norway represent 213 countries of origin.\u00a0 Half of all innvandrere <\/strong>come from Asia, Africa, or Latin-America.\u00a0 There are, however, many immigrants from northern European countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Germany.\u00a0 There is a strong presence of immigrants from the middle-east as well.\u00a0 Surprisingly, every municipality in Norway is home to innvandrere. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Much like most of Europe, Norway is a very socially liberal country.\u00a0 Norway is a constitutional monarchy which is governed by the Storting<\/strong> (the parliament).\u00a0 Moreover, Norway is a welfare state that takes very good care of it’s people.\u00a0 Relative to it’s population, Norway is one of the top givers of foreign aid in the world.\u00a0 The development of the Norwegian welfare system was possible for many reasons, not least of which\u00a0was\u00a0because of\u00a0the enormous amount of oil\u00a0that was found in the north sea in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

It might seem like Norwegians have no reason to be intolerant of innvandrere<\/strong> given their socially liberal tendencies.\u00a0 What I have recently come to understand is that it is precisely these views that cause Norwegians\u00a0to be\u00a0intolerant of certain groups of outsiders who inhabit their country.<\/p>\n

Many of the innvandrere, <\/strong>as I mentioned earlier, are from Asia, Africa, and Latin America.\u00a0 As such, these countries’ traditions\u00a0do not support the equal treatment of men and women.\u00a0 Equality between the sexes is most definitely a Norwegian ideal.\u00a0\u00a0Norwegians do not approve of\u00a0how men from male-domintated cultures treat women (i.e. men deciding over women and fathers over children) and therefore these innvandrere<\/strong> endure discrimination.<\/p>\n

There are of course other issues that Norwegians have with immigrants, such as minimal financial contributions to the government and significant extraction of government services.\u00a0 Lots of take, little give.\u00a0 However, the inequality between men and women is one of the main reasons that discrimination and racism towards immigrants exists in Norway.<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

\ufffd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I mentioned in several\u00a0earlier blogs, the Norwegian population isn’t as homogeneous as it used to be nor as most people believe it is.\u00a0 Not everyone in Norway has blond hair and blue eyes.\u00a0 A good portion of the northernmost part of the country is inhabited by a minority, indigenous population,\u00a0the Sami people.\u00a0 Samis inhabit…<\/p>\n

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