Swapping Family Roles

In the age of Women's Liberation, everyone talks about the inflexibility of male and female roles. In Norway, the government is trying to do something about the situation. An official experiment in equality is intended to shatter the stereotypes of mothers as homemakers and fathers as breadwinners. In the hope of making their marriages happier, a few couples are systematically exchanging roles. Each couple holds a single job, with the husband and wife working alternate weeks. Whichever partner stays home does the housework and looks after the children.

The novel venture in role versatility was conceived by the Norwegian Family Council, a state-financed organization that lobbies for legislation aimed at improving family life. After working out plans with the help of University of Oslo Sociologist Erik Gronseth, the council recruited couples willing to participate in the role-swapping experiment. Among those who volunteered was Anne Ibsen Bulko, 30, a descendant of Playwright Henrik Ibsen, one of the pioneers in Women's Liberation.

Correspondence Courses. Anne and her husband Johannes, 35. who have a two-year-old son Olvar, share the job of packer in a drug supply firm. "Our employer doesn't mind at all," says Johannes, "as long as there is always one Bulko signing in in the morning." In fact, it was Johannes who minded at first: "I was scared I would lose my masculinity if I did the housework and changed the baby's nappies. But that soon changed." Anne calls the new arrangement "marvelous," both for herself and for her son, who benefits from seeing more of his father. "He doesn't hang around me all the time as many other kids do around their mothers, and he's not afraid of his father as he might be of a man he saw for just a few hours a day."

Both Bulkos take correspondence courses during their weeks off--Johannes to finish his education in engineering and Anne to get her high school diploma so that she can go to college. Once they have their degrees, they hope to move on to better and probably separate jobs that they could share with a similarly trained couple; the two husbands could work at one engineering job while the wives worked in another field. If they find the proper couple, Johannes believes, "I do not think we will mind going on indefinitely sharing our time equally between home and work."

Reduced Income. But there are a few drawbacks. When Johannes was sick for a week, Anne had to stay home to look after both her husband and Olvar. During that time, he got only half of normal sick pay (because he works only half time) and Anne got no pay at all. "The laws will have to be changed if job swapping is going to work on a large scale," Johannes says. Also, because there are few top-level jobs that a couple could share, the family's earning potential is reduced. That bothers Anne not a bit. Says she: "It's more important to live a little."

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