I will try and give you a picture of a working mother in Norway by telling you about my own experiences and how life turned out to be.

I moved to Luxembourg in 1985 to continue my career in Christiania Bank Luxembourg. The plan was to stay there for three years. 10 years later, however, I was General Manager in the bank in Luxembourg, and was responsible for the Trading Department.

I had two lovely boys with my husband, and I felt I was able to combine the high-flying career in the bank with motherhood pretty well with good help from my mother- in- law and different au-pair girls.

I was under the regulations of the luxemburgish social security system, which meant that I could not benefit from any of the Norwegian allowances mentioned earlier. I managed however to negotiate some extra time at home with the newborn children, and an agreement that ensured me the same position when I returned to work after the extended maternity leave.

Introducing a Norwegian lifestyle to the local luxemburgish community was met with curiosity and astonishment. A society quite different from the Norwegian one, also in matters that concerned equality between the sexes.

We norwegians are really in the driver’s seat in many aspects in Norway when it comes to this question. Unfortunately I believe some of the young people in Norway today take all the advantages for granted. I am not an expert in the history of the feminist movement in Norway, but we should be proud and pleased for having such a welfare system that gives us different choices and alternatives in life.

The birth of my third child, this time a lovely daughter, was the main reason I took a break from the banking business. The following two years was a struggle, and a separation from my husband was inevitable. After a long period of serious consideration, I decided to move back to Norway.

I chose to go back to my home country because it offered the best welfare system for single mothers and their children and because my parents where there to give us all their love and support.