What's new

Unisex dormitories in Norwegian army help prevent sexual harassment

Unisex dormitories in Norwegian army help prevent sexual harassment
9h_00027496.jpg

Photo: EPA

The Norwegian Army has introduced unisex dormitories, which means that now women soldiers have started to share unisex bedrooms with their male colleagues in a bold, or as it may seem to some people, dangerous experiment. What has come as a result is the fact that a decrease in sexual harassment was registered as soon as the experiment started, as women reported.

A military base in northern Norway was equipped with new unisex dormitories, with each room putting two women with four men.

According to Ulla-Britt Lilleaas, the co-author of the report "The Army: the vanguard, rear guard and battlefield of equality", the women reported that sharing bedrooms with their male colleagues helped them feel "one of the boys".

One woman soldier was surprised to see that rather than accentuate gender differences, sharing a room helped make them less relevant.

This move is the latest initiative coming from the Norwegian Armed Forces. In November the Norwegian Army announced that Norway's Armed Forces would "serve soldiers vegetarian-only food one day a week in an effort to combat climate change". In August the country unveiled a new initiative saying that male recruits "would be permitted to grow their hair long, so long as they kept it in pony –tails or braids, as is required for female recruits.

Comparing the unisex camp with a training centre for the Royal Norwegian Navy, where women and men have separate rooms, Lilleaas' co-author Dag Ellingsen said though the problem with girls' rooms is that in some cases they are characterized by conflicts and cliques.

@Dem!god @DRAY @chak de INDIA @Indischer @Parul @illusion8 @Reviewer21 @OrionHunter

I was a little taken aback at the this decision first and then I thought why not???
Lady officers face a lot of discrimination in armed forces from soldiers not saluting to not getting same treatment as their male counterparts.
The article says it reduces the discrimination and the cases of harassment.But what about male recruits growing pony tails and introducing vegetarian food once a a week??? :-)
This is a product of some radical thinking!!

I always had a Norwegian inside me, :ashamed: now there is one more (very strong) reason to become a patriotic Norwegian and join their army!! :D
 
Is true it becomes responsibility some times .
Noo i wasnt talking about gals turning into responsibilities. I just meant that guys turn a little extra protective about the gals who work or stay around them.

Srinivas said:
.. I like the idea of Unisex dormitories , But in India I think people will object to this idea ..... All we got in WIPRO is dormitories separate for men ..... That too we have to reserve before ......
:)
Do IIMs allow unisex dormitories??


I always had a Norwegian inside me, :ashamed: now there is one more (very strong) reason to become a patriotic Norwegian and join their army!! :D

Yes I also want to see Mr.DRAY with a long pony tail. :D
 
I oppose this - Imagine sharing the same dorm as @levina & being made to listen to her Family Politics from back home, that irritating Justin Bieber fellow she listens to, her loud snores & her eating habits where she eats everything & I do mean everything that the rest of us have kept in the dorm's refrigerator ! :hitwall:
 
this is a recipe for disaster, I dont mean to be a perv but one can easily see what could go wrong.......
 
Noo i wasnt talking about gals turning into responsibilities. I just meant that guys turn a little extra protective about the gals who work or stay around them.

The point is true .... :cheers:

On the lighter note .....

I always had a dream of staying in ladies hostel during my college days ............ But never happened :(

After college I used to walk with her and she used to say bye after reaching her hostel :(

Wish I would have shifted to Norway or some liberal country .... :D
 
Noo i wasnt talking about gals turning into responsibilities. I just meant that guys turn a little extra protective about the gals who work or stay around them.
Yap, especially from other guys, because he knows how men are in general!! :D

:)
Do IIMs allow unisex dormitories??
Nope!! :( One can get daru inside the campus though, secretly.

Yes I also want to see Mr.DRAY with a long pony tail. :D
Nobody understand me like you in this forum!! :D
 
I oppose this - Imagine sharing the same dorm as @levina & being made to listen to her Family Politics from back home, that irritating Justin Bieber fellow she listens to, her loud snores & her eating habits where she eats everything & I do mean everything that the rest of us have kept in the dorm's refrigerator ! :hitwall:
still better than sharing a room with a hippo
hippo-room1.jpg
 
Why is Norway even bothering to have an Army? I dream of a world where all men can sport hair anywhere as they like.:D

On a serious note, this isn't anything new in Scandinavia. Even all the Saunas and wellness spring-baths there are unisex, and all participants are normally nude. And trust the Scandinavians to be cool about such stuff.
 
Just imagine they implement this in India haha.. war in the bedroom every day. no enemy needed.
 
IMHO, allowing men and women to intermingle freely actually reduces sexual harassment/violence.....

Basic instincts cannot be suppressed......trying to suppress it leads to perversion which we see as sexual harassment/violence......

The amount of time, energy, resource spent to keep men and women separate from each other in our society, prevent sexual violence and punish the perpetrators can then be spent on things which are actually necessary....
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom