Family-centred mobilities in a small island community: The case of the Faroe Islands

In this conference paper, I will explore the experiences of work and mobility of women in the Faroe Islands. I will argue that historical mobility practices have contributed to a labour market, where men’s work is privileged over women’s. For more than a century the labour force of the Faroe Islands has proven to be highly flexible and adjusted to changing conditions of employment, entailing that many have their place of work at sea or abroad.
Young Faroese men and women, even before entering the labour market, are highly mobile and out-migrate for educational and work purposes. Therefore, movement is deeply embedded in culture in the Faroe Islands. Yet, gendered cultural expectations are more visible when women enter the Faroese labour market and these are manifested in female immobility. I will use the concept of motility to analyse how women make sense of their straddling between the labour market and domestic sphere and how they experience their mobility options. Arguably a labour market with deeply embedded gendered (im)mobilities may require rather different policy approaches to the mainstream gender equality policies of Nordic countries.