Several of the female participants at the Farmen kjendis farm have continuously shown an interest in participating in the heavier and more physical tasks.
In today’s episode, it comes to a boiling point, where it is again brought up that the roles and tasks on the farm are gender-based.
Large farmer Aleksander Sæterstøl (27) and Ørnulf Høyer (66) discuss the women’s dissatisfaction with the tasks they have been assigned:
“The girls think that we boys do boy things all the time. They can only do it themselves, and they can carry it down here themselves», says the big farmer about the tense situation.
“Every time we ask them to come down here, there’s something they have to do,” Høyer adds.
– The right forces in the right place
Later in the episode, Sæterstøl elaborates on his frustration with the gender role debate on the farm. The 27-year-old believes that it is natural that women and men have different strengths and weaknesses.
“I can’t stand the girl and boy stuff. It’s so stupid and childish. It’s more childish than Paradise hotel, somehow. It’s absolutely awesome”he says, before throwing the sixpence on the ground in sheer frustration.
Høyer, who was a big farmer already in the first week, tells TV 2 that it is not a question of what women can or cannot do, but the correct distribution of work capacity.
– What we have to remember is that there is a difference between work in 1923 and 2023. I don’t feel it is male chauvinistic to say that you need the right effort in the right place, to get the weekly assignment done.
DISAGREE: This week there has been a lot of focus on what constitutes women’s and men’s work on the farm. Photo: Anton Soggiu
Høyer says that the men several times encouraged the ladies to take part in the more physical tasks. He then adds that several of the girls, especially Sofie Karlstad (25) and Malin Nesvoll (34), often contributed.
– It is certainly not my opinion that women cannot contribute in the same way as men. But when it comes to carrying, sawing and building things, there is a difference. It is the work tasks that decide, says Høyer.
Took the year too seriously
Marit Andreassen (56) says several times she felt the traditional gender roles that existed in 1923 were taken too seriously on the farm.
– I have an extremely large number of female friends who are very good at both sawing and building. So in my knowledge of women and men, I don’t quite agree that it’s the men who always have to take on those tasks, she says to TV 2.
She disagrees with Høyer’s statement that they had to work as if they were in 1923.
2023 NOT 1923: Marit believes that even if the participants are to live as they are in 1923, they are still in 2023. Photo: Anton Soggiu
– It is primarily a TV recording, so that in 2023 you can talk about what is women’s and men’s work I think is very strange. Sometimes I wondered if Ørnulf was acting, or if he actually thought we were in 1923, says the 56-year-old.
Andreassen and Høyer already started the gender role debate in week one, when Andreassen thought Høyer’s division of labor was male chauvinistic. Høyer himself disagrees with this.
– I don’t feel that I should have a bad conscience for taking on a physical job that is tiring. I did that to have a fair and correct distribution of labour. What is important to get across is that we all contributed to all parts of the tasks, but in certain places some of us had to contribute more, says the 66-year-old.
– I don’t give a damn
Christopher Mørch Husby (33) says he always tried to contribute to all parts of the weekly assignments, and does not agree with the way the gender debate is presented.
– I think that you have to contribute where you can, as best as you can. For example, I relieved Malin a lot of the milking, and I worked a lot in the field. I would say I split my time equally between the wash house and the field.
Husby adds that he felt the male participants always encouraged the ladies to contribute. He singles out Karlstad as one of those who contributed the most.
TAKE MORE RESPONSIBILITY: Both Sofie and Christopher believed that the participants had to take responsibility for their own work.
– I don’t feel it’s right that we didn’t want the ladies to help, and the one who contributed the most was Sofie. She was down at the washhouse several times, and even confirmed in Wednesday’s episode that she thinks it was hard work. It was easier for some of us to do the heavy, physical tasks at a faster pace. So I think it was a bit of whining. And as I’ve said before – whining is perhaps the worst thing I know.
Karlstad confirms that she often contributed to the more physically demanding tasks. However, she had a different tactic.
– I actually tried to stay out of that discussion. I’ve been on reality shows before, and know that you should never jump headfirst into the first argument. My tactic was to just sneak into the physically demanding tasks. We can’t put all the blame on the guys, we had to take some responsibility ourselves too.
– I simply gave a little more shit. Instead of complaining about it, I just went down there and participated in the “man’s work”. There is no one who can throw me away from there. So I just do it, instead of asking if I do it.
You can see Farmen kendis on Tuesdays at 21:40, and Wednesdays and Sundays at 20 on TV 2 Direkte, and when you want on TV 2 Play.
