– Now that we have had the metoo campaign, I have been contacted and asked: How was it on TV2, Siri? It is now… 29 years later. It was a different time. Ladies were put in more booths. There was a lot of sexism, says Siri Kalvig in the NRK podcast “Drivkraft”. The interview with Kalvig was broadcast on NRK P2 today.
When TV2 started in 1992, all the TV meteorologists on NRK had been men. Siri Kalvig was one of Norway’s first female TV weather forecasters, and was one of three female meteorologists who were employed by TV2 when the channel started. She became a celebrity and much talked about in TV2’s first year on air.
Today she is director of the state climate investment fund Nysnø. She is an associate professor at the University of Stavanger, and founder of the weather forecasting company StormGeo.
[ – Eldre menn tar det som en selvfølge at deres stemme er viktig ]
In the “Drivkraft” interview, she tells, among other things, what it was like to be a young woman in the media industry in the 90s, and thanks the metoo movement for putting the spotlight on gender discrimination and harassment.
– There was a lot of sexism that I handled in my own way. I had blindfolds, laughed a little at it, “fendered” it away in a nice way. But I have spent a lot of energy on på if you have received approaches or obscene suggestions, that those who come up with it should not feel rejected and be sad. But today it is not accepted at all, fortunately. So all respect to the ladies who started the metoo campaign, Kalvig tells NRK.
Kalvig has previously stated that she was “A little cowardly” when the metoo movement came, because she did not tell about her own experiences, and believes in retrospect that she could handle unwanted attention differently.
– You quickly become the sour one who gives the message. I had another strategy that worked then. But it may not have taken the world that far. Except I’ve always worked in male-dominated arenas. That is my contribution, says Kalvig in the NRK podcast. NRK presenter Ruben Gran asks:
– When metoo was at its worst, what did you think about the extent to which you should get involved?
– Then I felt that it belonged to my past, it would be wrong to dig up stories 20 and 30 years ago. So I did not say much. But all women who have a career and work in male-dominated arenas know that this is a huge problem. So I applaud and support and thank the ladies who started metoo. But I have not contributed juicy examples from my own experiences. I do not really want to, says Kalvig.
Applied to the entire media industry
Dagsavisen has been in contact with Siri Kalvig, who emphasizes that the entire media industry in the 1990s was permeated by sexism, and that this was not a problem that only applied to TV2. Beyond this, Siri Kalvig does not want to elaborate on the statements given in the NRK podcast.
Siri Kalvig was a weather forecaster on TV2 until 1997, when she started the weather forecasting company Storm Weather Center together with TV2. In 2014, Storm was sold to an international acquisition fund for NOK 1.5 billion (the fund sold Storm further this year for NOK 3.6 billion). In 2018, Kalvig was appointed CEO of the Government’s newly established investment fund for climate-friendly technology, which was first called Renewable, and later changed its name to Nysnø.
In the NRK podcast, Kalvig also brags about the pioneering era when TV2 started:
– TV2 was a fantastic workplace with an enormous pioneer spirit. I was involved from the start in 1992 and I learned an incredible amount there, says Kalvig.
[ Skuespiller og aktivist Alyssa Milano sammenligner Trump-tilhengere med Ku Klux Klan-medlemmer ]
TV2: – That Siri opens up is an important reminder
In the autumn of 2017, the international metoo wave started when women in film, television and media came forward and told about sexual harassment. The Metoo wave led to an extensive number of settlements in the Norwegian media world and cultural life as well. TV2 received and processed 18 alerts about unwanted sexual attention towards eight named persons towards the end of 2017, wrote M24. Organization director Sarah Willand stated that she would take a stand against all of the criticisable attitudes in TV2, not just sexual harassment.
Sarah Willand comments on the statements from Siri Kalvig in the NRK podcast:
– metoo became an important and liberating force that set the agenda both in the media world and in other workplaces. Also in TV 2, we had to make a proper settlement with old culture, put in place better routines and follow-up, and increase awareness of the topic. That Siri, like many others, opens up about negative experiences is an important reminder that this work requires continuous attention.
– How has TV2 followed up on the issue of sexual harassment in the workplace in recent years?
– It is an individual responsibility to behave properly. TV2 as a company can not insure us against a person making bad choices. But we can be clear on our attitude, that everyone knows what is acceptable behavior and what is not. We must ensure that those who experience something worthy of criticism are confident in speaking out, and know that they are treated properly and taken seriously. Therefore, in recent years we have worked to increase the knowledge about the topic among managers, employees and shop stewards, and we have worked with our culture.
– We have clarified notification routines and included questions about whether employees feel informed and safe about TV 2’s notification routines in our annual employee surveys, to name a few. The surveys show that we are in a different place today, at the same time we must remember that attitudes and culture are a work we can never say we are done with, comments organization director Sarah Willand to Dagsavisen.
[ Sykehjemsansatte varslet om kritikkverdige forhold – opplever at de ikke ble hørt (+) ]
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