Having It All? Women in High Commitment Careers and Work–Life Balance in Norway Cathrine Seierstad * and Gill Kirton The question if, or how, women can ’have it all’— high commitment career, partner and children — is regularly debated in popular media internationally. Drawing on qualitative research, this arti- cle examines work–life balance (WLB) for women in high commitment careers as politicians and non-executive directors on corporate boards in Norway. Norway is lauded as one of the most gen- der equal countries in the world and in theory at least it is therefore a highly enabling environ- ment for women to combine career and family. The article considers the WLB challenges women politicians and directors encounter and what types of WLB support — national, workplace and household level — are important for them in order to mitigate the potential strain caused by work–family conflict. This article’s contribution is in highlighting the competing and sometimes contradictory policies, practices and discourses at multiple levels that surround WLB and the gen- dered social expectations of women in Norway who apparently ’have it all’. Keywords: work-life balance, women, high commitment careers, welfare, Norway Introduction T he question if, or how, women can ’have it all’— high commitment career, partner and children — is regularly debated in popular media. For example, recently, Anne-Marie Slaughter (2012), former high-level US government official, claimed that the way the US economy and society are cur- rently structured prevents women from having it all. This reignited the global public controversy that never quite dies out about whether and under what conditions women can combine high commit- ment careers and family. Thus, although in recent literature work–life balance (WLB) emerges as a contested term (Gregory and Milner, 2009) and one that is now recognized as concerning both men and women (Allard et al., 2011; Kvande, 2009), a focus on women and women’s WLB remains perti- nent. First, there is the persistent fact of the greater likelihood of women taking the primary respon- sibility for home and family in addition to paid work/career. Second, there is evidence that persistent gendered cultural norms and assumptions underpin the work–family articulation (Crompton and Lyonette, 2005). Third, women remain under-represented in high-level positions in many areas of the economy and society in most countries (WEF, 2013), at least partly because such jobs are difficult to combine with family responsibilities. WLB is a particularly interesting issue in relation to Norway which, like other Scandinavian countries, ranks among the most gender equal countries and has one of the most family/woman-friendly welfare regimes in the world (WEF, 2013). Norway is therefore in the- ory at least a highly enabling environment for women to combine career and family. This article contributes a discussion of WLB for women in gender atypical high commitment careers in Norway as politicians and non-executive directors of corporate boards. The case of Norway Address for correspondence: *Cathrine Seierstad, School of Business, Management & Economics, University of Sussex, Jubilee Building, Office 107A, Brighton BN1 9SL, UK; e-mail: c.seierstad@sussex.ac.uk Gender, Work and Organization. Vol. 22 No. 4 July 2015 doi:10.1111/gwao.12099 © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd