‘The Real Housewives of Kodak’. Nimble Fingers and Nimble Minds in the Norwegian Photofinishing Industry in the 1960s and 1970s

The expansion of centralised photofinishing laboratories was a prerequisite for the proliferation of colour photography in the 1960s. This article argues that the rapid growth also relied on the labour of housewives. Norway suffered from labour shortages, especially in businesses that traditionally employed women. The industry attempted to accommodate housewives by organising a ‘housewife shift’ in the afternoons. This article highlights the significant impact of gender bias on the recruitment of women in the photography industry in the 1960s, and how the industry justified low wages by emphasising features attributed to biological sex such as nimble fingers and attention to detail. Gender stereotypes also determined which tasks were considered women’s work in the photofinishing laboratory. Through oral history interviews, the article provide insight into the tacit knowledge of laboratory technicians who worked in industrialised, commercial photofinishing laboratories in the 1960s. Considering photography as a sociotechnical network, it considers the interactions between technology, labour, politics and social factors, such as bias concerning women and photography. The article identifies the significant impact that housewives, in the service of photography, had on the popularisation of colour photography for the amateur market in the 1960s and 1970s.