What is women’s social citizenship made of?

How should different attitudes towards similar childcare arrangements in two Nordic countries be interpreted, and what have women’s movements got to do with it? These are questions studied in the research project FEMCIT. Read more

Mapping of fathers' use of paternity and parental leaves in the Nordic countries

There is a difference between fathers being on paternity leave at the same time as the mother is on leave and fathers being on parental leave alone. In studies about fathers on paternity leave it is important to distinguish between these two situations. Read more

The Equal Opportunities Year in Norway

2007 was appointed as the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All. This article presents an analysis of the strategy and activities in Norway. Read more

Increased Parental Choice Can Lead to Reduced Gender Equality

Next year the Swedish Government will carry out two family policy reforms which some researchers regard as contradictory. With a so-called gender equality bonus the Government aims at getting more fathers to stay at home with their children. The introduction of a home care allowance might on the other hand result in mothers staying at home even longer than they do now. This is shown by research in the other Nordic countries. Read more

Gender Equality and Fertility

In the Nordic countries, women enjoy a high degree of participation in working life while at the same time giving birth to a relatively large number of children. This is often interpreted as indicating that the Nordic family policy model has high sustainability with respect to equal opportunities policy. With fertility rates close to the reproduction level, the Nordic countries are better prepared than most other western countries to meet the demographic challenges associated with low population growth and a rapidly aging population. More detailed analyses of the development of fertility patterns provide only conditional support for this assumption. There are signs that a higher level of acceptance of equally shared parenthood is also necessary in order to maintain a sustainable level of fertility. Read more

Gender, Citizenship and Social Justice in the Nordic Welfare States: A View from the Outside

To what extent have the Nordic welfare states been successful in promoting a women-friendly, gender-inclusive model of citizenship? What are the biggest challenges for the Nordic model? Read more

Scandinavian Democracies: Disintegrating or in Good Health?

This autumn saw the conclusion of several years’ extensive work in both Norway and Denmark on analyses of power and democracy. Despite the many similarities between these two Scandinavian societies the two government initiated studies have arrived at conclusions which differ widely from each other. Whilst three of the five researchers in charge of the Norwegian study conclude that democracy is disintegrating, the unanimous conclusion of the Danish research team is that their democracy is healthy and efficient. This variance in the final diagnoses demonstrates how important it is that power research states its points of reference and gives an account of its premises and perspectives. Even the grand diagnostic ambition of power research when initiated as an official study might profit from problematisation. Read more

Towards a Family Equality Policy? The abandonment of the male bread winner family model

How have welfare policies in the Nordic countries been influenced by developments in the European Union? How have changes in the division of paid and unpaid labour between the sexes influenced welfare and family policy and led to changes in family formation? A team of researchers has analysed trends and changes in employment and family issues in eight northern European countries. Read more

Changing the Patterns of Gender and Power in Society

Both a Danish and a Norwegian study of power and democracy have focused on changes in gendered power but, characteristically, the Norwegian study is much more extensive in this respect than the Danish one. This is related to the research interests among the members of the two research groups that have coordinated the power studies. It can, however, also be seen in relation to the more limited interest in gender in the general Danish social debate. The studies’ projects on gender make it clear that there is a need for developing a comprehensive and dynamic understanding of power, which can capture the complexity of the relations between gender and power. At the same time, the projects reflect the fact that gender research has moved beyond the polarised interpretations that often characterised discussions in the 1990’s. Read more

Love, Authority and Power

In Norwegian homes, it is the mother who sets the limits. But when a conflict between the mother and a son or daughter escalates, the conflict is resolved by the father. The father’s exercise of power is regarded as legitimate, while that of the mother is seen as incompatible with good motherhood. Read more

Interview

A Nordic Bridge-Builder

The Scandinavian women’s movement is in a slump and the Nordic ‘gradualism’ is been challenged by fast track countries in the Third World. There are certainly plenty of issues to address: the pornification of the public arena, gift-wrapped silicone breasts, male dominance in leadership positions and the steady wagegap . “But there’s little spark to ignite a women’s movement”. So says Stockholm University’s Professor Drude Dahlerup, who is also well-known in the Nordic countries as a bridge-builder between the women’s movement and women’s studies. Read more

The Universe of Gender Quotas

The manner in which gender and quotas is discussed in the political debate on gender equality can largely be sorted into two main stances; the discourse of rights, and the utilitarian discourse. This article discusses the Norwegian discourse in relation to the gender equality discourses in other European countries. Read more

Social Consequences of Gender Discourses

Is it possible and desirable for Danish gender scholars to give their support to and work for an improvement in the present-day equal-opportunities situation? Is it possible within a Danish ‘power-mobilisation’ discourse to generate concrete political proposals? These are among the questions raised in this article with reference to a recent discussion between Swedish and Danish feminist scholars on the social consequences of the different gender discourses in the two Nordic countries. A comparative textual analysis of Danish and Swedish neo-feminist anthologies is linked up with this discussion. Read more

Heterosexual Couples Talking about and "Doing" Gender

The Nordic countries consider themselves the most gender equal countries in the world. Nordic governments often promote Nordic gender equality as a unified image, featuring "new" men and women living the ideal gender equal life. This scenario forms the background for a Nordic study of gender equality practices and rhetoric, and its consequences at three societal levels: parliamentary party-politics, regional and local implementation of policies, and practices in nuclear families. Read more

Russian Women in Grey Zones of Nordic Welfare

In Europe, the term "new migration" refers to te mass movement of people for Eastern to Western Europe after the dissolution of socialist rule and the eastward enlargement of the European Union. Along the northernmost borders in the Barents region, on their way to the Nordic countries migrants cross the deepest welfare divide on the globe. While the Nordic states are celebrated for their inclusiveness both in social and gender terms, many immigrant women find their agency being restricted due to discriminating institutional boundaries, time lines and the construction of degrading social categories (1). Read more