Abstract
The social-democratic-inspired “Nordic model”, with its agenda for gender equality, has been an important example for the development of political interventions to transform society but at the same time, it has been functioning as an emerging gender normalising and stabilising structure. The last decade it has also become focused by antigender movements and ethno-nationalistic parties both as emblematic for the Nordic nations as well as a threat that must be destroyed to save the nation. This issue will elaborate further on gender equality as a node, a floating signifier in powerful and often contradictory discourses situating the discussions within the tradition of scholarships of hope through a dialogue about articles that search for realistic utopias that might be considered to be “beyond gender equality”. The included articles engage with the messiness and crossroads of gender equality in relation to the work-line, territories, neo-liberalism, religion, the crisis of solidarity and the success of anti-genderism agenda.
Highlights
Gender equality is one of the cornerstones of Swedish society
We argued that gender equality, as a state policy intervention, has contributed to recognise, once and for all, the vital feminist insight that the personal and the private is public and political and that it can transform what might be understood as natural unequal gender orders as well as develop alternative gendered subjectivities, family forms, and societies
We want to write ourselves within the tradition of scholarships of hope; we will conclude the introduction through a dialogue about articles that search for realistic utopias (Wright, 2009) that might be considered to be “beyond gender equality”
Summary
Gender equality is one of the cornerstones of Swedish society. The aim of Sweden’s gender equality policies is to ensure that everyone enjoys the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all areas of life. (Sweden Government, 2018). Gender equality strategies and policies have, become inseparable from a capitalist regulated labour market This merging of gender equality with paid work in order to create the good equal life is framed through the dynamics of financial capitalism, class inequalities, and, not least, the “work-line” (arbetslinjen) that makes paid work mandatory for access to welfare support. The ethno-nationalist party Sweden Democrats understand gender equality as a European/Nordic value and argued that feminism and feminists destroyed men’s masculinity and forced upon children the notion of gender that threatened the natural differences between the sexes and supported multicultural societies that threatened the nation (Mulinari, 2016) This decoupling of gender equality from feminism makes it possible to be pro gender equality (both in a neo-liberal and even neo-conservative frame) while at the same time resisting and questioning feminism as a project that vouches for inclusive and transnational social justice. We want to write ourselves within the tradition of scholarships of hope; we will conclude the introduction through a dialogue about articles that search for realistic utopias (Wright, 2009) that might be considered to be “beyond gender equality”
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
