This text focuses on changes in culture and society that concern women and feminists in the Nordic countries. It examines women's political strategies, questions of identity, rationality and subjectivity, and social and cultural values.

This book explores how feminist movements in the Nordic region challenge the increasing gender, race and class inequalities following the global economic crisis, neoliberal capitalism and austerity politics, and how they position themselves in the face of the rise of nationalism and right-wing populism. The book contextualizes these recent events in the long histories of racial and colonial power relations embedded in Nordic societies and their gender equality and welfare state regimes. It examines the role of whiteness and racism and seeks to decolonize feminist knowledge and genealogies of feminist movements in the region. The contributions provide in-depth knowledge on the different orientations, dilemmas and tactics that feminisms develop in these challenging times and show the centrality of antiracist and decolonizing critiques of feminisms. They further highlight the strategies of feminist and related antiracist and indigenous movements in regards to ideas about hope, solidarity, intersectionality, and social justice. Chapters 6, 7, 9 and 10 are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book explores how gender equality, a central part of the Nordic imaginary, is used in the political communication of Nordic states. The analyses presented move beyond conventional images and discourses of Nordic gender- and women-friendliness by critically investigating how and to what extent gender equality serves nation-branding in the Nordic region. Nation-branding is an unescapable part of globalisation, which is a market-oriented process dominated by the West and predicated on the creation of winners and losers. Hence, efforts to strengthen the national brand or reputation of specific Nordic countries with the aid of gender equality as a political and symbolic value inevitably help to reinforce already established global hierarchies where the Nordics play the role of moral superpower. This book comprises scholars from various fields of specialisation, and provides evidence and understanding for the growing interaction between gender-equality policies and nation-branding in all five Nordic countries. It does so by exploring a variety of policy fields and issues including women’s rights, foreign policy, rape and legislation, female quotas and business policies, in addition to the index industry. The rise of the global indexes has reproduced forceful images of the Nordic countries as frontrunners of gender equality, which indeed help the Nordic countries to further position themselves as ‘best at being good’. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of Nordic gender equality in political science, sociology, law, criminology, political psychology and history, as well as those interested in nation branding, Nordic studies and exceptionalism. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781003017134, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

In recent times where European welfare states are undergoing serious economic and social crises and being increasingly exposed to criticism, there has been a noticeable revival of feminist interest in the issues of equality. Focusing on a signature aspect of Scandinavian welfare states, Equality Struggles explores how gender equality and women’s rights are transforming the relationship between Scandinavian states and social actors. Indeed, drawing on in-depth analyses from fieldwork in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, this book examines the largest and most established women’s organizations and develops a multi-layered understanding of the entanglements between women’s movements, neoliberal markets and state political agendas in Scandinavia, as they give rise to feminist fractions and new feminist coalitions. Contributing to novel understandings of "equality struggles" within women’s organisations, this title will appeal to postgraduate students and scholars interested in fields such as Scandinavian Studies, Gender Studies, Political Science and International Relations and Social Theory.

Sweden is often considered one of the most gender-equal countries in the world and held up as a model to follow, but the reality is more complex. This is the first book to explode the myth of Swedish gender equality, both offering a new perspective for an international audience, and suggesting how equality might be rethought more generally. While the authors argue that the gender-equality mantra in Sweden has led to a society with increased opportunities for some, they also assert that the dominant norm of gender equality has become nationalistic and builds upon heteronormative and racial principles. Examining the changing meanings and parameters of gender equality against the country's social-democratic tradition and in the light of contemporary neoliberal ideologies, the book constitutes an urgent contribution to the debates about gender-equality policies and politics.

There is an increasing awareness that gender equality is not something that just "is" in unproblematic and natural ways, but that it may be understood and packaged in several ways, with quite different consequences. It therefore makes good sense to ask, with the authors in this book, how gender equality is understood and practised in the Nordic countries, with their avowedly good record on gender equality measures. It makes especially good sense to look closely at the consequences and difficulties that arise out of the many-faceted meanings attached to "gender" and "equality" in politics and policies, as well as in daily life. In this book, eleven Nordic scholars offer critical analyses of current dislocations, dilemmas and contradictions in the field of Nordic gender equality. They have studied issues to do with constructing state and nation, regulating political practices and producing gendered subjectivities. The authors are affiliated with universities in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden and united in seeing the need for a critical scholarly stance on Nordic gender equality policies and practices.

What does it mean to study supposedly global media phenomena from a Nordic perspective? In which ways could a Nordic feminist perspective on digital media make a difference in relation to dominant research traditions? What would be particular and unique about Nordic cyberfeminism – compared to the “unmarked” version of cyberfeminism dominating the field today? These are some of the questions that this book sets out to answer. Cyberfeminism in Northern Lights: Digital Media and Gender in a Nordic Context pushes the boundaries of contemporary cyberfeminism significantly. Against the background of an expanding body of research in the field of digital media and gender – which to this date has primarily been carried out from an Anglo-American perspective – the book argues that feminist studies of digital media need to become more inclusive and aware of their own geographical and cultural biases and limits. The book takes as its point of departure the knowledge and experiences from the Nordic countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Denmark. Although often grouped together under the assumed homogeneity of Scandinavia, there are important differences between the countries – but also certain qualities and aspects that run across national borders, which make for an intriguing foundation of this book. ‘Highlighting the work of several of Scandinavia's best internet researchers, this collection shows how our understanding of the intersection of gender and computer technology is both universal and cultural. It's fascinating reading for anyone interested in questions of gender, culture, or social aspects of the internet and serves as a useful corrective for those who assume these issues can be understood without considering them from multiple cultural positions.’ Nancy Baym, Associate professor of Communication Studies, University of Kansas. ‘This is a very illuminating, unconventional and agenda-setting collection of essays by a new generation of scholars. Very Nordic in its pragmatic approach, egalitarian spirit and scholarly excellence, it manages to strike a global note. The range, depth and scope of the theoretical concerns, coupled with the originality of the themes discussed casts a new light on a number of crucial issues in feminist cultural studies of science and technology. A delight to read!’ Rosi Braidotti, Distinguished professor in the Humanities, Utrecht University.

Old Norse texts offer different ideas about what it is to be female, presenting women in diverse social and economic positions. This book analyzes female characters in medieval Icelandic saga literature, and demonstrates how they engaged with some of the most contested values of the period, revealing the anxieties of both the authors and audiences.

During the past decade, Scandinavian women have made significant advances in terms of political power and are beginning to make their presence felt in most areas of welfare state policy. The essays in this book analyze some of the factors which have facilitated women's entry into the public sphere, their participation in political movements and corporate politics, and the placement of women's issues onto the political agenda.