All that Glitters is Not Gold: Shrinking and Bending Gender Equality in Rankings and Nation Branding

ABSTRACT

After the financial crisis of 2008, a time of reputation rebuilding began in Iceland. Women had been absent in the process leading up to the crisis and a strong discourse emerged calling for women to restore the country and blaming the crisis on the male ‘business Vikings”. At the same time, Iceland became a frontrunner in the Global Gender Gap Report. This article draws on scholarship on the discursive construction of gender equality, nation branding and gender measurements. Taking Iceland as a case example, the article critically examines gender indices with a special focus on the Global Gender Gap index. It explores how a narrow understanding of gender equality is evident in the composition of the Global Gender Gap measurement, illustrating the “shrinking” and “bending” of the concept. The article shows the process in which gender equality rankings are employed in the politics of reputation and turned into nation branding. The article adds to the knowledge of how measurements and indices contribute to the emergent emphasis on gender equality in nation branding.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender equality
• ranking
• shrinking
• bending
• nation branding

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Personal correspondence with Valerie Gauriat, international Affairs Reporter, 1 January 2018.

2. While the terms nation branding, image creation/management, and public relations should not be confused (see f.g. Szondi, 2010), the difference between them is beyond the scope of this article.

3. This discussion owes much to Van Staveren (2013). Sources: WEF (2020) The Global Gender GAP Report; OECD (2019), SIGI 2019 Global Report: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities, Social Institutions and Gender Index, OECD Publishing, Paris; UNDP (2018) Human Development Indices and Indicators 2018 Statistical Update; World Economic Forum; The Economist, Economist Intelligence Unit (2010), Women’s Economic Opportunity 2012.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Þorgerður J. Einarsdóttir

Þorgerður J. Einarsdóttir is Professor of Gender Studies at the University of Iceland. Her research focuses on feminist theory, equality policies, labor market issues, gender and academia, gender budgeting, critical masculinity studies, and transgender issues.