From Feminist to Family Politics: Re‐Doing Gender in Denmark after 1970

Abstract

In this article I investigate how gender politics have worked: what were the goals and how did politics construct gender? I ask the questions in an examination of gender politics in Denmark after 1970 in an analysis of the publications of The Equal Status Council.1 I begin the analysis with a short prehistory of the Council to determine the point of origin of the official political work to promote gender equality. In the next part of the article, I analyse the construction of gender in the publications of the Council. This part of the analysis is structured chronologically to demonstrate how gender was re‐constructed from 1975–1999. Because The Equal Status Council has had its main focus on family, work and politics, I have chosen to focus my analysis on the politics of equality in relation to work and family. Furthermore, I have concentrated my analysis on the themes that seem to have been the most popular ones. This method has the advantage of showing which policies it was possible to agree on and, thus, how it was possible to do gender politics. In the last part of the article I conclude on the findings of the analysis.

Notes

1. “The Equal Status Council” is the formal translation of “Ligestillingsrådet” used in the English summary of the yearly report from the Council from 1981.

2. This investigation might work as a basis for comparisons between gender politics in the European Union or the United Nations. However, this calls for research still to be done and is beyond the scope of this article.

3. E.g., Dansk Kvindesamfund (The Danish Women's Society) since 1871, Danske Kvinders Nationalråd since 1899 (The Danish International Community of Women (ICW)), Kvindeligt Arbejderforbund (Women's Union) since 1885.

4. It has been argued that perhaps due to their radical left‐wing orientation the new feminist movement did not want to take part in formal politics. See Drude Dahlerup 1998.

5. See Bente Rosenbeck 2002, for information on the marriage law. See also Anne Trine Larsen 2005: due the future well‐being of society, women working in industrial enterprises was forced to take four weeks of maternal leave to care for the children at the threshold of the century. In contrast to most European countries at the time the organized Danish women managed to prevent that women was forbidden to work night‐shifts.

6. This was a strong argument in maternity politics in most European countries. See Gisela Bock 2000.

7. It is worth noting that the organizations represented in the Council were the old feminist organizations, not the organizations politicizing housewifery, see Ligestillingsrådets årsberetning (Annual Report of The Equal Status Council) 1975–1999.

8. Ligestillingsrådets årsberetning 1981, p. 62. My translation of: “Så længe det traditionelle k⊘nsrollem⊘nster med manden som hovedfors⊘rger og kvinden som hovedansvarlig for hjem og b⊘rn var det almindeligt accepterede, blev adgang til deltid anset for et gode for kvinderne. I forbindelse med bestræbelserne for at fremme den reelle ligestilling mellem mænd og kvinder er det dog blevet mere almindeligt at sætte sp⊘rgsmålstegn ved, om deltidsarbejdet i dets nuværende form, hvor hver anden kvinde er på deltid, kan favne disse bestræbelser.”

9. In this argument the Council found strong supporters in both unions of workers and employers, as these organizations also preferred full‐time jobs.

10. The focus on families as heterosexual constructions can be seen as the proper political focus because heterosexual couples tend to have a more unequal division of household labour than gay or lesbian couples. Obviously, when the latter are more competent in sharing housework the gender politics should support the ones that cannot administer their own lives. See Shelton & John 1996.