The Question of Feminism in Gender Mainstreaming—A Case of Non-conflict in Local Politics

Abstract

This article discusses gender equality and how and why a gender mainstreaming strategy avoids the question of gender conflict. The making of gender-equality work is studied by investigating how feminism is talked about and rejected in a specific gender mainstreaming project in the municipality of Örebro, Sweden. Drawing upon the theoretical concepts of hegemony and discourse, the focus is on the silences—the unspoken questions and problems—surrounding the project. I examine how the exclusion of feminism and conflict is articulated when gender mainstreaming is introduced as a new way of doing gender-equality work in the municipality. The struggles identified show that feminism is rejected because it is seen as being in opposition to (1) professionalism and (2) legitimate political issues. I conclude that within the local discourse of gender mainstreaming there is a notion that this form of gender-equality work ought to be performed without harmful or threatening gender conflicts. This means that the strategy of gender mainstreaming constitutes a short-cut to bypass controversial problems like equal treatment, special efforts for women, and men's privileges in gender-equality work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

¹ Program för hållbar jämställdhet (HåJ).

² Hållbar jämställdhetsintegrering i Örebro (HJÄMT).

³ Project management team meetings, 10 occasions, SKL one-day seminar, Ann Boman one-day development workshop together with project management team, a two-day course for the municipality. In total 25 hours of recorded material.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Renée Andersson

Renée Andersson is a doctoral candidate in Political Science, affiliated with Center for Feminist Studies (CFS) and Örebro Research School of Public Affairs (FOVU) at Örebro University. Her research focuses on teoretical and empirical challenges in gender mainstreaming, with special emphasis on local levels of politics. She has previously published articles on this topic: Andersson, Renée & Hedlund, Gun (2012) Gender mainstreaming and local democracy, in: K. Lindström (Ed.) Gender mainstreaming in public sector organisations: Policy implications and practical applications, pp. 189–216 (Lund: Studentlitteratur), and Andersson, R & Hedlund, G. (2014) Att göra kön i kommunal politik: Lokala variationer av gender mainstreaming och kvinnofrid. [Doing gender in municipal politics: Local variations of gender mainstreaming and women's inviolability) Tidskrift för Genusvetenskap, 2/3. pp. 127–150.