Nationalism, Gender and Welfare: The politics of gender equality in Scandinavia

Feminist scholars have pointed out that constructions of gender and gender equality are embedded in national narratives and politics of belonging (Yuval-Davis 2011; Siim & Mokre 2013). This paper aims to explore gendered approaches to nationalism and to discuss how nationalism in Scandinavia is associated with ‘social democratic’ perceptions of welfare and gender equality. Brochmann and Hagelund (2010) have pointed towards a specific form of Scandinavian welfare nationalism which is challenged by globalization and increased migration. We add that gender equality is a key aspect of the Scandinavian politics of belonging and that this has implications for our understanding of the challenges which can be recognised in the contemporary politics of gender and welfare in Scandinavia. This point is illustrated by exploring the problematic ways in which contemporary nationalist parties in Sweden, Denmark and Norway have linked national belongings with support for the welfare state and gender equality politics. These observations in turn raise theoretical, normative and analytical questions about understandings and conceptualizations of the nationalism, welfare and gender.The article aims to explore what the particular Nordic contexts can contribute to our analytical understandings of nationalism, welfare and gender equality and how this context can contribute to the evolvement of the theoretical approaches to gender and nationalism. The first part gives a brief overview of two influential theoretical approaches to nationalism and gender: Nira Yuval Davis (2011; 1997) and Umut Özkirimli (2005; 2010) and discusses what questions need to be explored further from the particular Nordic contexts. The second part addresses the transformation of the Nordic political landscape and current reformulations of the countries welfare and gender equality policies. It first briefly presents key aspects of the Scandinavian perceptions of welfare and gender. Then it discusses how to conceptualize and understand the framings of welfare, gender equality and the family in three nationalist parties: the Norwegian Progress Party, the Sweden Democrats and the Danish Peoples’ Party. The last section discusses the need for reframing (gender) equality and justice from a transnational intersectional perspective. Here we propose that one fruitful approach to address the political transformations linked to migration and globalization would be to transcend methodological nationalism and the exclusive notions of solidarity tied to the nation state and formulate more inclusive notions of solidarity and justice.