Citation:

Kronsell, Annica. 2013. “Gender and Transition in Climate Governance.” Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 7: 1–15.

Author: Annica Kronsell

Abstract:

This article demonstrates how gender is relevant to governance of a transition to a low-carbon economy. It does this through insights derived from gender and transition studies in combination, applied and illustrated through a study of climate governance in Sweden. The approach is constructive and uses as central concepts: transition arenas, niches, regimes and landscapes in combination with theories from gender studies. The article suggests that the two fields are linked through three processes that are necessary to make a transition: to strengthen participation, to deal with oppressive power relations and to challenge institutionalized norms. It illustrates how masculine norms seem to permeate the landscape of climate transitions and argues that gender regimes tend to dictate planning, measures and implementation. Finally, the article proposes that a gender perspective on climate governance would analyze participation in transition arenas and niches by asking who is included in climate governance and what ideas influence climate policies.

Keywords: climate governance, equal respresentation, gender parity, gender regime, masculine norms, transition theories

Topics: Environment [2], Climate Change [3], Gender [4], Masculinity/ies [5], Gendered Power Relations [6], Masculinism [7], Governance [8], Infrastructure [9] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2013

Citation:

Räty, R., and A. Carlsson-Kanyama. 2010. “Energy Consumption by Gender in Some European Countries.” Energy Policy 38 (1): 646–9. 

Authors: R. Räty, A. Carlsson-Kanyama

Abstract:

Household total energy use has been estimated in numerous studies in recent decades and differences have mainly been explained by levels of income/expenditure. Studies of gender consumption patterns show that men eat more meat than women and drive longer distances, potentially leading to higher total energy use by men. In this study we calculated the total energy use for male and female consumption patterns in four European countries (Germany, Norway, Greece and Sweden) by studying single households. Significant differences in total energy use were found in two countries, Greece and Sweden. The largest differences found between men and women were for travel and eating out, alcohol and tobacco, where men used much more energy than women. We suggest that these findings are policy relevant for the EU, which aims to mainstream gender issues into all activities and to lower its total energy use.

Keywords: energy, gender, consumption

Topics: Environment [2], Climate Change [3], Gender [4], Infrastructure [9], Energy [15] Regions: Europe [10], Central Europe [16], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12], Southern Europe [17] Countries: Germany [18], Greece [19], Norway [20], Sweden [13]

Year: 2010

Citation:

Kouvo, Sari. 2020. “A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy.” Retfærd 4: 65-88.

[22]

Author: Sari Kouvo

Abstract:

In 2014, the Swedish Government declared that it was a feminist government. Foreign Minister Margot Wallström also took the opportunity to announce that Sweden would become the first country in the world to adopt a feminist foreign policy. The feminist banner was raised at a time when Europe, including Sweden, was grappling with what has come to be called the migration crisis and a rise in violent extremism across ideological, political and religious boundaries, and when the world seemed to be shifting further into conflict mode. This is also a time when notions of feminism and gender equality are as furiously promoted as they are contested. The aim of this article is first, to situate the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy in the broader context of Swedish equality politics and foreign policy. Second, to discuss how the term feminism used in the policy and what the overall contents of the policy are. Third, to problematize the policy through two examples focusing on the one hand on the challenge of a braver politics and on the other hand on the in-built tension between Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy and the Swedish trade and defence interests and in particular Swedish arms trade. The article focuses on developments during the first government term, 2014–2018, but it will also touch upon the developments during the second government term, 2019–2022. The article shows that the Policy has made a difference. It has raised awareness and built knowledge of women’s rights and equality within the Ministry and helped ensure that these issues are systematically integrated into much of foreign policy. The fact that the Policy has continued after the elections and is now being taken forward for another government term has helped institutionalise the policy and may also have increased international interest. 

Topics: Feminisms [23], Feminist Foreign Policy [24], Gender [4], Gendered Power Relations [6], Gender Equality/Inequality [25], Rights [26], Women's Rights [27], Weapons /Arms [28] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2020

Citation:

Arora-Jonsson, Seema, and Mia Ågren. 2019. “Bringing Diversity to Nature: Politicizing Gender, Race and Class in Environmental Organizations?” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 2: 874–98.

Authors: Seema Arora-Jonsson, Mia Ågren

Abstract:

Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments. At a time when environmental NGOs are turning to questions of gender-equality and ethnic diversity, we analyze their possibilities to do so. We argue that attempts at ethnic and cultural diversity in environmental organizations cannot be understood without insight into the conceptualizations of nature and the environment that underpin thinking within the organization. Serious attempts at diversity entail confronting some of the core values on nature-cultures driving the organization as well as understanding the dimensions of power such as class, gender, and race that structure its practices. We study what nature means for one such organization, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and the ways in which thinking about nature dictates organizational practice and sets the boundaries of their work with diversity in their projects on outdoor recreation. We base our analysis on official documents and interviews, analyze how “diversity” and “gender-equality” are represented in the material and reflect on the interconnections as well as the different trajectories taken by the two issues. Our study shows that the organization’s understanding of nature is a central and yet undiscussed determinant of their work with diversity that closes down as much as it opens up the space for greater inclusion of minorities. We argue that for environmental organizations wanting to diversity membership, a discussion of what nature means for people and their relationships to each other and nature is vital to any such efforts.

Keywords: diversity, gender, class, environmental organizations, whiteness, environmental justice

Topics: Class [30], Environment [2], Ethnicity [31], Gender [4], Gender Equality/Inequality [25], NGOs [32], Race [33] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2019

Citation:

Authors: Charlotte Wagnsson, Eva-Karin Olsson, Isabella Nilsen

Abstract:

Gender differences have been observed regarding many political and social issues, yet we lack comprehensive evidence on differences in perceptions on a wide range of security issues increasingly important to voters: military threats, criminality, and terrorism. Previous research suggests that when women are highly politically mobilized, as they are in Sweden, gender differences in political opinion are large. On the other hand, Swedish politicians have worked hard to reduce gender stereotypical thinking. This prompts the question: Are there gender differences in attitudes on security issues in Sweden, and if so, in what ways do the attitudes differ? This study is based on comprehensive data from focus groups and a large-scale survey. The results show that women were more prone to respond with an “ethic of care,” across security issues. Women were more inclined to understand security problems as structural, explained by macho culture, segregation, and injustice. Women tend to support preventive measures that provide individuals with opportunities to choose “the right path,” such as education and economic investment in deprived areas. When asked about national security, women believe more in diplomacy and dialogue. In general, women are less inclined to support various repressive solutions.

Keywords: crime, law & social control, politics/state/nationalism, violence, war & conflict

Topics: Gender [4], Gender Analysis [35], Gendered Discourses [36], Political Participation [37], Security [38] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2020

Citation:

 Carlsson-Kanyama, Annika, and Anna-Lisa Lindén. 2007. “Energy Efficiency in Residences—Challenges for Women and Men in the North.” Energy Policy 35 (4): 2163–72.

Authors: Annika Carlsson-Kanyama, Anna-Lisa Lindén

Abstract:

In a Northern country such as Sweden, energy use in the home may be reduced by 20% through changes in behaviour. However, little is known about how households respond to policy instruments encouraging such change or to what degree this in turn may affect the workload of women and men in such communities. The current study presents findings from interviews with 30 households in Sweden that participated in intervention measures aimed at reducing energy use in the home and explores how the sexes divided the new household chores and their opinions regarding these. The empirical findings are analysed against a theoretical framework of behavioural change. Results from the interviews indicate that lower indoor temperature and fewer hot baths had a greater impact on women than on men. When electricity charges varied, the workload of women increased as they washed clothes and dishes at night and at weekends when electricity was cheaper. Women also refrained from using clothes’ driers resulting in more time spent completing this chore. Based on these results we argue that a gender perspective in future intervention programmes in Northern communities may be useful as residential energy conservation in its present form affects the timing and types of household chores with resulting increased workload for women. How energy policy should change requires further analysis.

Keywords: gender, energy efficiency, housing

Topics: Gender [4], Gender Roles [40], Gender Analysis [35], Households [41], Infrastructure [9], Energy [15] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2007

Citation:

Persson, Alma, and Fia Sundevall. 2019. "Conscripting Women: Gender, Soldiering, and Military Service in Sweden 1965-2018." Women's History Review 28 (7): 1039-56.

[43]

Authors: Alma Persson, Fia Sundevall

Abstract:

This article explores how women, men, and gender equality in the military have been debated, made sense of, regulated, and dealt with in Swedish contemporary history. It takes its empirical point of departure in 1965, when the issue of military conscription for women was first raised in Sweden, and ends with the implementation of so called gender-neutral conscription in 2018. The study is based on a wide range of sources, collected through a combination of extensive archival work, ethnographic studies, and interviews. The analysis shows how men have been the standard against which women were measured throughout the period studied. Women service members were simultaneously perceived both as a problem and as a solution to a range of problems in the organisation. Women’s ‘different’ bodies were considered problematic, while staff shortages and demands for specific personnel qualities rendered the ‘woman soldier’ a solution, in particular in relation to international missions.

Keywords: conscription, national service, gender equality, military employment, military officers, Swedish Armed Forces

Topics: Gender [4], Gendered Power Relations [6], Gender Equality/Inequality [25], Military Forces & Armed Groups [44] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2019

Citation:

Ekholm, Sara. 2020. "Swedish Mothers' and Fathers' Worries about Climate Change: A Gendered Story." Journal of Risk Research 23 (3): 288-96.

[46]

Author: Sara Ekholm

Abstract:

The present study considers whether parenthood has an impact on the worries that women and men have about climate change for the next generation and examines whether there are differences between the worries of mothers and fathers. The empirical material is based on a questionnaire-based survey that was administered in 2011 to a random selection of 3500 individuals in Sweden, with a response rate of 31%. The results indicate that parenthood, regardless of the parent’s gender, increases an individual’s worries about the impact of climate change on the next generation. Fathers are significantly more worried about climate change than men who are not parents; however, mothers do not worry significantly more than women who are not parents. In general, regardless of parenthood status, women worry about climate change more than men.

Keywords: motherhood, fatherhood, climate change, worry, gender

Topics: Environment [2], Climate Change [3], Gender [4] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2020

Citation:

Cohen, Marjorie Griffin. 2017. Climate Change and Gender in Rich Countries: Work, Public Policy and Action. Abingdon: Routledge.

Author: Marjorie Griffin Cohen

Annotation:

Topics: Economies [48], Environment [2], Climate Change [3], Gender [4], Livelihoods [49] Regions: Americas [50], North America [51], Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12], Southern Europe [17], Oceania [52] Countries: Australia [53], Canada [54], Spain [55], Sweden [13], United Kingdom [56], United States of America [57]

Year: 2017

Citation:

Brink, Ebba, and Christine Wamsler. 2019. "Citizen Engagement in Climate Adaptation Surveyed: The Role of Values, Worldviews, Gender and Place." Journal of Cleaner Production 209: 1342-53.

[59]

Authors: Ebba Brink, Christine Wamsler

Abstract:

Local governments' limited mandate and capacity to adequately deal with increasing climate risk and impacts means that citizen engagement is becoming increasingly important for adapting to hazards such as floods and storms. Stronger collaborative approaches are urgently needed. At the same time, there is little research and hardly any empirical evidence on what inspires adaptation engagement in different citizen groups. Against this background, this paper examines the external/material (e.g., resources, hazards, public support) and internal aspects (e.g., values and worldviews) that shape people's engagement in and for adaptation. Based on a survey of Swedish citizens at risk from severe climate events, we show that engagement is a gendered process, which is mediated by personal values, worldviews and placedaspects rarely considered in public adaptation. While a high level of diverse citizen action is often related to past experiences of hazards, motivation to adapt goes beyond the idea of acting out of rational self-interest. Economic considerations (e.g., low cost) are not the only motivation to adapt; the potential of an adaptation action to contribute to green, thriving surroundings and mitigate global climate change was found nearly as (and among female respondents, more) motivating. Women were also found to be more motivated to engage in adaptation if this supports other community members at risk. At the same time, past adaptation action could not be linked to motivation to adapt, and was found to be negatively correlated with communitarian and ecological values or worldviews. This confirms that motivation to adapt does not automatically translate into action, and indicates a ‘mitigationeadaptation gap’ in people's climate awareness, which can lead to ineffective climate responses. Given these findings, we discuss alternative approaches to support increased citizen engagement and more effective and transformative climate action. We end with a call for public adaptation and risk communication that takes greater account of inner/subjective dimensions.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, citizen participation, disaster risk reduction, ecosystem-based adaptation, inner dimensions, willingness to adapt

Topics: Environment [2], Climate Change [3], Gender [4], Women [60] Regions: Europe [10], Nordic states [11], Northern Europe [12] Countries: Sweden [13]

Year: 2019