Northern Europe

Achieving Climate Objectives in Transport Policy by Including Women and Challenging Gender Norms: The Swedish Case

Citation:

Kronsell, Annica, Lena Smidfelt Rosqvist, and Lena Winslott Hiselius. 2016. “Achieving Climate Objectives in Transport Policy by Including Women and Challenging Gender Norms: The Swedish Case.” International Journal of Sustainable Transportation 10 (8): 703-11.

Authors: Annica Krosnell, Lena Smidfelt Rosqvist, Lena Winslott Hiselius

Abstract:

This article explores whether women can become the change agents for a sustainable transport sector and how such a change can be accomplished through transport policy. Based on the Swedish case, women still on average have transportation behavior with lower environmental impact than men have; women also tend to have stronger preferences for improving sustainability in the sector. The results imply that there are interesting behavior and attitude characteristics expressed by women that ought to be recognized and applied, e.g., through contesting prevailing norms and methods, in order to achieve sustainability goals for the sector. Altogether this suggests that women, beyond democracy reasons, should become more active as change agents to challenge the dominant male norms. Policy implications of these findings include measures to improve gender equal participation that would, e.g., make it possible to take advantage of these differences by (1) putting more emphasis on the relationships among travel patterns, sustainability, and gendering on all levels in transportation planning as a measure for improved sustainability; (2) implementing new ways of framing the problems to be solved, challenging existing norms working against gender equity and raising consciousness of sustainability issues; and (3) using gender mainstreaming to monitor policy impacts on different groups of men and women. However, today there is a lack of incentives to apply these tools. Since there is a tremendous complexity in the relationships on all levels, more research is needed together with improved dissemination of knowledge for the competence to increase within the transport sector. 

Keywords: attitudes, CO2 emissions, gendered institutions, sustainability transitions, travel behavior

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Infrastructure, Transportation Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2016

The Act That Shaped the Gender of Industrial Mining: Unintended Impacts of the British Mines Act of 1842 on Women’s Status in the Industry

Citation:

Lahiri-Dutt, Kuntala. 2020. “The Act That Shaped the Gender of Industrial Mining: Unintended Impacts of the British Mines Act of 1842 on Women’s Status in the Industry.” The Extractive Industries and Society 7 (2): 389–97. 

Author: Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt

Abstract:

In the 19th century, public outrage over poor working conditions of children in underground coal mines in the UK led to the enactment of the Mines and Collieries Act 1842. It prohibited boys under the age of ten and all females from laboring in underground mines. This Act wiped out the long and impressive history of women’s labor in the mining industry, and pushed women into more insecure areas of work. Later, during the 1920s and 1930s, this Act became the model for the International Labour Organization (ILO) to adopt protective legislation around women’s labor in the mining industry. Although unintended, the Act established ideals for decent work for women as per the Victorian norm and eventually led to the contemporary global context of hypermasculinity of the mining industry. The paper shows how women’s labor in mines—within a strict sex-based division of tasks—was, and remains, subject to gender ideologies that are not only propagated at home, but assume an authoritative position when adopted by the state.

Keywords: gender in mining, women in mining, protective legislation, British Mines Act, women's labor in mining, ILO and women's mining

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Masculinism Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2020

In Search of Feminist Foreign Policy: Gender, Development, and Danish State Identity

Citation:

Richey, Lisa Ann. 2001. “In Search of Feminist Foreign Policy: Gender, Development, and Danish State Identity.” Cooperation and Conflict 36 (2): 177-212.

Author: Lisa Ann Richey

Abstract:

This article investigates the extent to which the Danish state's identification with gender issues is transferred into Danish development policy. Is Denmark pursuing a gender and development policy that is radically different from most other Western donor states and, if not, why might we see a less progressive policy in Denmark than we might expect from a domestically `feminist' state? In this article, it is suggested that the very nature of development aid and the policies in place to promote it are gendered. Gender and development aid could provide an arena for international constitution of domestically `feminist' policies. However, it is argued that `development' itself poses important challenges for implementing the goals of Denmark's gender and development policies. Conversely, implementing the critical strategy of agenda-setting within gender and development would reconstitute both `development' and the identity of the Danish state as donor.

Topics: Development, Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Gendered Discourses Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Denmark

Year: 2001

Reclaiming Peoples’ Power in Copenhagen 2009: A Victory for Ecosocialist Ecofeminism

Citation:

Kaara, Wahu. 2010. “Reclaiming Peoples’ Power in Copenhagen 2009: A Victory for Ecosocialist Ecofeminism.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 21 (2): 107–11.

Author: Wahu Kaara

Abstract:

The article describes the contribution of African women to ecosocialism. The authors argue that the 2009 Copenhagen Conference represents the recognition that the collapsing patriarchal market economy owes humanity an economic debt, and owes the planet an ecological and climate debt. The author compares the status of the police forces in Kenya and Denmark, since both uphold the bankrupt system of neoliberalism.

Keywords: females, socialism, human ecology, protest movements

Topics: Economies, Environment, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Women Regions: Africa, East Africa, Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Denmark, Kenya

Year: 2010

Gender and Transition in Climate Governance

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, Climate Change, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Masculinism, Governance, Infrastructure Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2013

Energy Consumption by Gender in Some European Countries

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, Climate Change, Gender, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Europe, Central Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Germany, Greece, Norway, Sweden

Year: 2010

Kebijakan Luar Negeri Feminis Swedia (2014-2018)

Citation:

Maha, Irayomi F. and Shary Charlotte Henriette Pattipeilohy. 2020. “Kebijakan Luar Negeri Feminis Swedia (2014-2018).” Journal of International Relations 7 (1): 1-12.

Authors: Irayomi F. Maha, Shary Charlotte Henriette Pattipeilohy

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:

In 2014, for the first time Sweden declared itself a country with a feminist foreign policy. The statement that drew international attention and attention was delivered by the Swedish foreign minister, Margot Wallstrӧm, who is an activist for women and gender equality. In implementing this policy, there are six external policies carried out by Sweden which are implemented by the Swedish foreign ministry and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The six policies include; fulfillment of human rights, freedom from acts of physical, mental and sexual violence, participation of women in preventing and resolving conflicts in the pre and post-conflict period, participation in elections, fulfillment of economic and development rights and finally the right to reproduce and sexually healthy. can analyze Sweden's reasons for implementing these six policies. The unit of analysis in foreign policy consisting of individuals, countries and the international system is used. This research is an explanatory research type and qualitative research type with literature research data collection techniques and uses congruent methods to analyze data. The results of this study indicate that the three unit level analyzes, both individual, state and international system, encourage the formation of feminist foreign policy from Sweden. 

Keywords: feminist foreign policy, sweden, SIDA, individual, state, international system

Topics: Conflict, Conflict Prevention, Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Women, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Elections, Post-Conflict Governance, Health, Reproductive Health, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2020

A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

Citation:

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

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, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Women's Rights, Weapons /Arms Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2020

Diplomasi Digital Midwives4all Sebagai Kebijakan Luar Negeri Feminis Swedia di Uganda

Citation:

Yolanda Br. Ginting Manik, Junita, and Satwika Paramasatya. 2020. "Diplomasi Digital Midwives4all Sebagai Kebijakan Luar Negeri Feminis Swedia di Uganda." Journal of International Relations 6 (4): 498-509.

Authors: Junita Yolanda Br. Ginting Manik, Satwika Paramasatya

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:

The existence of digitalization has influenced all aspects of life, including international relations, the internet revolution requires a country to race against the times by working actively outside the field of traditional diplomacy. The increasing use of online platforms as well as the wider, fast and efficient reach generated by the transformation of the internet has produced new concepts in the field of diplomacy, namely digital diplomacy.  In connection with the feminist foreign policy ideas adopted by Sweden, the Midwives4all Campaign launched in 2015 is one of the initiatives taken by Sweden to mobilize support for gender equality and fulfillment of women’s human rights in Uganda.  This digital campaign enables the Swedish government to project Swedish values and reach various communities in Uganda through various media both online and offline as well as through champions embraced by the Swedish government to build awareness of the important role of midwives in increasing fulfillment of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) which is one of the six external objectives of Swedish feminist foreign policy.  This study intends to explain how the Midwives4all Campaign influences efforts to fulfill women's rights in Uganda. This study will be using qualitative research methods with process-tracing data analysis methods and uses the concept of feminist foreign policy and liberal feminism as the basis for analysis in this paper. 

Keywords: feminist foreign policy, Midwives4all Campaign, digital diplomacy, public diplomacy, sweden, Uganda

Topics: Feminisms, Feminist Foreign Policy, Gender, Women, Health, Reproductive Health, Rights, Reproductive Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden, Uganda

Year: 2020

Climate Change Politics in the UK: A Feminist Intersectional Analysis

Citation:

Wilson, Joanna. 2017. “Climate Change Politics in the UK: A Feminist Intersectional Analysis.” Paper presented at ECPR General Conference, Oslo, September 6-9.

Author: Joanna Wilson

Abstract:

Despite growing concern of environmental and climate justice, the issue of gender and climate change has, to date, received comparatively little scholarly attention. What is lacking is empirical evidence showing the ways in which overwhelmingly masculinised discourses of climate change can exacerbate or entrench existing inequalities, such as the gendered division of labour or the feminisation of poverty. Currently, the majority of gender and climate change scholarship, and most gender and climate change focused NGOs, perpetuate a narrative of impacts and vulnerabilities of women in the Global South. While this has been critical in ensuring recognition of gender in climate politics, it has arguably kept the construction of women firmly rooted in problematic narratives of subdued, passive women in need of masculine protection. In this paper, therefore, we explore how gender priorities are considered in contemporary policy. We do so by first highlighting the ways in which UK climate change politics can, or does, exacerbate the gendered division of environmental labour through: the ‘good jobs’ in masculinised professions, performed by men; the ‘dirty’ jobs in recycling, performed by migrant labourers; and the ‘household’ jobs or reproductive work, performed by women. Finally, we conclude by offering insights into how gender experts and activists can respond to a changing political climate.

Keywords: climate change politics, gender, feminism, intersectionality, environmental justice

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Discourses, Intersectionality Regions: Europe, Northern Europe Countries: United Kingdom

Year: 2017

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