Discursive Strategies for Institutional Reform: Gender Quotas in Sweden and France

The (In)Visibility of Gender in Scandinavian Climate Policy-Making

“…An interesting point to note from the Nordic context is that Nordic gender quotas (especially in Norway) are not merely perceived as a matter of equal democratic representation and social justice as is the case in Germany and France (Freidenvall and Krook 2010), but are viewed as tools to include women's experiences and views, presumed to differ from those of men (Christiansen and Raum 1999). Accordingly, complete representation is also about acknowledging that women may have different views and experiences that need to be included as important contributions to gendered climate policy-making.…”

Gender and Political Recruitment

“…Building on these insights, feminist institutionalist scholars highlight the ways in which gender equity entrepreneurs have been able to 're-gender' political institutions with varying degrees of success, opening up opportunities for further engagement (see for example Annesley, 2010;Beyeler and Annesley, 2011;Freidenvall and Krook, 2011;Grace, 2011). Yet, at the same time these accounts highlight constant possibilities for norm erosion, drift and reversal, documenting the particular difficulties of institutionalizing gender equality reforms and providing clear evidence of 'powerful, pervasive, and specific resistance to positive policies for women' (Halford, 1992, p. 160;original emphasis).…”

“…As Carol Lee Bacchi (1999, p. 45) notes, 'The tightrope we walk here is a familiar one -insisting that indeed social actors can use language in the service of particular goals while recognizing the embeddedness of actors in discursive systems constituted by tradition, religion and political institutions.' Thus, while ideas and discourses are a potential source of institutional change, gendered institutional contexts shape discourses, facilitating -or hindering -the effects of political reform strategies (Freidenvall and Krook, 2011; see also Kulawik, 2009).…”

“…While this book draws on feminist discursive approaches to institutional analysis (Freidenvall, 2008;Kulawik, 2009;Freidenvall and Krook, 2011), as well as the broader discursive 'turn' in feminist scholarship (see for example Bacchi, 1999), it specifically adopts the theoretical concept of chains of equivalence first introduced by discourse theorists Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe and subsequently developed by feminist scholar Lene Hansen. The concept of 'chains of equivalence' highlights that meaning is not simply assigned through juxtapositions or dichotomies, but is instead established through a more complex process of linking and differentiation.…”

European Women’s Movements and Body Politics

“…The point of departure of our research has been new institutionalism, particularly historical (Hall and Taylor, 1996;Thelen, 1999;Pierson and Skocpol, 2002;Steinmo, 2008) and discursive institutionalism (for an overview: Schmidt, 2010; for feminist contributions: Kulawik, 2009;Mackay and Krook, 2010;Freidenvall and Krook, 2011). Historical institutionalism emphasises long-term historical processes and the path dependency of policies and has been criticised for lacking explanation for change; here we draw on discursive institutionalism and others who emphasise the role of ideas in accounting for institutional policy change (Hall, 1989;Hay, 2002;Blyth, 2002;Schmidt, 2010).…”