Feminist resistance and resistance to feminism in gender equality planning in Finland

Ikävalko, Elina; Kantola, Johanna

doi:10.1177/1350506817693868

Cited by 30 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…From a feminist institutionalist perspective, strategic choices require attention to the specific context of the university systems that are targeted as well as to the local actors and interests affected in particular academic organizations, and why they resist or adopt new knowledge (Bird, ; Ikävalko & Kantola, ; Verge, Ferrer‐Fons & González, ). To understand ADVANCE, therefore, we need to place corporatizing US universities into their legal and political framework, one that is distinct from the institutional context of gender mainstreaming in Europe in its specific stratification processes but reflects a shared awareness of structural and cultural barriers to gender equality.…”

Section: Feminist Institutionalism and The Managerial Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational interventions and the creation of gendered knowledge: US universities and NSF ADVANCE

Zippel

Ferree

2018

Gender Work & Organization

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Universities are sites of both elite knowledge production and reproduction of intersecting gendered inequalities. The US National Science Foundation (NSF) ‘Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers’ (ADVANCE) programme uses universities’ role as self‐reflective knowledge producers to design changes promoting gender equality. This knowledge is shaped by the institutional context of its production: NSF as a funder of scientific research; US universities as participants in highly competitive markets; managerialism as a condition of modern higher education systems; and separation of basic from applied research in the hierarchy of science. The tensions and underlying power dimensions of these contexts reveal local challenges that ADVANCE interventions navigate and the broader politics shaping what and how ADVANCE discovers. Yet, as a learning‐oriented intervention, ADVANCE changes over time to create and incorporate more gendered knowledge about inequalities, to legitimize feminist understandings of organizations, and to challenge the division between fundamental and applied knowledge.

show abstract

Section: Feminist Institutionalism and The Managerial Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Organizational interventions and the creation of gendered knowledge: US universities and NSF ADVANCE

Zippel

Ferree

2018

Gender Work & Organization

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…There have been varied views among feminist researchers concerning equality work (e.g. Ikävalko & Kantola, 2017), which need to be reflected in TE. Theoretical discussions about the concepts used suggest that it is not easy to achieve consensus.…”

Section: Discussionhorizontal Vertical and Transversal Dimensions Omentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At this time, collaboration and networking among feminist gender researchers in education were strong and there was a commitment for joint theoretical understanding. Gradually, poststructural perspectives and critical reflection of neo-liberal tendencies in gender equality projects strengthened among activists (Ikävalko & Kantola, 2017; see also Lahelma, 2019).…”

Section: The Tasuko Project and Aftermentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Demands – Local Practices

Kreitz-Sandberg

Lahelma

2021

NJCIE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Gender equality is a global aim that has been presented in numerous documents. However, teacher education programs in many countries still lack sustainable strategies for working towards gender equality in education. Working successfully in this area may promote more sustainable practices in schools to reach gender-fair societies. The Nordic countries are known for pro-active gender policies and they provide interesting cases for investigating achievements and struggles in the field. The purpose of this article is, from an international comparative perspective, to explore the rationales and practices when working with issues of gender equality in Finnish and Swedish teacher education and to reflect on related concepts. We describe, analyse and compare local practices, theoretical frameworks and challenges by revisiting gender and teacher education research and equality projects from the 1980s up to today. The comparative methodology chosen facilitates understanding examples from two neighbouring countries, illustrating different ways to develop policies and strategies. Local actors not only follow global claims to work with gender and equality in teacher education but also play an active role and contribute to these discourses. Our study suggests that gender equality cannot be achieved overnight; appropriate strategies need to be negotiated constantly in specific national and institutional contexts at universities and teacher education institutions.

show abstract

“…The discourses about funding were therefore used both for and against women's organizations. The discursive construction resembles ones identified in relation to gender equality planning in Finland: these gender equality actions too are taken because the "law" requires it, not because there is a desire to advance gender in this way (Ikävalko & Kantola, 2017).…”

Section: Women's Organizations In Political Parties: Formally Successmentioning

confidence: 96%

Women’s Organizations of Political Parties: Formal Possibilities, Informal Challenges and Discursive Controversies

Kantola

2019

NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Feminist research focusing on gender policy successes in the 1990s and 2000s emphasized the strengths of women's organizations of political parties in advancing key gender equality issues in Finland. However, both the "feminism" and "politics" of political parties' women's organizations, hitherto apparent in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, are now deemed outdated, a paradox that is critically explored in this article. The analysis is based on interview data with women and men politicians and party workers and is structured around the key research question: how are the women's organizations of political parties discursively constructed by the interviewed politicians and party workers and with what effects? These discursive constructions are studied in relation to: (i) the formal institutional position of the women's organizations of political parties, (ii) informal institutional position vis-à-vis the mother party, and (iii) discursive controversies surrounding their feminism and politics. The discourse analysis reveals the contradictions and challenges faced by women's political organizations in contemporary politics.

show abstract

Feminist resistance and resistance to feminism in gender equality planning in Finland

Cited by 30 publications

References 20 publications

Organizational interventions and the creation of gendered knowledge: US universities and NSF ADVANCE

Organizational interventions and the creation of gendered knowledge: US universities and NSF ADVANCE

Global Demands – Local Practices

Women’s Organizations of Political Parties: Formal Possibilities, Informal Challenges and Discursive Controversies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About