Institutionalizing Intersectionality in the Nordic Countries: Anti-Discrimination and Equality in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden

The Meaning of Ethnic Equality in Scandinavian Anti-Discrimination Legislation

“…(cf. Borchorst et al 2012;Reisel 2014), the Swedish discrimination law committee had to explicitly evaluate the issue of preferential treatment in different areas of social life. They came to the conclusion that the mechanisms that disadvantage ethnic minorities in the labour market are different from the mechanisms that disadvantage ethnic minorities in the education system.…”

“…However, in recent years some studies have emerged that analyse antidiscrimination law from an intersectional perspective, including some research on the legal protection against ethnic discrimination in combination with other grounds, particularly gender (Borchorst et al 2012;Reisel 2014;Schömer 2012, Skjeie 2009). Although the existing literature analyses and discusses equality measures aimed at ethnic minorities, they do not address the potential tension between equality and difference inherent in proactive equality measures that require explicit delineation of target groups based on racial or ethnic boundaries.…”

European Women’s Movements and Body Politics

“…Key parts of this infrastructure were a Gender Equality Minister, a Gender Equality Division (an administrative body with the task to assist the minister to develop gender equality policies, prepare legislation and coordinate work with the other ministries), a Gender Equality Law regulating gender equality in the labour market, as well as a Gender Equality Ombudsman (to monitor the enforcement of the gender equality law) (Borchorst et al, 2012). Since then women's movement organisations have been identified as important stakeholders; they are represented in the Gender Equality Board (Jäm-ställdhetsrådet), a consultative body to the Gender Equality Minister, and consulted by the government before a position on the recommendation of a commission of inquiry related to gender equality issues is taken.…”

“…The 1970s represents an important formative phase in Swedish history (Bergqvist et al, 1999;Borchorst et al, 2012). It was a period when gender equality was politicised and institutionalised and the male breadwinner model gave way to the dual career and earner model and the two-income family.…”

Naming and Framing of Intersectionality in Hijab Cases — Does It Matter? An Analysis of Discrimination Cases in Scandinavia and the Netherlands

“…A few empirical analyses on intersectionality have appeared, exploring how intersectionality (Borchorst et al, 2012;Hankivsky and Cormier, 2011;Reisel, 2014) and the hijab (Lettinga, 2011) are recognized in political debates (Borchorst et al, 2012;Hankivsky and Cormier, 2011;Reisel, 2014), and how multiple discrimination is treated within different national laws and judicial contexts (Burri and Schiek, 2009;Carles and Jubany-Baucells, 2010;Schiek and Chege, 2009). Despite these important contributions, the call for more empirical research on intersectionality has been strengthened (Choo and Marx Ferree, 2010).…”