Institutions, Gendered Perceptions, and Frames of Meaning: Explaining Strategic Choices of Women MPs in Swedish Prostitution Policy

Abstract

Previous research has shown that politics is a highly gendered field and that male and female decision-makers hold different values and engage with different issues as well. Feminist institutionalism has provided important insights concerning how a given context creates the conditions for political behavior and outcomes in respect to gender. While both formal and informal institutions have been of interest in this field of research, less attention has been directed to the perceptions actors have of the institutional context. The starting point of this article is the constructivist notion that actors' behavior is mediated by their perceptions of the context, and it proposes that frame of meaning can be fruitfully used as an analytical concept for capturing gendered perceptions. The aim of the article is twofold. The first is to develop the notion of gendered frame of meaning as an analytical concept. The second is to investigate the strategies used by female MPs in the case of Swedish prostitution policy in order to show how gendered frames of meaning guided their strategic choices. The added value of this approach is that it furthers our understanding of how the institutional context influences actors' behavior on the microlevel.

An intersectional analysis of contestations within women’s movements: the case of Scottish domestic abuse policymaking

“…Actors operating within policymaking processes draw upon particular policy frames to attach meaning to problems. Concurrently, frames are not free-floating; they are grounded within institutions (Schön and Rein, 1994: 29), meaning that actors and their frames shape and are shaped by institutions (Erikson, 2019). Being mindful of this interdependent relationship prevents perpetuating the 'agency-versus-structure dichotomy' evident in some FI literature (Mergaert and Lombardo, 2014: 7).…”

“…However, frame theory has been critiqued for its lack of conceptual clarity of the relationship between institutions and discourses 1 (Kulawik, 2009). Thus, an FI lens offers added value in uncovering the ways in which institutional hegemonic rules, norms and discourses impact upon which frames take hold, directly shaping intramovement contests (Freidenvall and Krook, 2011;Erikson, 2019). The combination of agency and structure provides a more profound understanding of how movements adapt their strategies over time, considering factors like the level of institutionalisation of ideas (Josefsson, 2020).…”

The Making and Circulation of Nordic Models, Ideas and Images

“…The law established that buying sex is abnormal in any country seeking gender equality (Kulick, 2005). With this, the Sex Purchase Act was firmly placed as a tool for and the expression of gender equality, an understanding that had been forged for several decades (Erikson, 2018).…”