Women, Power and Policy

The sidelining of gender equality in a corporatist and knowledge-oriented regime: The case of failed family leave reform in Finland

“…Feminist scholars studying policy adoption have recently drawn attention to the failure or dilution of policy processes and to actors, such as political parties and labour market organizations, who oppose specific reform proposals (Bergqvist et al, 2016; Koskinen Sandberg, 2016; Marchbank, 2000). This research demonstrates that to understand the circumstances of policy adoption and the dynamics and power relations between the actors involved in the policy process, it is useful to explore the ideologies, interests and strategies of opponents of gender equality initiatives, as well as failed reform attempts (Bergqvist et al, 2016.…”

“…To be adopted, a policy has to cross several hurdles, and a stumble is always possible (e.g. Koskinen Sandberg, 2016; Marchbank, 2000). At each stage of the process, a policy initiative is likely to encounter resistance that reflects the values and vested interests of actors involved in the process (Bachrach and Baratz, 1962, 1963).…”

“…A focus on non-decision making directs attention to how political agendas are restricted to relatively uncontroversial issues, and how policy processes are stalled as actors foreground the interests they represent while preventing other less desirable issues from reaching the agenda. Gender equality is a good example of the kind of issue that can often become marginalized (Koskinen Sandberg, 2016; Marchbank, 2000), and the interests of marginalized groups are also often ignored in these power struggles. Value and interest-related battles also influence how the issues addressed in the policy process are understood.…”

“…A pivotal aspect of research on gender equality policy is to analyse the conditions and processes informing the adoption or non-adoption of a particular policy. While much of previous research has focused on the strategies and alliances of feminist actors within and outside government in the push for policy reform (Outshoorn and Kantola, 2007; Woodward, 2004), other studies have sought to better understand the circumstances of policy adoption and power struggles by exploring opposition to reform proposals (Bergqvist et al, 2016; Marchbank, 2000). In corporatist regimes, where labour market parties participate in policy-making processes, the vested interests and power of such organizations are known to be a key factor in stalling or diluting gender equality reforms (Koskinen Sandberg, 2016; Salmi and Lammi-Taskula, 2015).…”

“…In approaching the economization of this reform and its ultimate stalling from the perspective of policy adoption processes (e.g., Bergqvist et al, 2016; Koskinen Sandberg, 2016; Marchbank, 2000), our theoretical aim is to complement the existing literature on the challenges of gender equality policy adoption. In particular, we focus on the growing role of knowledge in policy-making (e.g., Triantafillou, 2015; Ylöstalo, 2020a) and the increasing authority assigned to economic knowledge (e.g., Hirschman and Berman, 2014), which has to date received little attention in the literature on gender equality policy adoption.…”