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Utilizing a framework based on three gender policy regimes, this chapter analyses the inscription of gender relations in the social provision of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. In contrast to the mainstream literature that emphasizes the similarities between Swedish and Norwegian social policies and that the two countries are the closest approximation of the social democratic welfare regime, policy differences stand out when gender is considered. The next part of the analysis seeks to explain the differences in terms of variations in women's movement strategies, party constellations, and policy legacies. The concluding sections discuss the features of the social democratic welfare regime that undercut gender inequalities and the emergence of a common gender policy regime.

Addresses two major questions posed by the book. The first is the extent to which gender cuts across and fragments welfare state regimes, and the second concerns the dynamics between the policy logics of gender regimes and welfare state regimes. Subsequently, the chapter turns to policy design and politics. Drawing upon the earlier chapters, important issues in the design of policies and their impact on gender inequalities are discussed. Finally, the chapter considers political factors—such as characteristics of women's movements, industrial relations frameworks, party constellations, and state structures—that are conducive or, alternatively, posed obstacles to policies reducing gender inequalities.

This chapter builds on Susan Okin's deep commitment to gender equality, exploring whether globalization can be “reinvented” in a way that would help to promote gender equality in developing countries. This chapter argues that feminist social movements are wise not to reject globalization but to use the opportunities it provided to promote gender equality. This chapter differentiates among institutions that may be more or less open to change. In particular it argues that the World Bank has shown itself to be more open to change than some other global institutions, and feminists might do well to engage it while at the same time maintaining a healthy critical distance from it.

The third chapter describes the changes in the main conceptualisations of gender equality and GM in relations with social and gender policies and their development over time in Europe. Is it clear that there are different potential instruments available in the gender equality perspective and the relevance of the gender mainstreaming strategy for social policies is to propose and pursue the introduction of a gender equality perspective to all policies at all levels of governance. In particular, the chapter analyseshow policies are addressing the gender mainstreaming perspective and if and how different welfare states and welfare regimes could influence the way in which gender measures and policies are implemented. The work-family issue is a field of application and verification in evaluating the degree of gender equality options within a welfare state system in a comparative way. The issue of evaluation of gender and social policies is also considered in the analysis of the gender budgeting and gender auditing strategies applied to measure the implementation and the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming.

Chapter 4 examines the gender power dynamics of existing Indigenous self-government institutions, cultures, and discourses in Canada, Greenland, and Scandinavia. Employing feminist institutional analysis, the author investigates how Indigenous political institutions are gendered. Gendering refers to a multiplicity of interacting processes shaped by the distinction between male and female, masculine and feminine, which create and conceptualize social structures and privilege certain groups over others. Gendering occurs through the construction of various divisions along gender lines and through interpersonal interactions that enact gendered hierarchies. Institutions and organizations are also gendered through the construction of symbols, images, and ideologies that legitimize institutions generally conceived as gender-neutral. Using interview data, the chapter analyzes the gender regimes of Indigenous political institutions and women’s participation in the existing self-government institutions. Also considered are alternative forms of advancing Indigenous self-determination by examining Indigenous women’s grassroots leadership and the growing movement of reclaiming Indigenous women’s authority.

The chapter provides a brief presentation of Nancy Fraser's theory of need struggles in welfare states. It also addresses the political discourse on family and gender relations in Sweden in the 1970s. The chapter discusses the discursive shift which took place and argues that the social sciences, and in particular sex-role theory, played an important role in this process. It then argues that a second discursive shift took place in the 1980s, when the concept of ‘sex roles’ was, to an increasing extent, replaced by conceptions emphasising power relations between the genders. Ambiguities in the development of Swedish gender-equality policy are described. The shifting understandings of gender may be partly explained by changes in family structure. It is noted that Swedish family and gender-equality policy was far from unequivocal during the period investigated. The chapter also reveals the ambiguities in Swedish gender-equality policy.

The aim of this study was to analyse the relationships between gender policy regimes, attitudes towards family responsibilities and actual involvement in family life among fathers. The analysis is based on an extensive cross-country data set collected within the framework of the European Social Survey (ESS) 2004. Results show that the dual earner/dual carer regime fathers are more involved in both housework and childcare than the male breadwinner regime fathers. There is a correspondence between statements about which role fathers should play and how they actually become involved in family life, and fathers’ attitudes towards family responsibilities explain some of the differences between gender policy regimes regarding the actual involvement of fathers in housework and childcare.

“Producing and Performing Schoolgirlhood,” explores the embrace of girls’ education in the case-study communities by showing how girl-effects logic is localized through Kenyan gender and education policy and then produced and performed in local communities. Although participants had never heard of “the girl-effects dividend” per se, strong faith in girls’ education to create positive social and economic “ripple effects” for individual girls, families, their communities, and Kenya as a nation saturated their perceptions of education as a pathway to development. The chapter shows how Maasai mothers’ and teachers’ expectations for increased household economic security and community advancement worked to shape schoolgirlhood as a normative category and how schoolgirls worked hard to perform the attitudes, attributes, and actions expected for schoolgirls.

This chapter focuses on the debate about activation and gender equality at the EU level in general and within the EES in particular. It demonstrates how activation has developed as a network of concepts and meanings in the course of the EES. In particular, it traces the development of concepts, problem definitions, strategies, and priorities in its gender equality dimension. Most important, while this remains contested gender equality has been reframed from a human right to a functional requirement for full employment mainly measured in terms of male/female employment rates.

This chapter addresses the frustrating and dangerous maze of Afghanistan's official gender policies starting in 1919, when ideas of equality were introduced, and suggests how future attempts to raise women's status might actually have lasting success. Afghanistan's “modernization” process was first set in motion by Amir Amanullah's grandfather, Amir Abdur Rahman, and continued by his father Amir Habibullah, albeit limitedly. Amanullah introduced the Nizamnamah-ye-Arusi and Nikah wa Khatnasuri laws regarding engagements and marriage. Muhammad Nadir Shah removed any symbols of Amanullah's era. When Muhammad Zahir Shah assumed the throne after Nadir Shah's assassination in 1933, he continued his father's approach of slow progression on gender and social issues. The gender policies of Kabul have reflected the perceptions, attitudes, and traditions of those in power. Without tangible improvements in both the security and economic realms, Afghan women will continue to be pawns in endless cycles of violence and suffering.

This chapter analyzes the changing role and status of women in the Scottish Labour Party. It asks how the Labour Party, once characterized as stereotypically masculine, got to this point, and what the prospects are for the future. After giving some historical context, the chapter summarizes some of the key developments since 1979. It distinguishes between two ways of thinking about representation. First, representation as a place at the table, which means women as internal elected party office-holders and as candidates and politicians at different levels of government. Second, representation as a voice in the party, which refers to the structures and opportunities that exist for women as women to organize within the party, to share experiences and build capacity, to campaign for women to take their place in the mainstream, and to articulate gendered policy concerns.

If cohesion in the professional army is no longer based on social likeness and common background as it primarily was in the citizen army, then, in theory, any individual who was competent could serve in the infantry. Indeed, gay men and ethnic minorities, especially black Americans, once excluded from the infantry now serve unproblematically. Professionalism may finally open the possibility that women could also serve as combat soldiers. This chapter explores this issue drawing on recent scholarship and interviews with male and female soldiers. The chapter concludes that while women regularly serve on the front line in western forces and have served successfully in the infantry in Canada, the opportunities for full accession remain limited by physical constraints (about 1 per cent of women are strong enough to serve in the infantry) and, just as importantly, enduring cultural opposition.

This chapter considers gender as an inherent and intersecting dimension of advantage and disadvantage. It examines the processes by which gender relations are implicated in the construction of (dis)advantage by adopting a multidimensional approach where gender intersects with other social dimensions. The first section addresses the reciprocal inequalities which arise from the gendered division of work and gender gaps in a series of social spheres worldwide. The following section goes beyond the gendered division of labour to consider issues of culture and agency. The concluding section considers new manifestations of gender disadvantage deeply entrenched within processes of global social inequality.

This is the first of three country case studies, which reconstruct the national debate about activation and transformations of citizenship. The first part outlines the most relevant welfare reforms and identifies their gender dimension. The second part interprets those changes in terms of shifting citizenship practices. The final section traces the different contestations behind those new practices - from the transnational level as well as from within. In Germany the activation paradigm has – although hotly contested – increasingly gained ground and crucially informed massive welfare reforms. At the same time, the course of this conceptual debate has been influenced by a certain mismatch between established national policy-making practices and the ‘soft’ character of the EES as well as by a relatively weak frame of gender equality in the setup up of German welfare institutions. Interestingly the German debate about gender, employment, welfare, and family policies is most controversial within the conservative camp, which encompasses traditionalists and key reformers.

The second case study focusing on the UK follows the same structure as the first one. Its first part outlines the most relevant welfare reforms and identifies their gender dimension. The second part interprets those changes in terms of shifting citizenship practices. The final section traces the different contestations behind those new practices - from the transnational level as well as from within. The study shows that the activation paradigm has been much more deeply embedded in the institutions and discourses in the UK. While some of the many measures of welfare reform have had positive consequences for the equality between women and men, an explicit gender equality agenda is not part of the larger reform project. This allowed especially previous Labour governments to adopt a role as conceptual leaders of the activation agenda at the EU level.

The Swedish government policy on extended working life has since its introduction in the mid-1990s aimed to lower the costs of the public pension system and to reduce the financial burden for workers. By focusing on an idealised category of those who are "willing and able to work longer", the policy has neglected the obstacles faced by those with physically demanding jobs or with a big responsibility to care for a close relative. This mainly affects women and upholds a neoliberal view of older people. By only problematizing gender perspective on the challenges to gender equality in working life, a narrow understanding of gender equality is created which deviates from other national gender equality policies. The policy debate thereby contributes also to excluding older women and men from the Swedish gender equality project. Despite the argument that an extended working life is needed to ensure the value of pensions, this does not apply to those who are unable to continue working - they are instead expected to rely on the social security scheme.