Responsible Selves

Publication and Context

This title was first published in 2001. In the Nordic countries women are considered equal to men. Advanced social and economic rights are often given as the explanation for the equality.

Gender Equality in Nordic Countries

In this volume, Nordic feminist legal scholars give a more contradictory image of gender equality. The gendered construction of the legal subject and the legal understanding of gender have a two-pronged potential, both to change and to reproduce gender relations.

Social Roles and Discrimination

Nordic women have been considered responsible for upholding the gendered social system - as "responsible selves" rather than as individuals engaged in rights discourse. The authors claim, with examples, that the belief in equality has made certain discriminative practices difficult to recognize and conceptualize.

Social Welfare and Equality Policies

Also a transformation of the social welfare system puts the collective equality policies to the test.