“Gender Equality is Not a Neutral Topic and There is a Tension in That”: Approaching Gender Mainstreaming in Neoliberal Sweden

Abstract

This article examines how Swedish public sector gender administrators position themselves in relation to gender equality as a political project. Since the 1990s, Sweden’s adoption of gender mainstreaming alongside neoliberal reforms has led to increased bureaucratization of gender equality work, with administrative gender experts tasked with monitoring and implementing depoliticized gender mainstreaming schemes across local and regional contexts. While existing scholarship suggests that neoliberalism inhibits the transformative potential of institutionalized feminism, this study calls attention to the positioning of gender administrators within these structures. Drawing upon two datasets engaging with municipal and regional gender administrators across Sweden, the article traces how these actors relate to gender equality in varying ways. The findings demonstrate three primary approaches: aligning with neoliberal ideas, stressing equal opportunities, and challenging dominant discourses while articulating more radical alternatives. We conclude the article by reflecting over how these inconsistent approaches make gender equality efforts susceptible to conservative backlash and hijacking. We call for a renewed discussion on gender equality that once again places the emancipatory project at its centre.