Introduction

This chapter explores the ways in which discourses of gender equality have become intertwined with neoliberal discourses and policies in Sweden today and thus (re)assembled and (re)interpreted in different ways, and what this does to feminist theory. The Nordic countries in general have an enviable reputation for gender equality politics and practices, and an important aspect of the national self-image of Swedes is being gender equal and tolerant (de los Reyes, Molina and Mulinari, 2002; Edenheim and Rönnblom, 2012). At the same time, even though Sweden has maintained a stronger commitment to the welfare state than many other capitalist economies, neoliberal policy and governmentality have today penetrated the Nordic welfare state to the extent that they have made Sweden a highly marketised country. In spite, of this many researchers, in Sweden and elsewhere, are unaccustomed to discussing neoliberalism in relation to the Swedish case, still regarding it as a good example of the so-called third way (Edenheim and Rönnblom, 2012). And, according to Dahl (2012, p 284), this also has important implications for feminism: ‘Despite the amount of research on neoliberalism, surprisingly little has been written from a feminist perspective, although the changes brought about by neoliberalism have had an immense impact on welfare issues that have traditionally been of substantial importance for feminist research and activism.’ Even though the assigning of equality rights to women and other marginalised groups continues, the gradual retreat of the Swedish welfare state from the public sphere has impacted on the ways in which gender equality is being reinterpreted (Wottle and Blomberg, 2011). Against the background of the national self-image of Sweden as gender equal and tolerant, concepts such as equal rights and gender equality have also been made important aspects of neoliberal discourses in ways that, we will argue, act as a serious challenge to feminist theory and practices.

In neoliberalism, new types of techniques of governing have emerged. We use the concept of neoliberalism following Foucault (2008), that is, as a certain development of liberal governmentality during the second half of the twentieth century. It is thus neither reduced to mere political ideology nor raised to the status of a new epoch.