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Promoting Gender Equality

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Nordic Law in European Context

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 73))

Abstract

In the following the Nordic legal feminism is discussed. Nordic gender equality policy and law have been integrated with the welfare state, promoting general equality. All Nordic countries have ascribed to strategic equality policies, however, with somewhat different vigour. In all these countries gender equality laws have been assigned an active role in promoting equality and preventing discrimination. Lately, research in law and gender has turned to theory and gender and sex are seen as socially constructed through legal discourses and practices in all fields of law. The chapter argues that different feminist approaches are still relevant for the analysis of law.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Pylkkänen (2009) and Bailliet (2016).

  2. 2.

    1979, UNTC I-20378.

  3. 3.

    NIKK (2008) and Skjeie and Langvasbråten (2009).

  4. 4.

    My terminology has been influenced by Smart (1991).

  5. 5.

    Melby et al. (2000).

  6. 6.

    Kantola (2014) and Kalliomaa-Puha (2000).

  7. 7.

    See for example Esping-Andersen (1990).

  8. 8.

    Elman (1996) and Holli (2003).

  9. 9.

    Stang Dahl (1985a, b).

  10. 10.

    Kalliomaa-Puha (2000).

  11. 11.

    Salmi (2000).

  12. 12.

    Eydal and Rostgaard (2011) and Meagher and Szebehely (2012).

  13. 13.

    Nousiainen (2008).

  14. 14.

    Denmark: Lov om ligestilling af kvinder og mænd 2013 no 1678, Finland: Laki naisten ja miesten välisestä tasa-arvosta/Lag om jämställdhet mellan kvinnor och män 609/1986, Island: Lög um jafna stöðu og jafnan rétt kvenna og karla 10/2008, Norway: Lov om likestilling mellom kjønnene 1978 no 45, Sweden: Diskrimineringslag 2008:567.

  15. 15.

    This development is seen as individualization of gender equality and its beneficial impact on women has been questioned. See Pylkkänen (2008).

  16. 16.

    E.g. ECJ Kalanke v Freie Hansestadt Bremen (1995) C-450/93.

  17. 17.

    Saari (2011) and Ikävalko (2016).

  18. 18.

    About Nordic Legal research see Svensson et al. (2011).

  19. 19.

    Elman (1996) and Nousiainen et al. (2001). From the perspective of children Eriksson et al. (2005).

  20. 20.

    Lundgren et al. (2001) and Piispa and Heiskanen (1998).

  21. 21.

    FRA (2014).

  22. 22.

    Gracia and Merlo (2016).

  23. 23.

    Lundgren et al. (2001).

  24. 24.

    Niemi-Kiesiläinen (2010).

  25. 25.

    Nordborg and Niemi-Kiesiläinen (2001).

  26. 26.

    Niemi (2010).

  27. 27.

    Niemi-Kiesiläinen (2005).

  28. 28.

    Ruuskanen (2001).

  29. 29.

    Equality work as a requirement for women to change has been identified as an underlying structure in Nordic equality work. See Edström and Brunila (2016).

  30. 30.

    Svensson et al. (2004).

  31. 31.

    Butler (2006).

  32. 32.

    Gunnarsson et al. (2007) and Gunnarsson and Svensson (2009).

  33. 33.

    Schiek and Chege (2009).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Johanna Niemi

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  1. Johanna Niemi
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Correspondence to Johanna Niemi .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Pia Letto-Vanamo

  2. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Ditlev Tamm

  3. University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark

    Bent Ole Gram Mortensen

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Niemi, J. (2019). Promoting Gender Equality. In: Letto-Vanamo, P., Tamm, D., Gram Mortensen, B.O. (eds) Nordic Law in European Context. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 73. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03006-3_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03006-3_5

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