Professional Documents
Culture Documents
http://fap.sagepub.com
Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com
Additional services and information for Feminism & Psychology can be found at:
Email Alerts: http://fap.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts
Subscriptions: http://fap.sagepub.com/subscriptions
Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav
Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav
02_FAP15/2
3/8/05
1:50 PM
Page 123
SPECIAL ISSUE
EDITORS INTRODUCTION
This special issue of Feminism & Psychology has its origins in the Nordic countries. The scholars who have written the articles as well as we who have edited
the issue, are all affiliated with universities and research institutes in Denmark,
Norway or Sweden.1 The articles report on studies that the researchers have
carried out in a Nordic context.
Why a Nordic special issue? Is there anything special enough about feminism
and psychology in these countries to warrant a special issue of this journal? We
felt so when undertaking the task to edit the issue. We will point briefly to some
of the reasons before presenting the research articles in the issue.
The five Nordic countries are well known internationally for their history of
gender equality politics, beginning in the 1950s and 1960s especially the
increasing numbers of women in political assemblies and governments and their
comprehensive national welfare systems. Their women-friendly welfare ideologies and policies are often seen as setting these countries apart from most other
Western countries. When the state is felt to be a friend, there will be different
connotations to being a feminist, as well as being a woman, than when the state
is seen as an enemy. For instance, being able to use state-sponsored reforms and
supports as levers in negotiations both at home and at work will inevitably have
an impact on most womens and consequently many mens life choices. Thus,
at least some aspects of womens choices and personal actions in these countries
can be understood by relating them to changes in the workings of these public
support systems, and feminist research has highlighted such change processes. In
Feminism & Psychology 2005 SAGE (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi)
Vol. 15(2): 123126; 0959-3535
DOI: 10.1177/0959-353505051716
02_FAP15/2
3/8/05
124
1:50 PM
Page 124
these countries, welfare policies and their related practices have been deeply
influenced by, and in their turn also influenced, feminist politics, activism
and scholarship. One consequence of this influence has been that the womenfriendliness tends to become a taken-for-granted, sometimes invisible, background for daily life and for action, research and theorizing; feminist as well as
non-feminist.
One facet of the Nordic context that we feel is worth highlighting here has to
do with how such state policies relate to personal lives. The welfare state policies
have been set in, as well as contributed to, cultural climates that have facilitated
changes in the lives of both women and men toward egalitarian ideals. The
changes began when women were able to participate more extensively than
before in the work force and the public-political realm. Public day care for
children and paid maternal leave were soon instituted as general support systems
for womens increased social participation. Over time, such changes in womens
lives challenged mens life patterns as well. The Nordic countries are now seeing
several effects of those challenges, e.g. long-standing intense public debates on
fatherhood, as well as changes of the state-sanctioned ideals of fatherhood and
masculinity in egalitarian directions.
For readers with an interest in Nordic welfare and policy issues and their
influence on womens and mens perceived place in society, we have written a
commentary article (The Nordic Countries Welfare Paradises for Women and
Children?). It gives a short history of the welfare and gender-political systems in
the Nordic countries, and presents some of their central ideas. The commentary
article also discusses contemporary patterns in childcare, parental leave and
sharing of housework in heterosexual families, as well as the impact of recent
family legislation intended to involve fathers more in childcare in the home.
The second facet that we want to highlight relates to work as a scholar and
feminist within (and on the margins of) psychology in the Nordic countries.
Feminism in these countries has had some distinctive features, largely fostered by
early political alliances. These features have influenced feminist scholarship as
well for instance, the ways that feminist scholars have theorized the individual
identity transformations in women and men made possible and/or necessary by
political transformations. For readers who want to look closer at how feminism,
psychology and politics historically have intermeshed in these countries, we have
written a second commentary article (Feminism, Psychology and Identity
Transformations in the Nordic Countries).
The two commentary articles complement the five research articles in this
special issue. We hope that, taken together, the articles and the commentaries
will give a sense of the complex ways that sociopolitical climates, national
welfare systems, gender equality issues and feminist scholarship within and on
the margins of psychology have been interwoven in the Nordic countries over
recent decades.
02_FAP15/2
3/8/05
1:50 PM
Page 125
125
02_FAP15/2
3/8/05
1:50 PM
126
Page 126
NOTES
1. The five countries in the north-west of Europe (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway
and Sweden) are often called the Nordic countries. Articles from three of these
countries made it through the review process for this issue.