The promotion of gender equality has been a mainstream political aim of the Swedish egalitarian project. During the last century, Sweden has managed to build a strong welfare state with a high degree of legal, political and social equality not only between classes, but also between women and men. Gender equality policy has evolved into an established policy in Swedish politics, key gender equality reforms have been enacted, and a Gender Equality Agency has been established. The current Government is an outspoken feminist government, and several parties have officially declared to embrace feminism. On the other side of the spectrum, the Swedish society has also been influenced during the last decade by new dynamic movements that challenge, implicitly or explicitly, gender equality. In line with tendencies in other Nordic countries, Sweden has witnessed a growth of neo-liberalism and new forms of political conservatism, such as right-wing populism. The Sweden Democratic Party, which entered parliament in 2010, claims gender equality as irrelevant, unless it is connect to the perception of the lack of gender equality among migrants. For example, in 2013 the party proposed the abolition of the Equality Ombudsman, and declared research on gender and gender equality as “gender-nonsense”.
This paper explores the existence, manifestations and the dynamics of the process of knowledge production pertaining gender equality in Swedish politics. More specifically, the paper studies the views on gender equality of the feminist Government and the anti-gender Sweden Democratic Party. The project will make an original contribution in the field of Swedish politics by analyzing the discursive struggle and epistemic configurations of gender equality.