EMOGU-seminar: Post-feminist pride and anti-feminist resentment? Emotions of gender equality among family caregivers in Sweden.

Seminarium

Sofia Björk, Dept. of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg Discussant:

Karl Malmqvist

Abstract:

Sweden and the other Nordic countries are often presented internationally as forerunners for gender equality, and gender equality is a prominent part of swedes self-perception and a source of national pride. Yet there is also a growing resistance and resentment in relation to gender equality ideals and the focus on gender issues. Although discourses and policies of gender equality are formulated to promote equality, they have met academic critique for creating difference - in relation to sexuality, class, race, and ethnicity, but also gender. In that context, the aim of this paper is to analyse the frictions when ideals of gender equality, which claim to represent the whole nation, are integrated into the diverse lives of family caregivers. Through exploring family care givers emotions in relation to gender equality ideals I analyse how the frictions vary depending on intersectional positionings in relation to class, gender, and care relations. The analysis draws on three empirical studies with interviews with both working parents and middle-aged sons and daughters caring for their elderly parents in Sweden. The paper presents how gender equality ideals in Sweden, with the father on parental leave as its main symbol, are more easily integrated into some lives than others. Fathers´ compliance with the ideal gives them access to comfort and pride, while other ways of giving care and doing gender equality are less privileged. At the same time, by being admired and idealised, the same fathers may become post-feminist evidence of gender equality already achieved.