Tasa-arvopolitiikan U-käännös? : hallituksen tasa-arvo-ohjelmat hallinnan välineenä

Författare

• Anna Elomäki
• Hanna Ylöstalo

Abstract

This article analyses changes in the Finnish gender equality policy throughout the 21st century by exploring government action plans for gender equality. The action plans are understood as a tech­nique of governance, which reflects the wider changes of the state and public governance. This article aims to show that the reasons for the current backlash of gender equality policy lie deeper than in austerity politics and the rise of conservatism. The dismissal of gender equality is not a pass­ing phenomenon reducible to the ideologies of the governing parties, but a consequence of the strategic policy making that is characteristic of NPM reforms. This article claims that in Finland, at present, there is an intensification of changes taking place that the welfare state has been going through since the 1980’s. The welfare state is becoming a “strategic state”: a state where the economy sets the frameworks, and facts and evidence seemingly replace ideology in policymaking. The strategic governance reform has de-democratized policy making and helped to push gender equality off the political agenda