What was the aim of the project? Any adjustments to the project plan?

The general aim of the project was to study women’s livelihood strategies in the Swedish rural north, both in relation to the shift that has occurred in state governing of the labour market (resulting in a changed focus from employment to entrepreneurship) and in relation to the gendered labour market. The northern parts of Sweden are affected not only by regional aspects, but also by national and global processes, which has led to changes in the population composition in this region over time. By relating these changes to women's working conditions, we particularly want to highlight the conditions of immigrated women in these areas.

No significant changes to the aim have occurred. Due to material reasons, part two has changed its focus, from studying RUT and LOV reforms, to studying the financing of regional growth projects through the regional structural funds.

The three most important results of the project

1. The first case studies the localization of the textile company Algots Nord’s establishment of factories in three localities in northern Sweden in the 1970s. This implied labour market participation amongst women who had not previously held paid employment. The proportion of women in the labour force at that time still saw considerable geographical variations. However, the timing of the establishment was bad. The northern textile industry was strongly affected by the prevailing economic conditions in the Swedish textile industry, due to global competition. In just a few years, Algots went bankrupt. Our interviews with the former Algots Nord seamstresses/employees show that this work experience came to more or less characterize their whole working life. The Algots employment was often their first job, regardless of which age group they belonged to at the time, and made many of them see a future on the location. Along with the employment in a company fighting against economic pressure came the battles with bosses and company leaders, union struggles, exploitation in media and emotional frictions, but also camaraderie, self-esteem and personal development. Their subsequent working life held the starting-up of work cooperatives, and also employments often in the healthcare sector and the telecom industry, continuously adapting to existing opportunities. The struggle of the Algots’ seamstresses became a national concern and has challenged the urban image of social mobilization. This is by focusing on resistance and engagement in smaller communities and how such actions renegotiate bodies, places and relationships. The struggle of the Algots’ seamstresses has been incorporated into the women's collective memory. Our material, however, shows that there are conflicting stories in individual memories, differences that can be related to local conditions and different class and generation belongings (Overud, coming).

2. Following the localization policy, we have studied the contemporary regional growth policy and its implications for women's working life opportunities in the rural Swedish north. The current policy plan for the regional growth policy, “A national strategy for sustainable regional growth and attractiveness 2015-2020” (N2015.31) has a purpose to create good conditions for living, working and establishing companies and businesses across the country. The strategy will also contribute to the Government's three priority areas: to achieve the overall goal of keeping the lowest unemployment rate in the EU 2020, to achieve the national environmental goals and to close the gender gap. Our study of regional growth projects that received funding through the regional structural funds in northern Sweden 2015 show that traditionally female sectors generally receive lower allocations than male sectors. Despite the high ambitions of the policy plan in terms of gender equality, the multi-million amounts invested annually in the regional growth policy do not seem to have the desired effect. The target groups that were highlighted in the applications were often vaguely formulated, the labour market sectors that the projects targeted were usually traditionally male-dominated. Young people, women and foreign-born were under-represented as entrepreneurs. In the applications that is explained by their lack of self-confidence and lack of role models, not caused by discrimination or socio-economic segregation. Our analysis of the applications that were approved shows the inability to see that the relation between place and gender is clearly coloured by gendered norms. This unconsciousness means that already established beliefs about work, growth, gender and northern sparsely populated areas are reinforced and reproduced (Kvist, coming).

3. Adaptation and flexibility are keywords for describing women’s livelihood strategies in the Swedish rural north. The gendered character of work and migration are important to understand the emergence and continuity of rural–rural migration between northern Sweden and northeastern Thailand. This applies to the Thai women who have settled with Swedish men in rural communities. Our study shows the far-reaching duties of women from the northern provinces of Thailand and how they extend beyond the family to the community. Those who migrate internationally assume far-reaching responsibility for their natal communities. The migration decision is aimed at creating a better future for themselves and for the people they are responsible for, including their own children and extended family members left behind in Thailand. Our interviews show that they find different ways to support themselves, both as wage workers and as entrepreneurs. According to our interviews, their experience from running private enterprises entails an unlimited workload, complicated administration, and insufficient economic compensation. Apart from a sense of community with other Thai women, they experience isolation from wider Swedish society, related to their restricted personal and social mobility, and their position on the labour market. As a matter of fact, the Thai women in our study illustrates the ultimate entrepreneur, who is demanded in the new labour market policy. They exhibit a professional flexibility, they have training and have acquired jobs or started the activities that the circumstances have provided. In that sense, they should be able to make greater use of support from the Swedish labour market policy, a policy that has set entrepreneurial behaviour as an ideal. But in fact, these women live far from the support of state policy (Sörensson 2015; Sörensson, Overud & Kvist, coming).

The project has also contributed with methodological knowledge, which applies to the approach to groups that are in different ways marginalized and/or are in a vulnerable position, in order to gain access to their experiences. This has been built up in the study through follow-up dialogue and confidence. The academic knowledge and transparency of this group of Thai women has so far been very limited. With this approach, new knowledge has been made possible (Sörensson & Kalman 2017).

We have captured something of the history of post-war rural Sweden, addressing the effects of the regional policy and the transformation of the labour market. These decades of migration to and from Swedish rural areas can be understood as a consequence of globalization processes and have significance for local labour markets. By connecting these cases from different time periods, we have demonstrated that the northern labour market is gendered and related to processes on a global scale. Based on our findings women’s labour market opportunities remain scarce and challenging. On the policy level, we see both continuity and change, but it seems that independently of policy direction, women in northern rural areas are more or less forced to settle for whatever jobs are available. This was the case for the women during the localization policy of the 1960s and 1970s and it seems the situation persists for present day inhabitants of the rural north.

International dimensions of the project

The project has established collaborative links with scholars at the University in Tromsø, engaged in research on regional policy from a gender perspective. This collaboration refers to the research project “Mobile Lifestyles: Perspectives on Work Mobilities and Gender in the High North”, led by professor Siri Gerrard. We have had the opportunity to collaborate in workshops, seminars and conferences during 2015-2017.

We have presented our project at international conferences in Rovaniemi (2015), Tromsö (2016), Turku (2017) and Oulu (2018).

Has the project generated new research problems?

New research questions have transformed into new applications on the relevance of social class in urban and rural Sweden. There are reasons to believe that de-industrialization, labour market transformations and urbanization have changed the meaning of social class and transformed the foundation of class identity.

Dissemination of results outside academia

Engagement as panel discussants on local labour markets in the Swedish rural North about the film ”Diamantfolket” (2016, director: Sara Jordenö) – a documentary on basis of the unexpected closure of a profitable plant in Robertsfors in Västerbotten. We participated in public discussions around the film and the labour market conditions in the Swedish rurals. Arranged by Statens konstråd/Public Art Agency Sweden in Robertsfors, Skelleftehamn, and in Boliden (2016). An interview with the project group resulted in an article in ETC 2017. See Nord, Daniel (2017) ”I Dorotea får man skapa sin egen arbetsmarknad”, ETC Umeå (2017-06-14) https://umea.etc.se/inrikes/i-dorotea-far-man-skapa-sin-egen-arbetsmarknad