Making a Difference? Sweden's Feminist Government (2014-2022)
The Red-Green government formed in 2014 with Stefan Löfven as Prime Minister was the world’s first explicitly declared feminist government (2014-2022). The purpose of this application is to write a research monograph about this decision, its background and its consequences. Academic research of the feminist government is lacking. By analysing the establishment and the implementation of this idea, and if and how feminism was translated into practice, the book contributes with new empirical insights as well as a theoretical discussion about what a feminist government is and can be. Theoretically, the book builds upon feminist theory and literature on political parties.
Interviews with people in the government and the Social Democratic leadership at the time make up an important part of the material, complemented with documents and media material. The case is analysed using process tracing and qualitative content analysis. Two comparisons are made, to relate the case to a wider context. The first is with the government in New Zealand during Jacinda Ardern’s premiership (2017-2023). Her leadership has been characterised as feminist, although the government was not declared as such. The other comparison comprises two previous Social Democratic governments: the 1994-1998 Ingvar Carlsson government, the world’s first gender equal government, and the government of Göran Persson 2002-2006, to illustrate what difference the feminist government made, compared to earlier S-governments.
Interviews with people in the government and the Social Democratic leadership at the time make up an important part of the material, complemented with documents and media material. The case is analysed using process tracing and qualitative content analysis. Two comparisons are made, to relate the case to a wider context. The first is with the government in New Zealand during Jacinda Ardern’s premiership (2017-2023). Her leadership has been characterised as feminist, although the government was not declared as such. The other comparison comprises two previous Social Democratic governments: the 1994-1998 Ingvar Carlsson government, the world’s first gender equal government, and the government of Göran Persson 2002-2006, to illustrate what difference the feminist government made, compared to earlier S-governments.