Styrning utan riktning - institutionaliseringen av svensk jämställdhetspolitik

Abstract

Governing without direction – the institutionalization of Swedish gender equality policy
This article discusses the institutionalization of gender equality policy in Sweden. The questions are: In what way has the policy been institutionalized? In what way have initiatives and governance processes at the central political level led to institutionalization? Empirically the article gives an account for an ongoing study of the governing and organization of the gender equality politics 1972-2011. The study shows that the policy area has to a large extent been ad-hoc governed and also has been treated as a symbolic issue in order to create legitimacy for other political questions. The main conclusions are that the policy has been semi-institutionalized, and that we can see a de-institutionalization in recent years. It has been institution- alized in a legal/formal sense, but not in a cognitive sense following the theory of sociological institutionalism.