A female problem in welfare policy? : Gender mainstreaming in neoliberal times

• This paper researches gender mainstreaming practices and its intertwinements with growing emphasis on neoliberal forms of governance. It is a pressing research area since it has shown that increased emphasis on work continuously neglect intersections of gender and other social inequalities in the labour market (MacLeavy 2007:736). We untangle how gender mainstreaming practices in an EU funded project in Sweden became intertwined with current workfarist reforms in the public health insurance policy. The increase of long periods of sick leave in Sweden has been constructed as an acute problem for public economy, labor market and for individuals on sick leave. It has become a ‘gendered’ issue in debate and policy where men and women’s sick leave rates follow different patterns. In the current context, women have become viewed as particularly problematic. Women in the public sector answer to the largest increase in reporting in sick since the late 1990s and their sick-leave periods are longer than for men. We followed an EU funded project set up to construct a new model for occupational health service for reducing sick leave rates among employees in a Swedish municipality. We took part in activities, conducted interviews with participants and analyzed project documents. Our results coincide with current research that points to that EU gender mainstreaming does not challenge market forces and power relations underlying structural inequalities (Mósesdóttir, 2011). How could we critically comprehend this formulation of a ‘female problem’ of workfarist regimes framed by enhanced focus on gender mainstreaming forged in EU legislation and policy?

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Genusstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Gender Studies (hsv//eng)

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)