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Gender Equality and Feminism.Pdf No 2/99 December Activism versus Focus on: “academic quality” How to combine the interests of political activists with the need of Gender Equality feminist academics for scholary merit and intellectual stimulus? Views vary on how successful the Women’s Worlds 99 Conference in Tromsø was in this respect. and Feminism(s) Page 9 -11 How do we define gender equality in relation to feminism in the Nordic countries today, and how similar actually are the Nordic countries to each other in this area? What is the difference between feminism of today and the feminism of Research Course yesterday? Were the feminists of the seventies raving man In August 2000 NIKK will organize a haters - and is the ”new wave” of Nordic feminism, which course that applies critical feminist first began in Sweden, really only a phenomenon created perspective to the researchprocesses by the media? in qualitative research. Gender researchers from several Page 15 Nordic countries met in Oslo last November to debate and challenge widely-held conceptions and myths concerning feminism, the Nordic “Living model of gender equality and the normative stereotypes regarding gender presented in the media and for Tomorrow”: advertising. With NIKK as organizer, people from The conference “Invisible eight European countries met for boundaries - gender and power” three days in Tallinn in Estonia this was held under the auspices of the November to explore grounds for Research Council of Norway by the cooperation, linking gender research research programs Gender in Transi- to sex education for young people. tion and Power and Democracy Basis for the cooperation is the NIKK (Kjønn i endring og Makt- og project “Living for Tomorrow”. demokratiutredningen). About 150 participants, among them also rep- Page 18 resentatives of the political and ad- The Danish feminist magazine ministrative gender equality ”estab- “Kvinder” from the seventies and lishment” in Norway and the media, eighties exposed issues that so far The 2000 Calender were gathered at the beautiful con- had belonged to the private sphere. ference site Soria Moria on top of “News from NIKK” provides you with the hill overlooking the centre of the Magnusson, Drude Dahlerup an updated international Calender of capital. presented the Danish radical Events for the year 2000. feminist movement Rødstrømperne Page 25-27 The Danish ”Redstockings” (“Redstockings”) from the seventies In the session “The gender equality and eighties. In her extensive project: reflection and opposition” led by NIKK’s research director Eva cont. page 2 News from NIKK 2/99 GENDER EQUALITY AND FEMINISM “On the 8. April 1970 a group of At the same time this feminist young women - there were actually movement was a necessary prereq- not more than about 15 of them - uisite for the development of the marched down Copenhagen’s main gender equality politics. While the pedestrian street, Strøget. They gender equality feminists concen- shouted slogans against the cos- trated on bringing women into the metic industry’s exploitation of public sphere, into politics and busi- women and demanded equal pay. ness, and left out the private sphere, On the placards they had written: the women’s lib feminists did not “Women, stand up!”. With enormous distinguish between the oppression stuffed bosoms, big hats, false eye- of women in the private and in pub- lashes and red stockings, they lic sphere. They argued that every brought not only their slogans, but woman had to liberate herself, whilst also their own young bodies to the the gender equality model had as attention of the public. Here was a it’s aim to save ”the others”, new kind of feminist. This was the Dahlerup states in her presentation. first demonstration by the She also shows how women’s lib Redstockings in Denmark, and the feminism actually legitimised the Christina Smith-Erichsen, one of the press covered the event exten- gender equality politics. Gender editors for the Norwegian anthology sively.” equality became the state’s answer ”Matriark”, finds it problematic to - Many myths abound regarding to the more extreme demands from focus on women as a group the way feminists of the seventies and the the women’ lib feminists for changes they did with the book. Redstockings. That they were raving in society, over and above gender man haters, that they actually were equality. research, which is unique in its field, against gender equality, states That which gender equality femi- Dahlerup analysed and described Drude Dahlerup. These are myths nism and women’s lib feminism also the Redstockings’ history from and stories based on prejudice, had in common was that they both 1970-85: who they were, what ideals which are transmitted to the next rebelled against deterministic biol- and aims they aspired to, how they generation - and also in fact repro- ogy tradition which talked about the organised themselves and what they duced by some of the “new” femi- ”unchangeable nature” of women achieved. Drude Dahlerup, who was nists. and men, a trend which is well on its herself a Redstocking, is today way back into today’s popular de- Professor of Political Science at Radical, social movement bate on gender issues in media. Stockholm University. Also on the But according to Dahlerup, the Moreover, the two tendencies were panel was Christina Smith Erichsen, Danish Redstocking movement was united in their demands regarding ▲ one of the editors of the Norwegian first and foremost a radical, leftist, anthology “Matriark” and an expo- social liberation movement. Here nent of the “new” feminist trend. they differ both from today’s young feminists and the gender equality Media Focus oriented women’s groups which Is it in any way possible to compare Drude Dahlerup names ”equality the feminism of the seventies with feminism”, and which today is the new wave of feminism which we official state policy in the Nordic encounter in the Swedish book countries. “Fittstim” (”Cunt Cascade”) and the The women´s liberation feminists similar Norwegian anthologies as the Redstockings maintains that ”Råtekst” (raw/rough draft) and a prerequisite for women’s liberation Matriark (“Matriarch”)? One similar- is a classless society and vice versa. ity at least is the focus on how the Their slogan was therefore: “No media, fashion industry and adver- women’s liberation without class tising speculate in women’s bodies struggle” and “No class struggle and sexuality - at the same time as without women’s liberation.” At that these protests get wide media time the great potential of the coverage. The Redstockings’ debut Redstockings in Denmark was their on the media ”scene” is described ability to mobilise, to develop new Drude Dahlerup has analysed and like this by Drude Dahlerup in her ways of thinking and alternative documented the development of the two volume book: ways of doing things, Drude largest feminist movement in Scandi- Dahlerup points out. navia during a period of 15 years. 2 GENDER EQUALITY AND FEMINISM News from NIKK 2/99 Ambivalence to feminism Christina Smith-Erichsen admits to being what has been characterised as ”one of the young, hip feminists” and describes the attention given to the publishing of the Norwegian anthology “Matriark” as “absurd”. She admits that she herself and her generation of women feel am- bivalent about feminism. She thinks the feminism of the seventies was characterised by portraying them- selves as victims in every way, and if there is anything today’s young, well-educated feminists refuse to be seen as, it is as victims. - There is something destructive in joining a community which wor- ships everything feminine and sees itself as victim of outside forces, she argues. It is difficult for us to speak on behalf of other women. It is prob- lematic in itself to focus on women as a group, the way we do in the collection of essays “Matriark”. Our aim is to be seen as individual hu- man beings, not as members of a sex, she says. At the same time Christina Smith-Erichsen recognises that women are still unfairly treated be- cause of their sex and that it is nec- essary “at times” to act as a group, that there still is a need for being organised as women to achieve certain goals. But there is reason to The many colourful protestmarches launched by the ”Redstockings” against protest against the glorification of the portrayal of women in the media and advertising got wide media cover- the female. Women are not saints by age in the early seventies. nature, she points out. women’s autonomy and the integra- equality is concerned. Moreover, A common utopia tion of both sexes in the private and gender equality feminism completely The debate following the panel public sectors. ignores structural conditions, as the presentations there was pointed out The sole player on the field question of power in a globalizing that it is easier to see what unites than What challenges are the Nordic world. what divides feminism throughout the societies faced with after twenty - Gender equality suffers under ages. Feminism involves a shared years of legislation and politics of consensus at its lowest level, utopia, it is a rebellion against oppres- gender equality? Drude Dahlerup namely: “Let us all agree on gender sion, a protest against being under- draws a picture of a rather equality because it is to everyone’s mined and dominated. Drude ”monocultural” society: advantage”. But real gender equality Dahlerup concluded by saying that - State feminism is the only can not be to everyone’s advantage. each generation of feminists will player left on the field. Gender It has to involve exclusion and dis- define themselves differently accord- equality is not an election topic and crimination, that somebody has to ing to the way society changes, and has in general a low political lever- go without privileges.
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