Introduction

Many accounts of the politics and policy of New Labour have tended to emphasise the strong influence of New Right or American thinking on the party's reform agenda. Yet key figures in Labour Party policy circles have highlighted that much policy learning has in fact been done by looking towards the social democratic Nordic states. Geoff Mulgan, former director of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit, said that Labour's welfare to work policies are ‘actually borrowed more from Scandinavia than from America’ (2003). In much of the comparative literature on democracy, welfare states and state feminism, the Nordic states are held up as role models for gender equality policies. This chapter therefore looks at the strategies used by social democratic parties in Norway and Sweden to feminise politics and seeks to assess the extent to which New Labour can learn from these states.

At the same time, it is necessary to take a critical look at the achievements of the Nordic states in terms of gender policies and therefore question the value of Nordic states as a role model for New Labour. Scholars such as Hernes (1987a, 1987b) have, for example, questioned the degree of influence that Nordic women have in policy making. While they tend to be well represented in Parliament, they are under-represented in the corporatist decision-making bodies where economic and social policies are drafted. Hakim (2004) highlights the economic inequality that exists in Nordic states: that the labour market is segregated in occupational terms, with women over-represented in the public sector; and that there is a lower proportion of women in managerial positions than in the US or the UK. Other scholars have highlighted that while welfare policies are women-friendly, policies on issues like domestic violence are not.

This chapter seeks to offer an evaluation of the position of women in two Nordic states – Norway and Sweden. These countries have been selected as they have both developed women-friendly politics and policies since the 1970s, although the opportunities for this were different and the outcomes vary. The chapter will offer a review of the opportunities for a feminisation of politics in these countries since the 1970s under the headings of women's substantive representation, women in the core executive, state feminism and women's policy platform to gain female votes.