What’s a good article on gender equality in Scandinavia?

October 27, 2014 9:54 AM

I’m teaching a thematic unit entitled “Human Rights and International Women’s Lives” in a first-year college English course. To complete the reading list, I’m in search of a well-written article or essay on gender equality in a place where women’s rights are comparatively advanced—probably the Scandinavian countries. Anything on social policy, actual women’s lives, or the intersection of the two would be great. Recommendations?

So far, I have students reading Malala Yousafzai’s speech to the UN General Assembly and a chapter from Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky. I also have them watching the Saudi Arabian feature film Wadjda and listening to a TED talk on gender inequality in the United States. So far, the reading/viewing list focuses on various nations’ failures in gender equality, from the relatively subtle to the egregious, so I was hoping to put a positive case study in front of students so they get a fuller picture of the international scene—and the possibilities of gender equality, not just the limitations that presently exist in most places around the world. I’d love it if the article went beyond simple reportage and included some reflective, narrative, argumentative, or analytic elements. Thanks!

posted by Janey Complainy to Education (3 answers total)

Here is an article about getting men to take paternity leave in Sweden... With quotes from women about how it changed (in a good way) their relationship as a couple and family.
posted by jrobin276 at 11:22 AM on October 27, 2014

Here's another; if you google the topic it looks like there's a fair few in various publications.
posted by jrobin276 at 11:24 AM on October 27, 2014

I don't have specific articles to point to, but two more topics to supplement the one on paternity leave: Norway's gender quota for boards of public institutions and Sweden's feminist party (feministisk initiativ)
posted by meijusa at 11:34 PM on October 27, 2014