Gender and Disability Research in the Nordic Countries Rannveig Traustad ó ttir Faculty of Social Science University of Iceland

2 Gender and Disability Research in the Nordic Countries Overview The Nordic context policies and politics research and scholarship Main characteristics of scholarship on gender and disability Empirical research approaches and examples Nordic situatedness and politics of location Conclusion

3 Background The Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway & Sweden Three self-governing regions The Faeroe Islands, Greenland & Å land Scandinavia Denmark, Norway, Sweden

4 The Nordic Context Policy and Politics Nordic welfare states and disability policy Nordic welfare states and gender equality Research and Scholarship Is there a Nordic Feminism? Is there a Nordic model of disability?

5 Gender & Disability Research Feminist research 1981 Nordic forum for research on women in the Nordic countries 1995 NIKK, Nordic Institute for Women ’ s Studies and Gender Research 1994 Nora, Nordic Journal for Women ’ s Studies Disability research 1997 NNDR, Nordic Network on Disability Research ???? Nordic Institute for Disability Research 1999 SJDR, Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research Institutionalization of gender studies and disability studies in Nordic universities

6 Gender & Disability Research in the Nordic Countries Main characteristics Personal experience of disability personal accounts and stories Empirical studies focus on everyday life Theorizing imported theories Multidisciplinary Disabled researchers and writers Limitations

7 Gender & Disability Research in the Nordic Countries Empirical Research Main approaches Feminist perspectives on disability issues Intersectionarity Main focus on everyday life and relation to welfare services Families Education Employment Lives and experiences of disabled women and men Cont.

8 Gender & Disability Research in the Nordic Countries Less prominent but growing Body Identity Socialization Discourse Critique of Welfare policies Gender equality policies Cont.

9 Gender & Disability Research in the Nordic Countries Examples of recent research History and generations Childhood Adolescence and young adulthood Sexuality Ethnicity Fatherhood Violence & abuse Oppression

10 Nordic Situatedness and Politics of Location How do we handle our located situatedness? Empirical research located in own country lessons from others! lessons for others? Domination of UK and USA important contributions dominating and generalized Non – English/Non – UK/USA must decide if we locate us or generalize problems of language and translations

11 Conclusion Lessons for Disability Studies Disability is gendered Intersectionality importance of examining how disability intersects with gender, “ race ”, age, class... Regional rooting and international dimensions/cooperation Gender studies and feminist research learning from theorizing and research practices