CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Vass Payne, Kirsty Seonaid |
|---|---|
| Title | Gender Equality in the Military: Analysing the Opposing Military Conscription Policies of Sweden and Finland |
| Summary | Sweden and Finland are renowned for their egalitarian state models. Despite this, there is a gendered difference between their military conscription policies. Finland conscripts only men into the military compared to Sweden which conscripts on a gender-neutral basis. This thesis explores the reconciliation of conscription policy with a gender equality agenda. It questions why the two states of Sweden and Finland adopted different conscription policies despite both being highly gender equal societies and if notions of gender equality impact state conscription policy. A critical frame analysis is utilised to find that Sweden has chosen to recruit on a gender- neutral basis to transform the military from a bastion of masculinity. This is based on the notion of the transformative effect of female representation in masculine spaces when paired with other gender mainstreaming policies. Finland has chosen not the conscript women due to its equality of sameness agenda within the military, which does not challenge masculine norms. It does not interpret gender equality as the conscription of women into such as masculine institution, as it would force them to conform to larger patriarchal power structures. These differing interpretations of gender equality explain and justify the diverging policy decisions between the states. |
| Supervisor | Krizsán, Andrea |
| Department | Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/vass-payne_kirsty.pdf |
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