Innlegg holdt under Gender Equality Days, Helsingfors 08.10.25
The Nordic region is in a unique position when it comes to gender equality. Elsewhere in the world, the situation is generally at a different, lower level.
The easiest way to measure this is to examine the situation for women. Globally, this is what is perceived to be what gender equality is all about. We still see large gaps compared to men in most parts of the world. In the Nordics, the gaps are smaller.
At the same time, there is now a broad-based attack on what we can call civil rights, which have so far enjoyed great support in democratic countries. The most important shift is taking place in the U.S. under Trump, where concepts such as gender equality, diversity and inclusion are being systematically attacked.
This shift is occurring globally, and often supported by authoritarian regimes such as Russia, Hungary, Turkey and Argentina. We also see right-wing extremist movements in traditional democracies such as Germany and England are also gaining strength.
In addition to the way women’s rights are being attacked – such as the right to abortion – minorities are targeted: immigrants, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ groups, people with disabilities, and indigenous peoples.
A central tactic is to set groups against each other. This happens when the majority population is pitted against refugees and immigrants, or against queer people.
We are also seeing men and women being set against each other. An intensified struggle between the genders, shapes much of the rhetoric of the new right in the U.S. and other countries. Women’s rights are presented as a limitation on men. Under the heading of family values, it is claimed that women’s equality causes men to lose their natural role in the family and are deprived of the right to make their own choices. Furthermore: The right to abortion leads to men being falsely accused of rape!
Added to the story of women «standing in the way» of men, another and very effective tactic is used: describing the situation of boys and young men as a crisis. Examples of this crisis are; boys’ dropout from school, the strong overrepresentation of men in suicide, women’s increasing dominance in higher education and many young men’s failures in the gender marketplace.
What is interesting for those of us who are concerned with gender equality as a value is that the descriptions of reactionary influencers – like Andrew Tate – of the situation of boys and men are often quite precise. In Norway – and in the Nordic countries – the difference in favor of many boys to girls is large, in all these areas. Many men are in crisis.
If the goal of the welfare state’s gender equality policy is that one gender should not fall far behind another, such differences must of course be countered. Actions must be implemented so that boys can thrive in school, enjoy better mental health, and gain education, to find their place in society – and in the family.
So far very few measures have been taken to address the issues boys and men are facing. It is not surprising that this is the case in countries which have achieved less equality (for women) than the Nordics.
But: Alarmingly, this is also for the most part the situation in the Nordics.
With the exception of some specific initiatives—such as in Norway in 2022, when the Men’s Equality Commission was established—few measures or programmes specifically directed toward boys and men are put forward.
And even though the Men’s Equality Commission was a bright spot, it remains unclear whether the Commission’s 35 proposals for concrete measures to improve the situation will be followed up.
This striking lack of policy for gender equality for boys and men instead leaves space for influencers like Tate, Joe Rogan and others to propagate harmful ideals and dangerous solutions. And although the situation for boys and men is far more serious in the U.S., these influencers rhetoric still shapes and influences the debate here in the Nordics.
Instead of equality specialists and activists from the Nordics (and elsewhere) using their knowledge of how the value of equality can effectively be broadened to include boys, the field is left to illiberals and reactionaries. Where structural measures could be introduced to include boys and men in equality—such as the brilliant idea of actively present fatherhood, supported through a generous father quota—forces that want to limit all forms of state structure fill the vacuum.
The message is that what is wrong in boys’ lives is the «nanny state», stitching cushions under their arms, and «feminism», which takes away from boys the chance to exercise their true masculinity.
It is extremely important to include boys and men in a modern understanding of equality, offering an alternative to the far-right. This should be a central task for us who are stakeholders in the elite division of gender equality – the Nordic countries.
When this does not happen, one is tempted to claim that we are partially responsible for illiberal and totalitarian forces, continuing to recruit young men to support their project.
We are now seeing this to an extreme degree in the U.S. In Norway, the tendency among young men has long been a steadily decreasing voter turnout. But here, a very interesting shift occurred in last month’s parliamentary election: Voter turnout among young men aged 22 to 25 was 71.6 %. This was up almost 12 percent from the previous election.
We know the reason is that very many voted for the right, and particularly for the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet), which ended up as Norway’s second biggest party – for the first time.
To a large extent this is because the Progress Party has read and understood much of the background of young men’s situation. The party has tapped into the frustration this creates, and included it in its rhetoric about young men. The party has also been decisively best at reaching young men via social media, especially on TikTok.
There is little doubt that this got many young men to vote for the Progress Party, who otherwise would hardly have participated in the election. And of course – for a democracy this is a good thing!
It is also important to emphasize that the Progress Party is by no means a far right extremist party, like for example the Republicans in the U.S. has turned into. The Progress Party supports women’s equality. The party has even had responsibility for the department of equality and led the department in an adequate way.
At the same time the party fails to describe solutions that might draw young men into what we can call the equality project. Instead, a dangerous fire of discontent is being stoked.
This can in turn lead to a solid backlash against precisely equality as a value.
It is by no means certain that a further rightward tilt of young men, who today vote for the Progress Party, will continue to be captured by this party. This could force the Progress Party to move sharply to the right. While this is probably – and hopefully – not going to happen, many young men may choose to support and join extreme and far-right organizations in the future.
Therefore there is a great responsibility on the Progress Party, as a party that in principle supports the welfare state, equality and democratic values, not to flirt with illiberal ideologies in order to please trends among boys and men.
So far the idea of caring fathers has been embraced in the Nordics. The idea has appealed to men who wish to practice caring masculinity. This is now threatened by a one sided form of money masculinity and rather old school provider masculinity.
The question that should be asked is: What should the Progress Party, and similar parties in the Nordics, do next?
Will the Progress Party, and parties like them, contribute to a further branding of gender equality policy as illegitimate for men – or will they take active steps toward developing this policy further, that is; further develop the welfare state in a direction more inclusive of men?
These are two completely different things!
A similar question is also something feminists have to ask themselves:
When a backlash against equality as a value now may be at stake, how can the women’s movement help get boys and men on board, rather than see them as opponents?
This will require new thinking, and the willingness to let go of some of equality’s sacred cows.
We can ask: Is there anyone who benefits from the weakening of gender equality policy? Would men benefit from such weakening of the welfare state? The answer is strongly two sided.
Men who just are concerned with strengthening their own economy and pursuing their careers could, for example if all structural measures for an equal caregiving responsibility in the family were removed, find themselves facing less competition from working women.
In that sense, some men might well gain.
But if men care about being part of a family, or want to see and experience their children grow up and develop good relationships with them, then they will lose. A return to a position as breadwinners would reverse the development fathers have experienced in the Nordics over the past thirty years, as more equal caregivers.
This would be a huge loss for the vast majority of men.
And if we add that the enormous labour force women represent would be weakened by many of them choosing to return to house and home, so that their men could become rich – the societal loss would also be colossal.
Far more of us would gain by strengthening equality as part of the welfare state.
If this is to succeed, attacks on equality must be countered. Boys and men must be recognized as vulnerable, exposed, and in some cases clearly discriminated against. We have to meet them with equality measures that can correct this.
As said – this requires willingness and ability to think in new ways. This applies to the traditional left, where most feminists are also found, often as gatekeepers for a partly outdated equality policy.
And it applies to what we can call the liberal right of the Nordics, which must take a stand against the far-right, which today is led by the MAGA movement and radical Christian conservatives in the U.S. and in Europe, not seldom with an unclear border to fascist ideas and movements.
In these days, I believe many are looking to the Nordics, the world’s most gender equal region. What we do to meet the wave of attacks on liberal democratic ideas and structures may well set a model for others.
Therefore, a great responsibility rests on us.
Much is at stake. Until proven hopelessly naive, I choose to be optimistic. But one thing is certain: If we don’t bring the boys along, we lose.
Gender Equality Days arrangeres av det finske Sosial- og helsedepartementet, i samarbeid med Nordisk Ministerråd, og fant i år sted i Vantaa, i nærheten av Helsingfors. Den fulle tittelen på dette innlegget var «Boys and Men as Agents for Change: Milestones and Future Prospects of Inclusive Gender Equality Strategy”.
