At the Interface of National and Transnational: The Development of Finnish Policies against Domestic Violence in Terms of Gender Equality

摘要

Although gender inequalities are the main social mechanisms behind the (re)production ofdomestic violence, policy responses to domestic violence as a gender-related problem vary at boththe national and transnational levels. This article examines the interaction between national andtransnational policies against domestic violence, focusing on how domestic violence is constructed asa gender-related problem in Finland, a Nordic welfare state that is often cited as a role model in genderequality. Using the conception of policies as historically changing and culturally specific discourses,this article offers an overview of the ways in which the perspective on domestic violence of thetransnational feminist movement has been engaged and transformed in the Finnish context over thefive last decades. It is shown that transnational pressure has played a critical role in pushing Finlandtowards a stronger recognition of domestic violence as a gender issue. However, this transformationhas taken place rather within the framework of more neutral “women-friendly” welfare policies thanwithin a feminist framework. The article concludes that the Finnish way of translating transnationalnorms to the national level is characterized by a tendency to modify the transformative meaningsunderpinning the transnational feminist discourses to a more gender-neutral form.