Troubling the Surface (Im)possibilities: On Preschool Teachers’ Relational Power in Shaping Gender Equality Work in Sweden

Abstract

On the surface, gender equality in Sweden seems exceptional. This reputation extends to Swedish preschools, which have long been hailed for progressive practices and global influence. Yet beneath this polished surface are persistent tensions. Over the past two decades, research and government investigations have repeatedly identified shortcomings in preschools’ gender equality work, often attributing them to preschool teachers’ insufficient knowledge or practices. In a shift toward a feminist sociological perspective, this compilation dissertation is a critical exploration into preschool teachers’ relational power in shaping the (im)possibilities of gender equality work in Sweden. My specific focus is on how power relations shape (im)possibilities for this work and how preschool teachers navigate them through power dynamics in their everyday practices. Drawing on an eclectic array of critical theories, I weave together a theoretical framework used across four empirical articles to analyze different aspects of preschool teachers’ relational power in shaping gender equality work, including policy, situated knowledges, public sector gendered organizations, opposition, and doing gender. Drawing on a critical feminist ethnographic approach, I carry out critical policy analysis using diffraction, two phases of semi-structured interviews, one phase of research subject inter-viewing, and participant observations. The empirical materials include the national preschool curriculum, various policy documents, observation field notes from 112 hours with 10 preschool teachers, photos, and transcripts from 52 interviews with 21 preschool teachers across seven preschools in Sweden. The four articles show how preschool teachers’ relational power shapes the (im)possibilities of gender equality work. Article I shows how contradictions and exclusions are embedded in the problem constructs of the gender equality mandate. These often rely on binary categories of “girls” and “boys,” while also attempting to destabilize them. Problem constructions exclude nonbinary, intersex, and intersectional identities, including race/skin color and class. Article II demonstrates how preschool teachers’ situated knowledges related to the gender equality mandate and work are (re)shaped within and through preschools as public-sector gendered organizations through professionalization, negotiation of belonging, gender order experiences, and disagreements with colleagues. These situated knowledges (re)shape (im)possibilities by constraining their legitimacy, compelling preschool teachers to learn, turning this work into either a political or an administrative practice, and prompting either conflict management solutions or individual approaches. Article III exhibits how preschool teachers experience and express opposition to gender equality. Preschool teachers, other preschool staff, children, parents, and societal actors do active and passive opposition (un)intentionally. Preschool teachers respond by accepting or ignoring opposition, or by hiding or defending gender equality work. Article IV shows how dresses shape the (im)possibilities for gendered subjectivity by focusing on how preschool teachers’ practices shape whether the climate makes undoing or redoing gender possible. Together, these analyses demonstrate that preschool teachers’ relational power is both constrained by and transformative from within power relations—ultimately determining that many of the (im)possibilities of this work hinge on ‘doings’ beyond pedagogy. The dissertation contributes empirically, methodologically, and theoretically to feminist sociology, particularly within the areas of early childhood education, gender and sexuality, work, organizations and occupations, emotions, and political sociology.