Reflections on the Emergence and History of Nordic Research on Gender and Education

The authors describe in this paper how gender studies in the Nordic context grew into a strong and respected field of educational research, from its first steps in late 1970s until 2019. They identify trends that have persisted over decades and others that have emerged more recently. The authors draw primarily from various documents about Nordic collaboration, Nordic articles in the Gender and Education Journal and review studies. They also include their personal experiences as active researchers since the 1980s. They suggest that in the Nordic countries, gender studies in education were initiated by sociologists rather than feminist teachers (as in the UK) building on a relatively strong alliance between mainstream feminism, state feminist equality officers and feminist research. Gradually ethnography emerged as the main methodological perspective. After 2010 theoretical and methodological choices and themes widened such that the earlier focus on girls and gender relations shifted more to boys and gender diversity. Intersectionality was more emphasised, with post-structuralism having a considerable impact on the Nordic gender and education field.Peer reviewe