Paper short abstract:

Based on discursive policy analysis and ethnographically informed studies in Norway and Ethiopia we examine how the concept of gender equality travels between different settings, explaining the variety of meanings that the concept takes on with reference to contextual and political factors.

Paper long abstract:

During the last decades gender equality has emerged as a widely accepted political goal in the global development- and human rights discourse. Theoretically underpinned by notions of autonomy and individualism and accompanied by specific policy recommendations, gender equality appears to be conceptualized in a rather homogenous way in these discourses. But which transformations of meaning occur when these "global" ideas and recommendations are interpreted and/or attempted operationalized by actors outside the "global discursive space"? This paper pays attention to how the concept of gender equality 'travels' by following its transmutations in various interconnected settings. Based on policy analysis and ethnographically informed studies it examines conceptualisations of gender equality in Norwegian aid policies, among Norwegian and Ethiopian gender experts and finally among rural Ethiopian women. Our analysis shows that there are many similarities between the global and national interpretations of gender equality, but also significant differences. The distance seems particularly great between international policy formulations and the rural settings in Ethiopia, where gender equality is interpreted in a very narrow sense; i.e. mainly as an instrument for poverty reduction with a particular focus on men and women working together to increase production and economic growth. The variety of meanings that the concept takes on while travelling are investigated and explained with reference to contextual and political factors; i.e. a myriad of historical and current political and cultural values, practices and discourses which interact in shaping both its content and effects