In worldwide comparisons of women in national parliaments, Sweden is regularly ranked at the top of the lists. Today, in 2010, Sweden is ranked number two, after Rwanda, on the world ranking list, with women currently making up 47 per cent of the membership of the national Parliament. At the same time as Sweden is recognized for its high representation of women in politics, it should be noted that the process leading to this recognition began 40 years ago. Since universal and equal suffrage was introduced in 1921, the proportion of women parliamentarians has gradually increased to the current level, with a take-off phase in the 1970s when the 20 per cent threshold was passed for the first time. Thus, the development can be characterized as an incremental process. The paper will analyse women’s access to power and influence in the Swedish parliament in three stages, which can be seen as critical junctures representing crucial institutional and discursive changes. Departing from feminist discursive institutionalism (Freidenvall & Krook 2011), the paper seeks to combine the tools of feminism and discursive institutionalism to better theorize the shape of the discourses employed in debates on women’s political representation, as well as the role of existing institutional contexts in facilitating – or hindering – women’s access to power and a gender equal representation. In particular, the paper will study (1) how institutional contexts shape discourses and (2) how discourses alter some, but possibly not all, parts of the broader institutional environment. A central argument made is that in order to explain women’s inroads to politics, one must pay close attention to both institutions, actors and discourses shaping the outcome. Key actors analysed are members of parliament, political parties, women’s federations, as well as the autonomous women’s movement. In addition to this, the paper will contain a specific section on women’s access to power within the Conservative (Moderate) Party.
