What kind of feminist governance? An intersectional analysis of the Swedish Remiss System

Sweden is viewed internationally as a bastion of feminist governance: commended for its ‘feminist foreign policy’, as well as deeply ingrained norms of gender equality, transparency and accountability within its national politics and democratic institutions. However, increasing polarisation, the rise of the far right, and associated femonationalism all pose challenges to inclusive politics and governance. Furthermore, Swedish state feminism has received mounting critique for its approach to racial and Indigenous injustices and intersectionality. How then, do intersectional inequalities relating to gender, race and Indigeneity play out in the Swedish parliament’s flagship mechanism for policy consultation and scrutiny: the ‘Remiss’ system? Drawing on quantitative and qualitative analysis of parliamentary consultations during the period 2020-2025 we address two questions: How are gender and its intersections with racial and Indigenous inequalities constituted in Swedish parliamentary consultations? How does the access and influence of relevant civil society actors vary within this process, depending on whether they represent women, racialised or Indigenous minorities, or intersectionally marginalised groups such as minoritised or Indigenous women? Our findings reveal important intersectional inequalities within the Remiss system. Not only are there significant differences in the level of access and influence afforded to different marginalised groups–in part because inequalities are primarily constituted in single axis terms–there is also evidence that racially minoritised and Indigenous groups are often stereotyped, scapegoated and instrumentalised through the very processes they are invited to participate within. More broadly, we argue that what constitutes ‘feminism’ within feminist governance deserves greater interrogation, not only in the context of the far right, but across the political spectrum, and within parliamentary procedures as well as their substantive outcomes.