{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.02590501494520093, 'fraction_numerical': 0.007970773829292593, 'mean_word_length': 5.547826086956522, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Special issue on “Nationalism, Gender Equality and Welfare—Intersectional Contestations and the Politics of Belonging”

The politics of belonging concern both the construction of boundaries and the in/ exclusion of particular people, social categories, and groupings within these boundaries. These politics are locally and globally situated and affect different members of these collectivities and communities differently. The importance of an intersectional approach in the analysis of the politics of belonging can therefore not be overestimated (Yuval-Davis 2011). Support for both the welfare state and gender equality is seen as important for the politics of belonging in a number of Western societies. At the same time, contemporary nationalist and populist parties (e.g. in the different Nordic countries) have formulated welfare and gender equality policies that have been criticized by many observers. The assumption of these parties is that all natives are already gender-equal, whereas migrants from non-Western countries are accused of oppressive behaviour in terms of such categories as gender and sexuality. The theme of this special issue is “Nationalism, Gender Equality and Welfare— Intersectional Contestations and the Politics of Belonging”. The articles address the transformations of (amongst others the Nordic) welfare states towards multi-ethnic nation states, and they focus on intersectional contestations and contested issues about gender equality and welfare, national belongings and identities. Since the 1970s, the Nordic welfare states have been perceived as social democratic models of social and gender equality. The particular version of welfare nationalism which can be recognized here presently faces problems with in/exclusion of immigrant minorities as equal citizens on the labour market and in democratic political processes (Brochmann & Hagelund 2010). As can also be noticed from previous articles in NORA, gender and feminist researchers have started to question critically the Nordic gender equality model, using different intersectional perspectives (see e.g. Norocel 2013; Hugemark & Roman 2014). One crucial issue is whether the Nordic gender equality model lives up to its normative claims as containing “state feminist” and “women-friendly” welfare states. Another issue concerns the divisions among native majority and ethnic minority women in relation to work, care, power, and empowerment (Nyhagen Predelli & Halsaa 2013). That is, to what extent are (gender) equality policies friendly towards all women (and men)—or do they mainly benefit the native majority and leave e.g. all issues related to ethnic minorities to other policies, regardless of whether these issues concern gender equality or not? Also, what are the reactions of ethnic minorities and women’s movements to these developments? The articles in this special issue address these questions in different ways. They demonstrate that there are similar intersectional contestations and negotiations