This survey, based on 88 responses from civil society organisations, academics, and government officials in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the Åland Islands, and Greenland, demonstrates that opposition to gender equality work is prevalent across the Nordic region. The findings indicate that anti-gender politics is not limited to geopolitical contexts outside the Nordic region, despite the region’s international reputation as a global leader in gender equality.
Respondents reported hybrid forms of opposition particularly directed at gender mainstreaming, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and LGBTQI+ rights. Reported forms of opposition included death threats, threats against family members, stalking, sexual harassment, physical violence, online harassment, smear campaigns, and threats or initiation of legal measures and formal complaints. Opposition was encountered across all three sectors examined: civil society organisations, academia, and government officials. Threats and harassment occurred both online and offline and varied in frequency and severity.
The findings indicate that these forms of intimidation have concrete and severe personal and professional consequences. Respondents reported reduced motivation, withdrawal from public engagement, avoidance of gender equality-related topics, concerns about personal safety, and, in some cases concealing parts of their identity or taking sick leave. At a structural level, opposition distracts and disrupts gender equality work. Reduced funding further compounds the negative impact of opposition directed at gender equality experts. The findings also suggest that discursive opposition to gender equality, SRHR, and LGBTQI+ rights may slow down or postpone the implementation of equality policies across the Nordic region.
The high frequency and cross-sectoral nature of reported opposition raise the question of coordinated anti-gender campaigning within the Nordic region. The absence of significant regional variation in response patterns, together with substantial similarities in the types and frequency of opposition reported across countries, may indicate that organised anti-gender politics have gained a foothold across the region. The findings further suggest that even countries widely regarded as global role models in gender equality are not immune to transnational anti-gender propaganda and politics. An important issue beyond the scope of this survey is the urgent need for additional mechanisms to monitor foreign funding to the Nordic region as a potential security threat.
Existing research, gathered to strengthen the theoretical background of this survey, shows that anti-gender movements often rely on discursive opposition in their pushback strategies, such as framing the concept of gender as ideological. The survey findings align with this claim and furthermore, also suggest overlap between transnational anti-transgender push-back and broader opposition to gender equality. This highlights the need to better understand the role of gender-affirming healthcare within anti-gender rhetoric and politics. Further research and evidence-based policy are needed to assess these dynamics.
Finally, in the Nordic context, discursive opposition frequently frames men and boys as a neglected group within gender equality advancement policy, despite the fact that Nordic countries explicitly include men and boys as part of their official gender equality policies. Through this type of discursive pushback, the concept of equality itself is not rejected, but rather reframed by questioning the legitimacy of intersectional approaches to gender equality work.
Taken together, the reported hybrid forms of opposition to gender equality work pose risks to core democratic principles in Nordic societies, including academic freedom and the right to participate in civil society work without harassment, intimidation, or threats of violence.
The findings underline the need for both short-term protective measures and long-term strategic responses, including sustainable funding mechanisms for gender equality and human rights work. Political commitments and actions undertaken by the Nordic Council of Ministers and national governments are important steps; however, further research is needed on the potential role of transnational networks, foreign funding streams, information manipulation, and other forms of interference affecting not only gender equality work but also societal resilience and security in the Nordic region.
Strengthened and sustained Nordic cooperation is therefore essential to address the challenges posed by transnational anti-gender mobilisation, as well as to strengthen democratic decision-making and maintain open and inclusive public debate in the Nordic region.