ABSTRACT
The chapter aims to analyse how the problem of gender inequality in academia has been constructed in Nordic and EU policies, with a particular emphasis on Sweden. Inspired by Bacchi’s “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” method the article investigates the presuppositions that underpin representations of the gender inequality in academia and how these representations of the problem have come about since the 1960s. The article shows how psychological and different ethical presuppositions form the basis for the problematisation of gender inequality and the policies and strategies aiming at achieving gender equality. It also shows that the representations exhibit differences and similarities between the Nordic countries and interdependence between the discussions in these countries, and that EU policies and regulations have had both a constraining and enabling role. The article ends with a discussion on what effects the different presuppositions might have had on the current situation for gender equality in academia.
