ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the multicultural challenge to the Danish welfare and gender regimes by exploring the different political approaches to gender equality and family relations. It discusses the different interpretations of the meaning and implications of migration and multiculturalism in relation to gender and family relations. The chapter focuses on the tensions in policy reforms and on the contradictions in the dominant discourses about gender equality and family relations. Danish exceptionalism is explored by employing a comparative Scandinavian approach. The countries, which for many years were relatively homogenous, have witnessed the increased immigration of third country nationals outside the European Union (EU) and North America since the 1960s and especially since the late 1980s. The chapter discusses the specificities of Danish welfare, gender equality and immigration policies in relation to the Norwegian and Swedish policies, focusing on the implications of the Scandinavian approaches to welfare and gender equality for the recognition of cultural diversity.
