Place, (In)Equality and Gender: A Mapping of Challenges and Best Practices in Relation to Gender, Education and Population Flows in Nordic Peripheral Areas

This report presents the results from a cross-Nordic mapping of existing research and literature on gender, education and population flows in the peripheral areas of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland and the autonomous territories of Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Åland. The Nordic Council of Ministers and the Danish Ministry of Children, Gender Equality, Integration and Social Affairs commission the mapping. The purpose of the mapping has been to highlight development trends and identify best practice cases across the Nordic region’s peripheral areas, and thus contribute to the exchange of knowledge and create a basis for joint talks and discussion. A pivotal aim of this mapping has been to shed light on the challenges facing the peripheral areas, while at the same time focusing on the intersection between gender and place/space. As stated in the mapping, the places where men and women live, and the spheres they move around in (e.g. in the family, in the educational institutions, at the workplaces, etc.) are all rooted in specific geographical locations, that contribute to define both which opportunity structures exist, and the degrees of freedom each individual face. Thus, the mapping is based on an understanding that gender must be taken into consideration, if one aims to fully understand trends in the peripheral areas of the Nordic countries.