Feminist Research in Misogynistic Times: An Interview with Drude Dahlerup

I met with Drude Dahlerup who is a Professor of Political Science at Stockholm University and an Honorary Professor at the Institute for Social Sciences and Business and the Centre for Gender, Power and Diversity at Roskilde University. She was one of the pioneers in the Danish Redstocking Movement, that kickstarted the second wave of feminism. Furthermore, she was part of establishing Women’s Studies, which she describes as a flourishing, international, scientific discipline. Throughout her career, she has worked on the topics of women’s political representation, gender quota systems and social movements including the history of Women’s Movements. With the goal of empowering women and increasing women’s political representation in countries all over the world, she has put her academic knowledge into practice in the role as international advisor for the United Nations, the Inter-Parliamentary UNION (IPU), the Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy to Bhutan, Egypt, Sierra Leone a. o. She has been a vocal, feminist researcher who has never been afraid to push controversial feminist agendas. In this interview, she offers her personal experience with resistance to women in academia and feminist science in general, as well as her unique insight into Danish politicians’ current approach to gender equality and the #MeToo Move-ment. She points out that, currently, Denmark is falling behind on gender equity measures, be-cause we remain stuck in a focus on women’s alleged shortcomings, rather than focusing on the patriarchal structures that hinder equal access to high status positions such as academia or politi-cal seats in parliament. Situating Drude Dahlerup Skewes: “I would like to start by asking you to situ-ate yourself both as a feminist and as a researcher – what kind of labels would you take on?”Dahlerup: “I would say that I’m part of the first generation of people who created Women’s Studies, which later became Gender Studies. In the beginning, we were only one or two feminist researchers at each Institute, and we would not have survived if we had not been situated in the larger Women’s Movement.