To Örebro University

Abstract for GWO 2016, Stream: Exploring the Rise of Moderate Feminisms in Contemporary Organizations

 “Women’s professional career networks – a sisterhood 2.0?” 

Previous research on emergent moderate feminisms has so far been focusing on the creation of a new feminine, or feminist individualized subject, emerging in a postfeminist paradigm (Budgeon, 2015; Rottenberg, 2013; Dean, 2010; McRobbie, 2009). In this paper the aim is to draw attention to the specific forms of collectivity that can be said to take place in the discourse of moderate feminisms. This may seem a rather counterintuitive task, considering the apparent focus on individuality circulating within such feminisms. However, as made evident by the advent of Lean In circles – a practice informed by the feminist manifesto of Sheryl Sandberg (Sandberg, 2013; Rottenberg; 2013), it seems as though even the pursuit for individuality or individual success can take the shape of collective effort.

During the last decade, Sweden can be said to have experienced a growth in a similar kind of collective effort: that of women’s professional career- and business networks. This seems to point to the fact that Sweden, contrary to common belief, is not a gender equal society, but a society in which women need to form strategic alliances with other women in order to make career advancements. At the same time however, this strategy is strongly influenced by individual success and management of the self, pointing to the fact that Sweden also seem to take part in current strands of postfeminist neoliberal imageries. While networking in no way can be considered a new phenomenon, it is often depicted as such in these networks own accounts of what constitutes the networking experience.  Drawing on recent theories on moderate feminisms and its relation to the “post” in post feminism, this paper argues that the imagined “newness” of women’s professional networking can be said to connect both to current neoliberal strands of individuality, and to more radical feminist notions of “sisterhood” and separatism (often considered vital parts of “second wave feminism”).

Empirically the paper is based on the webpages of some of the current professional career- and business networks in Sweden, as well as their representation in the printed press. These accounts are also related to recent Swedish handbooks on how women should form their professional life and career (Marklund & Snickare, 2007; Lumikero & Norberg, 2011; Gustafsson & Sedell 2015). Focusing on the representation of women and networking and how it is related to moderate and radical forms of feminism highlights the fact that when theorising on moderate feminism, attention should be made to the specific kind of relationality that is being promoted within such a discourse. As this paper suggests, the neoliberal appropriation of feminism does not stop at the individual level but also influence the interactional level. It is thus not only a specific kind of subject that is being promoted through the emergent forms of  “moderate feminism”, but also what could be considered a specific kind of relationality – a “sisterhood 2.0”.