Equality to economics, feminism to fiscal policy: Tensions of feminist knowledge and politics in the strategic state (FEMTIE)

Evidence-based policy has become one of the main ideals of policy making in the 2000s in Finland as well as internationally. FEMTIE project examines tense relations between knowledge, politics and democracy. Politics is about values and ideologies, and knowledge – what do we know, what constitutes as knowledge, whose knowledge counts, how knowledge is used – is tied to political battles. 

FEMTIE takes as its focus economic policy and economic knowledge as well as their feminist critique. By analyzing feminist politics FEMTIE makes visible alternatives to hegemonic economic thinking. It also analyzes feminist politics critically, especially how the turn towards evidence and expertise in feminist politics depoliticizes feminist knowledge and pushes civil society actors further away from political arenas. 

FEMTIE combines theory and action by searching for alternative and more democratic ways of knowing. 

FEMTIE is led by Hanna Ylöstalo. The project project began 1.1.2021 and will end 30.6.2024. It is carried out at the Department of Social Research at the University of Turku. 

FEMTIE is funded by Kone Foundation.

What does FEMTIE do?

• Examines the tense relations between knowledge, expertise and politics
• Takes as its focus the economy, economic knowledge and economic policy
• Searches for alternatives to hegemonic economic thinking from feminist knowledge and feminist politics
• Experiments with new forms of political participation with civil society actors