Intersectional Policy Analysis –Doing Risk in the Case of Gender Based Violence

Drawing from the experiences of a research project focusing on gender based violence in rural Sweden and South Africa the paper focus on how government policies aimed at addressing violence against girls and young women is framed, understood, negotiated and contested in relation to space and place. Rönnblom (2008) has already shown how bringing space into the intersectional policy analysis increases the knowledge about how the political is produced in policy. To this perspective we also ad on ‘doing risk’ theory where risk is seen as performative. This makes the different power relations visible and the production of power in policy is better understood as it highlights how some dimensions is given priority in relation to others. The way in which national policies are implemented are not an natural given response to what the policy suggests but is also affected by the ways in which the actors involved understand translate and enact them as they perceive and define the situation at hand. The paper draws on intersectional risk analysis applied in the field of policy and is based on policydocument analysis as well as interviews with stakeholder, school authorities and school personnel working in the local community. The analysis shows how policy originating from the center often gives urban dimensions priority over rural and different risks related to gender equality is negotiated in relation to different axes of power including place.