Abstract

This article explores the discourses of multiculturalism and gender equality in relation to nation-building in Finland. The two discourses relate differently to the nation so that gender equality is seen as inherent to the nation while multiculturalism is seen as a challenge posed from outside. Nevertheless, the two discourses are dependent upon each other and cite each other. The material for the analysis is a document produced by an NGO-based multicultural women’s project in Finland. The article can also be read as a contribution to the debate over the compatibility between gender equality and multiculturalism through an analysis of how gender equality - as an ideology and as a set of practices - is deeply embedded in the production of otherness in the Finnish context.