Mäns våld mot kvinnor - våldet som inte syns? En problemanalys av svensk policy gällande mäns våld mot kvinnor ur ett feministiskt säkerhetsperspektiv

The purpose of this study was to analyze contemporary Swedish policy regarding men's violence against women. To achieve this the essay analyzed the national strategy from 2017 and the action program from 2024, using Carol Bacchi's "What's the problem represented to be?"-framework as a methodological tool. Previous research has pointed out that former Swedish policy, as well as other countries' policies, regarding men's violence against women tend to represent the issue in a way that reproduces gender hierarchy and structural causes of the violence. This motivate's the study's theoretical positioning within feminist security studies, since this theoretical framework addresses women's security interests as a matter of security. The results of the analysis pointed out that men's violence against women in the contemporary Swedish policy is addressed as one aspect of several forms of violence, which results in a marginalisation and neglection of the gender structure roots of men's violence against women. The results also showed that even though the strategy aims to address men's violence against women the victims and abusers tend to either be presented in a gender-neutral way or in a way that furthermore addresses the violence as a general form of violence.