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Johanna Kantola

Member of the University Board
Operations Management and Administrative Services

About me

I am Professor of Gender Studies at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Tampere University. I obtained my PhD in Politics at the University of Bristol in 2004 and became Docent in Politics at the University of Helsinki in 2007.

My research centres on gender, power and politics: political parties and institutions, gender equality policies in Finland and in the EU, and theoretical questions about the state, representation and intersectionality. I am the director of the ERC Consolidator Grant (2018-2023) funded research project Gender, party politics and democracy in Europe: A study of European Parliament’s party groups (EUGenDem). I am also the director of the Academy of Finland (2016-2020) and University of Helsinki Research Funds (2015-2017) funded research project Gender and Power in Reconfigured Corporatist Finland (GePoCo).

My books include Gender and Political Analysis (with Emanuela Lombardo, Palgrave, 2017), Gender and the European Union (Palgrave, 2010) and Feminists Theorize the State (Palgrave, 2006). I have co-edited The Oxford Handbook on Gender and Politics (Oxford University Press, 2013, with Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis and Laurel Weldon), Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe: Politics, Institutions and Intersectionality (Palgrave 2017, with Emanuela Lombardo), Tasa-arvo toisin nähtynä: Oikeuden ja politiikan näkökulmia tasa-arvoon ja yhdenvertaisuuteen (Gaudeamus, 2012, with Kevät Nousiainen and Milja Saari) and Changing State Feminism (Palgrave, 2007, with Joyce Outshoorn).

I am the Editor of Palgrave Macmillan’s Gender and Politics Book Series with Sarah Childs.

Selected publications

Scientific monographs

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (2017) Gender and Political Analysis (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

Johanna Kantola (2010) Gender and the European Union (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan). Translated into Polish: Polityka równości płci w Unii Europejskiej, 2012, Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN

Johanna Kantola (2006) Feminists Theorize the State (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

Johanna Kantola (2005) Mykät, kuurot ja kadotetut: Sukupuolten välinen tasa-arvo Helsingin yliopiston valtio-opin laitoksella. Acta Politica 29 (Helsinki: Yliopistopaino).

Edited volumes and special issue

Johanna Kantola, Paula Koskinen Sandberg ja Hanna Ylöstalo (eds.) (2020) Tasa-arvopolitiikan suunnanmuutoksia: Talouskriisistä tasa-arvon kriiseihin (Helsinki: Gaudeamus).

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (eds.) (2017) Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe: Politics, Institutions and Intersectionality (Palgrave Macmillan).

Karen Celis, Sarah Childs and Johanna Kantola (2016) Guest editors. Party Politics 22 (5). Special issue: Re-gendering Party Politics.

Georgina Waylen, Karen Celis, Johanna Kantola and Laurel Weldon (eds.) (2013) The Oxford Handbook on Gender and Politics (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Johanna Kantola, Kevät Nousiainen, and Milja Saari (eds.) (2012) Tasa-arvo toisin nähtynä. Oikeuden ja politiikan näkökulmia tasa-arvoon ja yhdenvertaisuuteen (Helsinki: Gaudeamus).

Johanna Kantola and Kevät Nousiainen (2009). Guest editors. International Feminist Journal of Politics 11 (4), Special Issue: Institutionalising Intersectionality in Europe.

Joyce Outshoorn and Johanna Kantola (eds.) (2007) Changing State Feminism (Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan).

Johanna Kantola ja Johanna Valenius (eds.) (2007) Toinen maailmanpolitiikka: 10 käsitettä feministiseen kansainvälisten suhteiden tutkimukseen (Tampere: Vastapaino).

Refereed journal articles (past 10 years)

Anna Elomäki and Johanna Kantola (2020) ‘European Social Partners as Gender Equality Actors in EU Social and Economic Governance,’ Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS), forthcoming.

Emanuela Lombardo and Johanna Kantola (2019) ‘European integration and disintegration: Feminist perspectives to inequalities and social justice’, Journal of Common Market Studies Review, forthcoming.

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (2019): ‘Populism and feminist politics: The cases of Finland and Spain’, European Journal of Political Research (EJPR). Open access: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12333

Johanna Kantola and Lise Rolandsen Agustin (2019): ‘Gendering the representative work of the European Parliament: A political analysis of women MEP’s perceptions of gender equality in party groups’, Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS), Open access: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jcms.12885

Johanna Kantola (2019) ‘Women’s organizations of political parties: Formal possibilities, informal challenges and discursive controversies’. NORA – Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2018.1529703

Saari, Milja, Johanna Kantola and Paula Koskinen Sandberg (2019) “Implementing Equal Pay Policy: Clash Between Gender Equality and Corporatism”, Social Politics. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxz020

Anna Elomäki, Johanna Kantola, Anu Koivunen and Hanna Ylöstalo (2019) ‘Affective Virtuosity: Challenges for Governance Feminism in the Context of the Economic Crisis’. Gender, Work & Organization. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12313

Anna Elomäki, Paula Koskinen Sandberg, Johanna Kantola and Milja Saari (2019) ‘Työmarkkinajärjestöt valtiollisen tasa-arvopolitiikan tyhjiötä täyttämässä? Työmarkkinakeskusjärjestöjen tasa-arvoulostulot vuosina 2010-2016’. Sosiologia. Accepted for publication. Forthcoming.

Johanna Kantola and Mieke Verloo (2018) ’Re-visiting gender equality at times of recession: A discussion of gender and politics scholarship’s strategies of dealing with equality’, European Journal of Politics and Gender 1 (1-2), 205-222.

Johanna Kantola (2018) ‘Gender and the Economic Crisis: Political Parties as Sites of Feminist Struggles’, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society 25 (3), 361–382. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxy008

Anna Elomäki and Johanna Kantola (2018) ‘Theorizing feminist struggles in the triangle of neoliberalism, conservatism, and nationalism’, Social Politics 25 (3), 337-360. Open access: https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxy013

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (2017) ‘Feminist political analysis: exploring hegemonies, silences, and novelties’, Feminist Theory 18 (3), 323-341.

Elina Ikävalko and Johanna Kantola (2017) “Feminist resistance and resistance to feminism in gender equality planning in Finland”. European Journal of Women’s Studies 24 (3), 233-248.

Johanna Kantola and Lise Rolandsen Agustin (2016) ‘Gendering transnational party politics: The case of European Union’, Party Politics 22 (5), 641-651.

Kirsi Eräranta and Johanna Kantola (2016) ‘The Europeanization of Nordic Gender Equality: A Foucauldian Analysis of Reconciling Work and Family’, Gender, Work & Organization 23 (4), 414-430.

Anna Elomäki, Johanna Kantola, Anu Koivunen and Hanna Ylöstalo (2016) ‘Kamppailu tasa-arvosta: tunne, asiantuntijuus ja vastarinta strategisessa valtiossa’, Sosiologia 53 (4), 257-275.

Johanna Kantola (2015) ‘Political Science as a Gendered Discipline in Finland’ in European Political Science (EPS), 14 (2), 79-86.

Johanna Kantola (2014) ‘The Paradoxical Gendered Consequences of the EU Policy on Multiple Discrimination: The Nordic Case’, European Integration Online Papers, 18 (1), 1-19.

Karen Celis, Sarah Childs, Johanna Kantola and Mona Lena Krook (2014) ‘Constituting women’s interests through representative claims’, Politics & Gender, 10 (2), 149-170.

Kevät Nousiainen, Anne Maria Holli, Johanna Kantola, Milja Saari and Linda Hart (2013) ‘Theorizing Gender Equality: Perspectives on Power and Equality’, Social Politics 20 (1), 41-64.

Sanna Karkulehto, Tuija Saresma, Hannele Harjunen and Johanna Kantola (2012) ’Intersektionaalisuus metodologiana ja performatiivisen intersektionaalisuuden haaste’, Naistutkimus-Kvinnoforskning 25 (4), 17–28.

Johanna Kantola and Judith Squires (2012) ‘From State Feminism to Market Feminism’, International Political Science Review, 13 (3), 382-400.

Johanna Kantola, Cristian Norocel and Jemima Repo (2011) ‘Gendering School Shootings in Finland’, European Journal of Women’s Studies, 18 (2), 183-198.

Johanna Kantola (2010) ‘Shifting institutional and ideational terrains: the impact of Europeanization and neoliberalism on women’s policy agencies’, Policy & Politics 38 (3), 353-368.

Johanna Kantola and Kevät Nousiainen (2009) ‘Institutionalising Intersectionality in Europe: Introducing the Theme’, International Feminist Journal of Politics 11 (4), 459-477.

Johanna Kantola (2009) ‘Women’s Political Representation in the European Union’, Journal of Legislative Studies 15 (4), 379-400.

Karen Celis, Sarah Childs, Johanna Kantola and Mona Lena Krook (2008) ’Rethinking Women’s Substantive Representation’, Representation: The Journal of Representative Democracy 44 (2), 99-110.

Johanna Kantola (2008) ‘“Why do all the women disappear?” Gendering processes in a Political Science Department’, Gender, Work & Organization 15 (2), 202-225.

Johanna Kantola and Kevät Nousiainen (2008) ‘Pussauskoppiin? Tasa-arvo- ja yhdenvertaisuuslakien yhdistämisestä’, Naistutkimus-Kvinnoforskning 2/2008, 6-21.

Chapters in Research Books (past 5 years)

Markus Warasin, Johanna Kantola, Lise Rolandsen Agustín and Ciara Coughlan (2020) ‘Politicisation of Gender Equality in the European Parliament: Cohesion and Inter-Group Coalitions in Plenary and Committees’ in Petra Ahrens and Lise Rolandsen Agustin (eds.) Gendering the European Parliament: Structures, Policies and Practices (London: Rowman and Littlefield, ECPR press), 141-158.

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (2017) ‘EU gender equality policies’ in Hubert Heinelt and Sybille Münch (eds.) Handbook of European Policies: Interpretive Approaches to the EU (Edward Elgar), 331–352.

Elomäki, Anna and Johanna Kantola (2017) ‘Austerity and feminist resistance in Finland: Between established women’s organisations and new movements’, in Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (eds.) Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave), 231-255.

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (2017) ‘Gender and the Politics of the Economic Crisis in Europe’ in Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (eds.) Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave), 1–25.

Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (2017) ‘Conclusions: Understanding Gender and the Politics of the Economic Crisis in Europe’ in Johanna Kantola and Emanuela Lombardo (eds.) Gender and the Economic Crisis in Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave).

Johanna Kantola (2016) ‘State/Nation’ in Mary Hawkesworth and Lisa Disch (eds.) Oxford Handbook on Feminist Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 915-933.

Marjaana Jauhola and Johanna Kantola (2016) ‘Globaali sukupuolikysymys Suomessa’ in Marita Husso and Risto Heiskala (eds.) Sukupuolikysymys (Helsinki: Gaudeamus), 209–230.

Johanna Kantola (2016) ’The Gendered State in International Relations’, in Jill Steans and Daniela Tepe-Belfrage (eds.) Handbook of Gender in World Politics (Oxford: Edgar Elgar), 77-85.

Johanna Kantola (2016) ‘Euroopan unioni sukupuolten tasa-arvoa edistämässä’ in Jouko Kajanoja and Eero Yrjö-Koskinen (eds.) Hajoaako unioni? (Helsinki: Into Kustannus), 209-230.

Johanna Kantola and Milja Saari (2014) ’Conservative Women MP’s Constructions of Gender Equality in Finland’ in Karen Celis and Sarah Childs (eds.) Gender, Conservatism and Political Representation (Colchester: ECPR Press), 183-205.