About me
I am Academy Research Fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Tampere University. My research focuses on the intersections of gender, politics and the economy in Finland and at European Union (EU) level. I have studied, among other things, the gendered assumptions and impacts of economic policies, gendered and de-democratized practices of economic governance and economic policymaking, economization of gender equality policies, gender budgeting, and theoretical questions related to neoliberalism, economization and democracy. Gender equality policy, the European Parliament and European party politics, and corporatism have also been among my research themes. My current research focuses the impacts of EU economic governance on gender equality, social reproduction and democracy in member states.
My research is qualitative, and it is located in the fields of feminist political economy, gender and politics, and EU studies.
I am an active member of the international gender and politics community: I am associate editor of the European Journal of Gender and Politics and co-chair of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) Standing Group on Gender and Politics.
As a researcher, I am oriented to having a high societal impact. I engage with Finnish and EU-level policymakers in different ways, and I regularly work as a consultant for gender equality issues for Finnish government administration and different EU institutions. For instance, I have led, together with Hanna Ylöstalo, the research projects "Effectiveness and functioning of government action plans for gender equality" (2022–2023) and “Gender equality in the budget” (2017-2018) funded by the Finnish government's analysis, assessment and research activities.
You can access my full CV with a list of publications at the end of this page.
Project links
Main positions of trust
Editorial positions
Associate Editor of European Journal of Political and Gender, 2025–
Chief Editor with Hanna Ylöstalo of Poliittinen talous [Finnish Journal of Political Economy], 2021–2022
Chief Editor with Marjaana Jauhola and Mianna Meskus of Sukupuolentutkimus-Genusforskning [Finnish Journal of Gender Studies], 2014–2015
Other positions of trust
Co-chair and elected member of Steering Committee of the European Consortium of Political Research (ECPR) Standing Group on Gender and Politics, 2025–2029
Vice-chair of the Finnish Association for Gender Studies, 2024–2025
Vice-chair of the Finnish Association for Political Economy, 2022–2023
Board member of the Finnish Association for Political Economy, 2019–2022
Member of the Gender, Economy and Power division of the Finnish Council for Gender Equality, 2016-2019
Research career
Education and academic titles
Title of Docent in Gender Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland, 2020
Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, History, Culture and Art Studies, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2012. Title of doctoral dissertation: Feminist political togetherness: Rethinking the collective dimension of feminist politics.
Master of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, 2005. Major subjects: gender studies, sociology and political science
Selected previous positions
Senior Research in ERC Consolidator Grant project “Gender, party politics and democracy in Europe: a study of European Parliament's party groups” (EUGENDEM), Faculty of Social Sciences, Tampere University, Finland (2018-2022).
Academy of Finland Post Doctoral Fellow, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Helsinki, Finland (2016-2018). PI of project “Equality for growth and competitiveness: Economization of gender equality policy and advocacy in the European Union”
Postdoctoral Researcher in Academy Professor project “Politics of Philosophy and Gender”), Faculty of Philosophy, University of Helsinki, Finland (2012-2016)
Selected publications
My publications include 49 peer reviewed scientific journal articles and books chapters; three scientific books, 9 edited books or journal special issues, and over 40 non-peer reviewed publications. Most of my publications are open access.
Authored and edited books
Elomäki, Anna and Ylöstalo, Hanna (2024) Governing gender equality policy. Pathways in a changing Nordic welfare state. Palgrave Macmillan.
Berthet, Valentine, Gaweda, Barbara, Kantola, Johanna, Miller, Cherry, Ahrens, Petra and Elomäki, Anna (2023) Guide to qualitative research in parliaments. Experiences and practices. Palgrave Macmillan.
Ahrens, Petra, Elomäki, Anna and Kantola, Johanna (Eds.) (2022) European Parliament’s Political Groups in Turbulent Times. Palgrave Macmillan.
Elomäki, Anna, Kantola, Johanna and Koskinen Sandberg, Paula (Eds.) (2022). Social partners and gender equality: Change and continuity in gendered corporatism in Europe. Palgrave McMillan.
Peer-reviewed articles
Elomäki, Anna (2025) Toward a Caring Economy? The Role of Care in the European Union’s Covid-19 Recovery Policies. Feminist Economics (online first) https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2025.2482535
Paul Copeland, Elomäki, Anna and Gaweda, Barbara (2024) Filtering politicisation towards a more social Europe? The European Parliament and EU social legislation. Journal of European Public Policy 32(6), 1467–1491. https://doi.org/10.1080/13501763.2024.2345840
Elomäki, Anna (2024) Austerity and its alternatives in the European Parliament: From the Eurozone crisis to the COVID-19 crisis. Comparative European Politics, 22, 371–388. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41295-023-00363-3
Elomäki, Anna and Kantola, Johanna (2023). Feminist Governance in the European Parliament: The Political Struggle over the Inclusion of Gender in the EU’s Covid-19 Response. Politics & Gender 19(2): 327-348, https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X21000544
Kantola, Johanna, Elomäki, Anna, Gaweda, Barbara, Miller, Cherry, Ahrens, Petra and Berthet, Valentine (2023) “It’s like shouting in the brick wall”: Normative whiteness and racism in the European Parliament. American Political Science Review, 117(1): 184-199, https://doi.org/10.1017/S000305542200065X
Elomäki, Anna and Ahrens, Petra (2022) Contested gender mainstreaming in the European Parliament: political groups and committees as gatekeepers. European Journal of Politics and Gender, 5(3): 322-340, https://doi.org/10.1332/251510822X16547712638806
Cavaghan, Rosalind and Elomäki, Anna (2022). Dead ends and blind spots in the European Semester: The epistemological foundation of the crisis in social reproduction. Journal of Common Market Studies, 60(4): 885-902, https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13288
Elomäki, Anna (2021). Economization of expert knowledge about gender equality in the European Union. Social Politics: International Studies in State, Gender & Society, 28(4), 1162–1184. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxaa005
Elomäki, Anna and Kantola, Johanna (2020). European social partners as gender equality actors in EU social and economic governance. Journal of Common Market Studies 58(4), 999–1015. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.13018
Elomäki, Anna (2019). Governing austerity: Governance reforms as facilitators of gendered austerity in Finland. Australian Feminist Studies 34 (100), 182–197, https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2019.1644607
Anna Elomäki and Johanna Kantola (2018) Theorizing Feminist Struggles in the Triangle of Neoliberalism, Conservatism and Nationalism. Social Politics: International Studies in State, Gender & Society, 25:3, p. 337-360. https://doi.org/10.1093/sp/jxy013
Elomäki, Anna (2015) The economic case for gender equality in the European Union: Selling gender equality to decision-makers or neoliberalism to feminist organizations. European Journal of Women’s Studies 22(3), 288–302. https://doi.org/10.1177/1350506815571142