How much do global norms on gender equality influence national policies?

Immense efforts are invested in shaping global ideas and norms about the good society. Declarations, conventions, and agreements are repeatedly negotiated in international forums to reach a common understanding of how societies and social relations should be organized. Recently, heads of state of all countries in the world have agreed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals, but how important are they for people’s lives? To what extent do global ideas influence national policies?

Taking the case of internationally agreed norms on gender equality, a new article by Lars Engberg-Pedersen analyses the extent to which a recent Danish development policy on gender equality is shaped by such norms. The conclusion is mixed: While global norms influence the policy, they do not determine it. The policy disputes some normative ideas and promotes others, and it is the result of a highly contingent policy-making process influenced by intra- as well as extra-organizational factors.