The role of gender in the transnational movement of criminal justice policies: a case study of the Swedish influence on Northern Ireland sex work policy. 

• In Event: Gender and justice

Abstract

There has been a growing interest in mapping and making sense of the movement of criminal justice policies and practices around the globe. Work on this topic has drawn on political science ideas on policy transfer and geographical ideas on policy mobilities. It has also echoed such literature in ignoring the role of gender within the movement of policies between places. Addressing this omission, this paper examines the role of gender within the movement of the so-called ‘Swedish model’ into Northern Ireland - a central pillar of the Swedish model being the criminalisation of the buying of sex. Empirically, there is evidence that gender has played a significant role in the mobility and immobility of sex work policy knowledge. This includes the gendered labour and power of the policy actors involved, as well as the gendered narratives that they share.

Author

• Laura Dodds, Northumbria University