Designing Equality of Opportunity in National Innovation Systems Moving Towards Gender Conscious Policy, Performance Measurement, and Resource Allocation
The purpose of this study is to explain the variation in approaches to gender equality and innovation in Canada and Sweden through the study of policy, performance measurement, and resource allocation. This is the first study of its kind in comparative public policy to explore differences in gender equality and innovation policy in Canada and Sweden. This research also contributes more widely to the existing body of gender and public policy and innovation literature in Canada and Sweden respectively. This qualitative case study includes 44 interviews with innovation leaders in the public sector, private sector, and academia as well as policy experts at the OECD. This dissertation challenges assumptions about the social and economic power dynamics reflected in current innovation systems in both countries, through the theoretical lens of feminist institutionalism. The findings highlight similarities in the challenges faced in both countries to create gender equality in innovation spaces, despite differences in economic assets and welfare state models. The findings also explain the multiplicative effects of gender inequality at the intersection of institutions: university, government, and private sector.