Nordic Gender Institute

The Nordic Gender Institute (NIKK) (Norwegian: Nordisk institutt for kunnskap om kjønn), previously Nordic Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Research, was a transnational resource and information centre for gender research and gender equality in the Nordic countries.

The Institute aimed at constituting a bridge between Nordic gender research and equality politics. It co-operated closely with the Nordic Ministers for Co-operation on Gender Equality and the Nordic Executive Committee on Gender Equality. It claimed to contribute to the implementation of the Nordic cooperation programme on gender equality: "Focus on Gender: Working toward an Equal Society" (2006-2010). It initiated projects with the goal of gender equality, and coordinated and carried out investigations, studies, surveys, reports and opinions.

The Institute was located at the University of Oslo in Norway. It employed research coordinators, researchers, information advisors, and administrative personnel – in 2010 the staff consisted of six employees from four of the Nordic countries.

In 2011, the Nordic Council of Ministers decided to reorganize NIKK, from a Nordic institute to a Nordic co-operation programme. A bidding round was announced in 2012. The co-operation programme was to further develop the information function, administer a Nordic funding scheme for gender equality and serve as project secretariat. The University of Gothenburg and the Swedish Secretariat for Gender Research won the bidding.

Nordic Information on Gender, NIKK, was established in late 2012 and the programme's assignment expires at the end of 2015. As the acronym NIKK is established in the Nordic region and beyond, and associated with information, research and knowledge related to gender and gender equality, the Nordic co-operation programme continues to use NIKK.

Certain journalists have speculated about the decision to restructure NIKK, and its relation to the public debate that followed the seven-part television documentary series "Hjernevask" ('Brainwash'), by the comedian and documentarian Harald Eia, which aired in spring 2010 on the Norwegian broadcasting service NRK. However, the Norwegian Research Council has denied that the programme had any influence on its decision not to renew the Norwegian research programme on gender in 2011.

The gender researcher Marit Aure speculates, however, that the discussions on gender research, following the programme, might have influenced the decision indirectly, by presenting gender research in Norway as a more established field than actually was the case. Anders Hanneborg, involved in the Norwegian Research Council's committee that evaluated the Norwegian gender research programme's renewal application, explained that the programme was not renewed in order to decentralize and strengthen gender research in Norway. He also denied directly that the television programme "Hjernevask" was any part of their discussions on the issue. The Norwegian research programme on gender had received funding in 2008 for a period of four years, which expired in 2011. The Norwegian research programme, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, was not related to NIKK, which was funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.

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