Gender equality and liberal individualism: A critical reading of economist discourse in Sweden

•The representation of gender inequality in top management lack alignment with the suggested measures for change.•There are contradictions between the author's liberal ideological premises and the implied meaning of gender.•Presuppositional silences work manipulatively because the reader must implicitly recognize a traditional view of gender.•Individual men lack agency; individual women are positioned with agency and thus accountability for their own situation.

SummaryAlthough Sweden is considered egalitarian, very few women hold top corporate positions. The present study used critical discourse analysis to examine texts by the economist Henrekson (2004), contrasted with another economist Boschini (2004), within a Swedish Centre for Business and Policy Studies project designed to increase the number of women in top corporate positions. Contradictions appeared between Henrekson's ideological stance adhering to liberal individualism, and the implied, normative meaning of gender. Individual men lack agency regarding household and family, while individual women are positioned with agency and thus accountability. Traditional gender constructions and the removal of male agency may undermine the realization of proposed measures, and should be questioned if gender equality in top corporate positions is to be realized.