Gender politics in Sweden is considered unique because gender policies (jämställdhet) are integrated into national politics and politicised both in the public and the private sphere. The Swedish case is therefore considered a role model by many feminist scholars. This view has been criticised by both post modern feminists and public administration scholars. Critics imply that the increased immigration and more heterogeneous population have led to a new challenge for state institutions. The Swedish model, with its universal welfare solutions, lacks the ability to recognise differences within groups. Universal solutions that treat everyone the same is no longer the most just way to treat people. The growing use of goal orientation in Swedish public administration has increased the civil servants discretion in the implementation process, and thereby the space for differentiated treatment. This thesis aims to study the civil servants that implement gender policies in every day practice. It is focused on their interpretations of gender and gender equality and how this affects their exercise of authority. The thesis is a case study of two authorities in a heterogeneous area – the northern part of Botkyrka. By using a two-fold theoretical approach and combine two perspectives, feminism and a policy analysis, the study analyses how the front-line bureaucrats handle the tension between the universal welfare politics and the demands of the immigrants. The first theoretical approach presents two different feminist perspectives: one that values economic redistribution and one that find it more fair to recognise differences between women. The second approach introduces theories on implementation that makes it possible to study how interpretations have an impact on the exercise of authority in front-line bureaucracies. The main result of the study is that the front-line bureaucrats’ interpretations differ from the national gender politics. They have a more differentiated view of women than the universal Swedish gender politics. The study also shows that front-line bureaucrats tend to attribute negative cultural factors to immigrants. These prejudices find their way through the bureaucracy, into the public administration and the exercise of authority.

Social sustainability and digitalisation are two concepts that are gaining a large place in the public debate today, and are relevant in all sectors of society. For the public sector, the relevance can be traced to the global goals and the 2030 Agenda for sustainability, and Sweden's national ambitions to become the best in the world in taking advantage of digitalisation opportunities. The many possibilities of digitalisation are emphasized in many contexts in order to achieve the global goals, but digitalisation also entails challenges for many people who need to be considered and managed in order for development to take place in a socially sustainable way. The thesis aims to study social sustainability and digitalisation in an integrated way by examining how four Swedish municipalities with a social sustainability profile work with these issues, and how this is reflected in the digitalisation work. The study is based on interviews and document studies. Similarities and differences are explained from an organizational and governance perspective. The result shows that social sustainability is a difficult concept to define, and that it appears in many different forms, where there are difficulties in making all visible. However, the study has been able to show prominent aspects of social sustainability based on the literature, and how sustainability management can be conducted in a digital context. Further, it shows that the aspects of social sustainability that are emphasized in a digital context are largely related to the single efforts that are being made in each case and municipality. Similarities and differences in how the municipalities integrate social sustainability in the digitalisation work are explained on the basis of terms of organization, governance, sustainability management, branding and collaboration. / Social hållbarhet och digitalisering är två begrepp som erhåller stor plats i samhällsdebatten idag, och är aktuella i alla samhällssektorer. För offentlig sektor kan relevansen härledas till det globala arbetet med Agenda2030, och Sveriges nationella ambitioner om att bli bäst i världen på att tillvarata digitaliserings möjligheter, där kommuner är viktiga aktörer i utvecklingen. Digitaliseringens möjligheter framhålls i många sammanhang i syfte att nå de globala målen, men digitaliseringen medför också utmaningar för många människor som behöver betraktas och hanteras, för att utvecklingen ska ske på ett social hållbart sätt. Uppsatsen syftar till att studera social hållbarhet och digitalisering på ett integrerat sätt genom att undersöka hur fyra svenska kommuner med en social hållbarhetsprofil arbetar med frågorna, samt hur det återspeglas i digitaliseringsarbetet. Undersökningen baseras på intervjuer och dokumentstudier. Likheter och skillnader förklaras från ett organisations- och styrningsperspektiv. Studien har visat på att social hållbarhet är ett svårdefinierat begrepp som uppträder i många former, och att det finns svårigheter med att synliggöra alla. Studien har dock kunnat visa på framträdande aspekter av social hållbarhet i kommunala verksamheter utifrån litteraturen, och hur hållbarhetsstyrning kan bedrivas i en digital kontext. Vidare visar studien att de aspekter av social hållbarhet som framhålls i en digital kontext, är till större delen relaterade till de insatser som bedrivs inom varje kommun. Likheter och skillnader i hur kommunerna integrerar social hållbarhet i digitaliseringsarbetet förklaras utifrån termer om organisering och styrning, hållbarhetsstyrning, varumärkesarbete och samverkan.