This thesis examines conceptions of gender revealed by people when assessing texts. The research questions are: What associations can be discerned between gender conceptions and ideas about the quality of texts? What features of content and style are perceived as female or male? The study seeks to develop a method for comparing different people’s assessments of the same text. The material was collected by means of questionnaires in which 114 informants were asked to assess three anonymous student texts and then guess the sex of the writer. The material has been analysed quantitatively by correlating the assessments of the texts with the guesses about the sex of the author, and qualitatively, as the informants’ freely worded assessments of the texts were analysed for content and form with the support of assumptions about how assessments are expressed in text. The result shows that the assessments do not significantly correlate with assumptions about the sex of the writer, although there is a tendency to regard textual flow as feminine. Informants rarely bring up gender spontaneously when assessing texts. The properties of a writer that are mentioned are instead intellectual capacity, ambitions, social background and self-confidence. But when informants are asked to guess the sex of the author and state reasons for their answers, dichotomous stereotypes appear, such as that men’s texts are characterized by individualism, a focus on facts, self-confidence, simplicity, and slovenly and terse language, whereas women are assumed to write altruistically, focusing on experiences, with care and complexity, and in a polished and narrative style. This thesis argues that writing is increasingly perceived as a female domain, and discusses the results of text assessment on the basis of Nicky Le Feuvre’s (2009) theories of the effect of feminization processes on the gender order.

The purpose of the study was to investigate wheter a feminization process is taking place in the Swedish school profession in Södertälje during the 1920s. This is a turbulent period for women in Sweden in terms of their human rights and in connection whit this, a change is taking place in the Swedish “småskolan”, where most of the female teachers work. An integration between the “folkskolan” and the “småskolan” takes place, which results in that the “småskolan” profession disapears. It is Christina Florin and her theories of feminization that underlie the work. It is Florin´s previous research on feminization in the “småskolan” that took place 50 years earlier that helps lay the theory of the essay. The questions from which the survey was based on is: 1. What was the gender distribution in recruitment to “folkskolllärar” positions in Södertälje 1920-1925? 2. What were the backgrounds of those recruited to “folkskollärar” positions in Södertälje during the time period? 3. How does the feminization manifest in “folkskollärar” positions in Södertälje? Is there a clear feminization process? The source material that has been used to answer the questions has come from Södertäje stadsarkiv and Södertälje föreningsarkiv. It is information in the form of protocols and journals written by, among others, skolverket that has been analyzed and presented in a case study from a micro historical perspective. What the study ends up showing is that there is a form of a feminization process within the “folkskola” in Södertälje during the 1920s. A majority of men leave the profession and at the same time as more women come in. The women in this profession receive a higher salary and a higher status thanks to the new professional title they now hold. / Syftet med studien som har gjorts var att undersöka om det sker en feminiseringsprocess i folkskolläraryrket i Södertälje under 1920-talet. Detta är en turbulent period för kvinnor i Sverige när det gäller deras mänskliga rättigheter och i samband med detta så sker en förändring inom småskolan där till största del kvinnor jobbar. En integrering mellan folkskolan och småskolan sker vilket gör att småskollärarprofessionen försvinner och det blir en gemensam yrkeskår. Det är Christina Florin och hennes teorier gällande feminisering som ligger i grund för arbetet. Det är Florins tidigare forskning gällande feminisering inom småskolan som skedde 50 år tidigare som hjälper att lägga en teoribildning. Frågeställningen som undersökningen har utgått ifrån är: 4. Hur såg den könsmässiga fördelningen i rekryteringen till folkskollärarbefattningar ut i Södertälje 1920–1925? 5. Vilken bakgrund hade de som rekryterades till folkskollärarbefattningar i Södertälje under perioden? 6. Hur visar sig feminiseringen i folkskollärarbefattningar i Södertälje? Finns det en tydlig feminiseringsprocess? Källmaterialet som har används för att besvara på frågeställningen har kommit från Södertälje stadsarkiv och Södertäljes föreningsarkiv. Det är information i form av protokoll och journaler som skrivits av bland annat skolverkat som ur ett mikrohistorisktperspektiv analyserats och framställs i en fallstudie. Undersökningen visar i slutändan är att det sker en form av feminiseringsprocess inom folkskolan i Södertälje under 1920-talet. En majoritet män försvinner från professionen samtidigt som fler kvinnor kommer in. Kvinnorna inom denna profession får en högre lön och en högre status tack vare den nya yrkestiteln de innehar.

The military has always been viewed as something very masculine. In order to evolve as an institution, Försvarsmakten, as with many institutions, need to keep up with current norms and changes to gender equality and implement these in the structure of the institution. This ideal type analytical paper investigates the changes of norms and quantitative and qualitative measures taken by Försvarsmakten in order to implement gender integration into their institution. It examines Försvarsmaktens handlingsplan för jämställdhetsintegrering 2015-2018 as a main source and applies concept from feminist political theory and new institutionalist theory in order to determine if there has been a feminization in the institution based on the measures taken both qualitative and quantitative and changes in norms. Feminization of the institution has taken place as is shown by the qualitative and quantitative measures taken as well as by the norm changes.

The inclusion of a gender perspective in medicine has shown that gender is an essential factor in health and disease, in medical encounters and also in medical students’ educational environment. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes, preconceptions and norms regarding gender within medical education and processes of gender bias. First, we explored medical students gendered beliefs about patients. Second, we examined the medical students ideas about their future careers. Third, we compared awareness on gender issues among medical students in Sweden and the Netherlands. Method and material The analyses were based on data from two different sources: one experimental study based on authentic patient narratives about being diagnosed with cancer and one extensive questionaire exploring different aspects of gender issues in medical education. Both studies had a design which enabled both qualitative and quantitative research and mixed methods was used. Study I (Paper I and II): Eighty-one anonymous letters from patients were read by 130 students of medicine and psychology. For each letter the students were asked to state the patient’s sex and explain their choice. In paper I the students’ success rates were analysed statistically and the explanations to four letters were used to illustrate the students’ reasoning. Paper II examined the 87 medical students’ explanations closer to examine gender beliefs about patients. Study II (Paper III and IV): The questionaire started with an open question where medical students were asked to describe their ideal future, it also included a validated scale designed to estimate gender awareness. Paper III examined 507 swedish medical students descriptions about their ideal future and compared answers from male and female students in the beginning and at the end of medical school. Paper IV compared gender awareness among 1096 Swedish and Dutch medical students in first term. Findings with reflections Paper I showed that the patient’s sex was correctly identified in 62% of the cases. There were no difference between the results of male and female students. However, large differences between letters were observed, i.e. there were some letters were almost all students correctly identified the patient´s sex, others were almost all students were incorrect and most letters were found somewhere in the middle. Another significant finding was that the same expressions were interpreted differently depending on which initial guess the medical student had made regarding the sex of the patient. Paper II identified 21 categories of justifications within the students’ explanations, twelve of which were significantly associated with an assumption of either a male or female patient. Only three categories led to more correct identifications of the patients’ sex and two were more often associated with incorrect assignments. The results illustrate how beliefs about gender difference, even though they might be recognizable on a group level, are not applicable on individuals. Furthermore, the results show that medical students enter the education with beliefs about male and female patients, which could have consequenses and cause bias in their future work as doctors. Paper III found that almost all students, both male and female, were work-oriented. However, the female students even more so than their male counterparts. This result is particularly interesting in regards to the debate about the “feminization of medicine” in which the increasing number of female students has been adressed as a problem. When reflecting on their own lifes and their future its obvious that medical students nowadays, male and female, expect more to life than work, especially those who are on the doorstep to their professional life. Paper IV found that the national and cultural setting was the most crucial impact factor in relation to the medical students preconceptions and awareness about gender. The Swedish students expressed less stereotypic thinking about patients and doctors, while the Dutch students were more sensitive to gender difference. In both countries, the students’ sex mattered for gender stereotyping, with male students agreeing more to stereotypes. Conclusions A gender perspective is important in medical education. Our studies show that such initiatives needs to take cultural aspects, gender attitudes and students’ gender into account. Moreover, reflections on assumptions about men and women, patients as well as doctors, need to be included in medical curricula and the impact of implicit gender beliefs needs to be included in discussions on gender bias in health care. Also, the next generation of doctors want more to life than work. Future Swedish doctors, both female and male, intend to balance work not only with a family but also with leisure. This attitudinal change towards their future work as doctors will provide the health care system with a challenge to establish more adaptive and flexible work conditions.

Syftet med denna uppsats har varit att undersöka hur debatten kring maskuliniteten har sett ut i kinesiska media, om de maskulina och feminina männen presenterades olika samt om maskulinitetsdebatten reflekterar Kinas utmaningar. Det har främst diskuterats fem olika teman med ämnena: Jämställdhet, hälsa, nationalism, utbildning och populärkultur. De olika medierna som diskuterats är Xinhua: New China News Agency, Xinhua tongxunshe 新华通讯社 och Tencent: Tengxun 腾讯. Det finns några skillnader mellan de olika medierna men framförallt finns det många likheter. Slutsatserna är att maskulinitet är något som är befäst i samhället, där det maskulina kan förklaras vara positivt för hälsan, utbildningen och även jämställdheten. Maskulinitet är inte nödvändigtvis bara applicerbar på män, utan maskulinitet är tillämpad för ens individuella personlighet. De maskulina och feminina männen har därför en tydlig hierarkisk ordning där den maskuline är att föredra framför den feminine, vilket tydligt kan ses i debatten angående populärkulturen. Slutligen så är denna debatt väldigt kopplad till en debatt om nationens framtid där maskuliniteten anses vara det som ska lägga grunden till att förverkliga Kinas stora ambitioner. / The purpose of this essay has been to see how the debate about masculinity has taken place in Chinese media, if the masculine and feminine men were represented differently and if you could see Chinas different struggles discussed in the masculinity debate. There have been primarily five different themes that has been discussed: Equality, health, nationalism, education, and popular culture. The different media outlets discussed are Xinhua: New China News Agency, Xinhua tongxunshe 新华通讯社 and Tencent: Tengxun 腾讯. There has been found to be some differences between the two outlets but there are even more similarities. The results show masculinity is something that is woven into society and it is shown that it is positive for many different subjects such as health, education and even equality. It does not have to be applied on men to work; masculinity is mainly part of one’s personality. Therefore, the masculine man is preferred over the feminine since the masculine man have more positive traits, which is clearly shown in the debate about popular culture. Lastly this debate is closely tied to the nation’s future, where masculinity is seen as the driving force to achieve Chinas great ambitions.