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<p>This paper takes it points of departure in a gender equality perspective and the perceived paradox between the governmental labour market policy and family policy. The first policy area has the aim to put people to work, whereas the other introduces a reform, vårdnadsbidraget, that point in the opposite direction. Which are the problem representations within the two policy areas and are the problem representations concordant or contradictive? From a constructivist perspective, langue is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. Drawing on political documents, speeches and articles formulated within the government, this paper analyzes problem representations through the use of discourse analysis and feminist political theory. The main conclusion of this paper is that there are contradictions within the problem representations, both within and between the two policy areas. The most significant contradiction is that gender equality within labour market policy is formulated around the individual, whilst in family politics it is based on the family as a unit.</p>

This thesis examines contemporary popular and news media representation of motherhood and labour in Canada and the United States. I explore what texts about motherhood and maternal labour suggest about gendered responsibilities to citizenship in neoliberal conditions. Building on important feminist research in the fields of citizenship, care, and the welfare state, I ask how are mothers being socially responsibilized toward multiple forms of labour simultaneously and to what effect? By engaging feminist theories of citizenship and bridging this field with feminist theories of science, media, and affect, I demonstrate how, under neoliberal conditions and in precarious circumstances, the ways in which women appear to juggle their commitments to paid and unpaid labour, determines how mainstream discourses reflect their value as citizens. This dissertation uses feminist critical discourse analysis to assess how, as women are responsibilized toward unpaid intimate work in newly empirical ways at the same time that they are encouraged to pursue career success in full-time paid employment, contemporary women in Canada and the United States are encouraged to rise above welfare retrenchment and inadequate provision by juggling “it all.” My thesis is an intersectional feminist project that interrogates questions of gendered citizenship and maternal affect, and I join feminist political theorists in applying pressure to the field of citizenship studies to centre reproduction in discussion of gendered welfare.

As parlamentares representam os interesses das mulheres? O estudo parte da hipótese, defendida por autoras da teoria política feminista, de que o aumento da representação política feminina nas instituições legislativas teria como consequência a formulação de mais e melhores políticas públicas voltadas para a promoção da igualdade de gênero. As pesquisas empíricas sobre a representação política das mulheres têm se dedicado com maior empenho à dimensão da representação descritiva, ou seja, à análise dos mecanismos de exclusão e à sugestão de alternativas para aumentar a quantidade de mulheres nos parlamentos. Um número menor de trabalhos tem se debruçado sobre a análise da representação substantiva das mulheres, cujo foco é o conteúdo da representação. Esta pesquisa possui propósito duplo: um teórico e outro empírico-descritivo. No plano da teoria política, a pesquisa se propõe a contribuir para o debate sobre a representação política feminina, com base na análise de caso do Congresso Nacional brasileiro, sob a perspectiva da representação substantiva. O segundo objetivo, de teor empírico-descritivo, é entender o papel da bancada feminina da Câmara dos Deputados na formulação e aprovação de projetos de lei relacionados à promoção da igualdade de gênero. A articulação desses dois objetivos acontecerá a partir da aferição empírica da atuação substantiva da bancada feminina e da introdução de distinções analíticas positivas que permitam problematizar e revisar os pressupostos normativos da teoria política feminista. Ao final, será apresentada uma tipologia que permitirá a classificação de proposições legislativas relacionadas à igualdade de gênero. / Do women parliamentarians represent women interests? The study is based on the hypothesis, advocated by authors of feminist political theory, that the increase in female political representation in legislative institutions would result in the formulation of more and better public policies for the promotion of gender equality. Empirical research on women\'s political representation have been dedicated to analyze the descriptive representation, i.e., the analysis of mechanisms of exclusion and alternatives to increase the number of women in parliaments. A smaller number of studies have been working on the analysis of the substantive representation of women, which focuses on the content of the representation. This research has dual purpose: one theoretical and other empirical-descriptive. In terms of political theory, the research aims to contribute to the debate on female political representation, based on case analysis of the Brazilian Congress, from the perspective of substantive representation. The second objective, empirical-descriptive, is to understand the role of the \"bancada feminina\" of the House of Representatives in the formulation and approval of bills related to the promotion of gender equality. The relationship between these two objectives will take place from the empirical assessment of the substantive work of the women\'s bench and from the introduction of positive analytical distinctions that allow discussing and revising the normative assumptions of feminist political theory. At the end, a typology for the classification of legislative proposals related to gender equality will be presented.

<p>This thesis takes as its point of departure the Swedish governmental family policy and the debate on the proposed reform ‘vårdnadsbidraget’. The supporters of the reform present it as something that will increase the freedom of choice for families and benefit the children, whereas the opponents warn for decreased equality and a return to the male breadwinner-model.<br /><br />From a constructivist perspective, language is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. By applying a feminist political theory on the debate within the Swedish national parliament 2007/2008 and conducting a discourse analysis, the aim of this paper is to analyse which concepts are used and how they construct to what makes a family within the political debate – is there any difference or similarity between the view of the opponents and the supporters of ‘vårdnadsbidraget’?<br /><br />The main conclusion of this paper is that even though the political ideal and rhetorical concepts differ between the supporters and the opponents, they still constitute the heterosexual nuclear family as an obvious norm in family politics. Even though the opponents of the reform are critical to the nuclear family as a ideal, their strife for gender equality contributes to reproduce the heterosexual nuclear family as the family norm.</p>

This thesis takes as its point of departure the Swedish governmental family policy and the debate on the proposed reform ‘vårdnadsbidraget’. The supporters of the reform present it as something that will increase the freedom of choice for families and benefit the children, whereas the opponents warn for decreased equality and a return to the male breadwinner-model.<br /><br />From a constructivist perspective, language is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. By applying a feminist political theory on the debate within the Swedish national parliament 2007/2008 and conducting a discourse analysis, the aim of this paper is to analyse which concepts are used and how they construct to what makes a family within the political debate – is there any difference or similarity between the view of the opponents and the supporters of ‘vårdnadsbidraget’?<br /><br />The main conclusion of this paper is that even though the political ideal and rhetorical concepts differ between the supporters and the opponents, they still constitute the heterosexual nuclear family as an obvious norm in family politics. Even though the opponents of the reform are critical to the nuclear family as a ideal, their strife for gender equality contributes to reproduce the heterosexual nuclear family as the family norm.

As parlamentares representam os interesses das mulheres? O estudo parte da hipótese, defendida por autoras da teoria política feminista, de que o aumento da representação política feminina nas instituições legislativas teria como consequência a formulação de mais e melhores políticas públicas voltadas para a promoção da igualdade de gênero. As pesquisas empíricas sobre a representação política das mulheres têm se dedicado com maior empenho à dimensão da representação descritiva, ou seja, à análise dos mecanismos de exclusão e à sugestão de alternativas para aumentar a quantidade de mulheres nos parlamentos. Um número menor de trabalhos tem se debruçado sobre a análise da representação substantiva das mulheres, cujo foco é o conteúdo da representação. Esta pesquisa possui propósito duplo: um teórico e outro empírico-descritivo. No plano da teoria política, a pesquisa se propõe a contribuir para o debate sobre a representação política feminina, com base na análise de caso do Congresso Nacional brasileiro, sob a perspectiva da representação substantiva. O segundo objetivo, de teor empírico-descritivo, é entender o papel da bancada feminina da Câmara dos Deputados na formulação e aprovação de projetos de lei relacionados à promoção da igualdade de gênero. A articulação desses dois objetivos acontecerá a partir da aferição empírica da atuação substantiva da bancada feminina e da introdução de distinções analíticas positivas que permitam problematizar e revisar os pressupostos normativos da teoria política feminista. Ao final, será apresentada uma tipologia que permitirá a classificação de proposições legislativas relacionadas à igualdade de gênero. / Do women parliamentarians represent women interests? The study is based on the hypothesis, advocated by authors of feminist political theory, that the increase in female political representation in legislative institutions would result in the formulation of more and better public policies for the promotion of gender equality. Empirical research on women\'s political representation have been dedicated to analyze the descriptive representation, i.e., the analysis of mechanisms of exclusion and alternatives to increase the number of women in parliaments. A smaller number of studies have been working on the analysis of the substantive representation of women, which focuses on the content of the representation. This research has dual purpose: one theoretical and other empirical-descriptive. In terms of political theory, the research aims to contribute to the debate on female political representation, based on case analysis of the Brazilian Congress, from the perspective of substantive representation. The second objective, empirical-descriptive, is to understand the role of the \"bancada feminina\" of the House of Representatives in the formulation and approval of bills related to the promotion of gender equality. The relationship between these two objectives will take place from the empirical assessment of the substantive work of the women\'s bench and from the introduction of positive analytical distinctions that allow discussing and revising the normative assumptions of feminist political theory. At the end, a typology for the classification of legislative proposals related to gender equality will be presented.

<p>This thesis takes as its point of departure the Swedish governmental family policy and the debate on the proposed reform ‘vårdnadsbidraget’. The supporters of the reform present it as something that will increase the freedom of choice for families and benefit the children, whereas the opponents warn for decreased equality and a return to the male breadwinner-model.</p><p>From a constructivist perspective, language is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. By applying a feminist political theory on the debate within the Swedish national parliament 2007/2008 and conducting a discourse analysis, the aim of this paper is to analyse which concepts are used and how they construct to what makes a family within the political debate – is there any difference or similarity between the view of the opponents and the supporters of ‘vårdnadsbidraget’?</p><p>The main conclusion of this paper is that even though the political ideal and rhetorical concepts differ between the supporters and the opponents, they still constitute the heterosexual nuclear family as an obvious norm in family politics. Even though the opponents of the reform are critical to the nuclear family as a ideal, their strife for gender equality contributes to reproduce the heterosexual nuclear family as the family norm.</p>

This paper takes it points of departure in a gender equality perspective and the perceived paradox between the governmental labour market policy and family policy. The first policy area has the aim to put people to work, whereas the other introduces a reform, vårdnadsbidraget, that point in the opposite direction. Which are the problem representations within the two policy areas and are the problem representations concordant or contradictive? From a constructivist perspective, langue is closely related to power through defining and ascribing meaning to reality. Drawing on political documents, speeches and articles formulated within the government, this paper analyzes problem representations through the use of discourse analysis and feminist political theory. The main conclusion of this paper is that there are contradictions within the problem representations, both within and between the two policy areas. The most significant contradiction is that gender equality within labour market policy is formulated around the individual, whilst in family politics it is based on the family as a unit.

The purpose of this study is to understand which challenges women politicians on Gotland face and how they perceive themselves in their political work. We aim to highlight existing gender norms and how these translate into challenges within an island setting. This research further highlights the identity work women politicians at a local level engage in. The theoretical frameworks used include feminist political theory, feminist institutionalism, identity, and political identity. The empirical data was gathered through 13 semi-structured interviews with local women politicians on Gotland. Taking on a feminist approach, our study underscores and engages with the complexity of the stories, emotions, and experiences of our participants. Our findings underline several challenges women politicians face, including Part of a quota?, Motherhood and Double standards. Our findings also stress that the notion of femininity, such as motherhood and emotionality, need to be the base for restructuring and reframing current political systems to allow for true gender equality. Additionally, our findings reveal three identity facets, (1) The Holistic Caretaker, (2) The Freedom Fighter, and (3) The Game Player, which women politicians take on depending on the political context and while aiming to navigate through the political landscape. Lastly, we have identified the paradox Women vs Women. Our study sheds light on the intertwined and complex nature of gender related challenges in local politics and reveals the paradoxical nature of women’s attempt to move up the political staircase, while simultaneously trying to challenge pre-existing systemic structures.