Abstract My aim was to study gendered structures and processes and the challenges arising from them in primary teacher education. The topic was studied from structural and from agency-based and processual perspectives. The special tools used in the analyses consisted of culturally produced differences and asymmetry and the symbolic meanings given to them. The study included historical and contemporary parts. The historical part of the study acquired its focus through the structures of the first Finnish Teacher Seminar and through three annual curricula of primary teacher education in Oulu. Data for the contemporary analyses were collected during a pedagogic development project carried out at the Oulu Department of Teacher Education in the years 1988–1996 The most visible components of the gender system identifiable in the structures of the first Finnish Teacher Seminar were the following: – different aims for personal growth – sex- and grade-based division of prospective teachers: female teachers for girls of all ages and small boys, male teachers for boys aged 10 or more – differences in study subjects; especially in physical education, handicraft and pedagog – everyday chores and pedagogical tasks of the student – moral code and normative contro – different enrolment requirements The sex-related differences in the first curriculum of the Oulu College of Teacher Education were surprisingly similar to the differences seen in the first Finnish Teacher Seminar. The academic curricula proved to be ostensibly gender-neutral. But the research findings showed, in accordance with several other research findings, that formal neutrality does not eliminate institutionalised gendered features or gendered perspectives for personal and/or professional development. On the basis of the findings, the following aspects of the gender system and gender contracts in contemporary primary teacher education in Oulu could be identified: – Almost without exception, the students qualifying in the education of the first two forms were female. – Female students qualified in various subjects taught in primary school while male students rather tended to acquire their qualifications according to a more personal orientation. Their special qualifications were mostly physical education and technical work. – There was a tendency among the student teachers to notice boys differently from girls and to experience boys as more challenging, and to – interpret pupils’ school achievements in sex-related ways. This tendency was also shared by te pupils.

This dissertation makes use of theoretical frameworks drawn from development theory, ecofeminism, climate science, environmental and distributive justice, and human rights to provide gender analysis of climate policy, including climate finance.The problem addressed is that climate impacts are exacerbating food insecurity that is women's responsibility in the global South. First, I use literature in climate science to detail the impacts of climate change on agriculture in Africa and show how this exacerbates women's poverty that is driven already by persistent socioeconomic inequalities and gender bias. I conclude that women as food producers are especially vulnerable to climate impacts on food security. Next, I assess international climate policy through gender analysis of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) against other United Nations (UN) gender policies, followed by gender assessment of Ghanaian climate policy. I conclude that both international and Ghanaian policy fail adequately to address gender and women's needs, despite making advances on gender-inclusion and gender-sensitivity since the turn of the century. I then present a case study in climate finance by evaluating the capacity of an Adaptation Fund Project (AFP) in northeast Ghana to meet women farmers' needs. I gather data from Project implementers and intended beneficiaries, i.e. women in village communities, using interviews and focus group discussions. I conclude that the Project is not successful in engaging women and identify reasons for this failure, including slow distribution of funds to implementers, petty corruption, and community gender biases. In the final chapter, I summarize my findings and make recommendations for policy interventions better to meet women's climate adaptation needs in order to maintain food security and avert the humanitarian crises in hunger that are already well underway in Africa.

This thesis follows an issue of gender sensitive parentage. In particular to parents who decided to educate their kids gender sensitively. In the first part it introduces theories of gender socialization and acquiring of gender identity. Further it introduces socialization in family and, in relation it, several social factors. It tries to approach this issue through gender sensitive education. This thesis also takes a deep look to existing approaches and researches of gender sensitive education. The research part of the thesis is based on qualitative analysis of interviews with parents who are trying to educate gender sensitively. This analysis detects how these parents comprehend gender sensitive education, how they make it work, what strategies they bring up, to what situations they get while following this education program and what obstacles they face up. The goal of this dissertation is to transmit the living experience of people who try to educate their children gender sensitively and contribute the development of possibilities allowing free progression to their kids.

The thesis deals with gender aspects of parental choice of common and Montessori kindergarten. The theoretical part focuses on topics related to both gender identity and its development and with the preschool period, which is described primarily in terms of gender. Given that important parts of childhood are toys, the theoretical part also focuses on the gender aspect and explores it. Gender equality is offered as one of the possible approaches to children upbringing and education. The Montessori method of education occupies a large space of the theoretical part. The thesis also compares Montessori kindergartens with common kindergartens. Research of the thesis is based on a qualitative analysis of interviews with mothers of children in the pre-school and early school age. This analysis goes through all the interviews. It searches and then compares common categories. The research shows that parents choosing a kindergarten for their child do not reflect forms of gender socialization in the kindergarten. Alternative kindergarten is often chosen by parents of children who apply elements of gender- sensitive education in their upbringing. Parents, who chose child Montessori kindergarten for their child, have more specific and clearly defined selection criteria than parents collecting common...

The following research explores female authority's experiences with gender roles in faith and church and the subsequent handling of gender sensitivity in confirmation work. The qualitative study is conducted based on empirical data to answer the research questions. The chosen feminist standpoint theory assists in identifying the sampling consisting of female authorities as participants who are in charge of the confirmation work. The theory examines resources to create a standpoint through feminist experiences as knowledge, creating feminist solidarity and agency. The constructionist thematic analysis identifies and establishes repeating patterns in combination with the participant's answers and the theory. The lived experiences are gathered through online questionnaires and analyzed and interpreted through the lens of the feminist standpoint theory. The qualitative study shows that women make various experiences based on gender roles in faith and church. Majorly challenging is the normalization of male-dominated structures and concepts. Still, the participants form standpoints concerning the significance of gender-sensitive confirmation work. The study's outcome shows that mainstream knowledge can be opposed by creating feminist knowledge, solidarity, and agency. A broad audience is addressed because the result can be generalized into several fields.

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.

The topic of this thesis is the support of Equal Opportunities for women and men in the labor market and to reconcile work and family life, funded by the European Social Fund. The thesis consists of an introduction, a theoretical part, a practical part, a conclusion and appendices. In the theoretical part there are the first introduced policies of the European Social Fund for the period 2007 - 2013 and then their application in the Czech Republic, made up mainly of the Operational Programme Human Resources and Employment and just his area of support 3.4 Equal opportunities for women and men in the labor market and to reconcile work and family life. The issue of equal opportunities for women and men is also used in the context of EU and in the context of labor market in the Czech Republic. Custom research is designed in order to analyze the implementation of the above- mentioned areas of support, specifically in the region Vysočina on the basis of already approved projects, using quantitative and qualitative content analysis. At the request Those projects are discussed both negative and positive gender lens. It is therefore a real form of project applications that are approved and draw on the financial resources of the European Social Fund.