<p>This essay investigates the extent and significance of a gender decisive language in the foreign language classroom. Focus lies on teachers teaching English as a foreign language and their attitudes towards gender neutrality from a pure linguistic point of view.</p><p>My starting point was previous research done concerning my topic and the survey was performed through questionnaires that were sent out with both qualitative and quantitative questions to thirty teachers.</p><p> </p><p>My findings indicate that the teachers contradict themselves when answering the questionnaire. Their knowledge of gender neutrality is surprisingly low, but they think they know more than they actually do. It is essential to teach more about gender decisive language in schools and at the Teachers’ Education to promote equality. Conclusions can be drawn that this is an issue not dealt with enough and that teachers seem to have a distorted image about their approach concerning gender neutrality.</p>

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The purpose of this study is to examine how genders are made within the gender neutral discourse in the preschools equality treatment area. The study is based on critcal literature studies influed by discourse analysis and hermeneuitcs. It also relies on intervjues with two preschool teachers.  The study will examine and answer the following questions: How are genders made within the gender neutral discourse? How is the feminine and masculine problematized in preschool and how is the discourse within gender neutrality linked to norms, power and gender? The theoretical starting point of this study is gender. This starting point also includes norms, power and masculinity, to get a complete understanding of the problem area. The result of the study shows that the ambition to develope a gender natural policy in pre school is a problematic issue because the understanding of the concept neutrality excludes the feminine. Finally with critical eyes against the gender neutral concept my interpretation is that we need to concider the norms to be able to reach equal treatment and gender equality. These unwritten laws that norms produce creates  unbalance, power structure and exclusion between genders and individuals.     Keywords: Gender, Norm criticism, equal treatment, gender equality, gender neutrality. Nyckelord: Genus, normkritik, likabehandling, jämställdhetsarbete och könsneutralitet.

Sweden is ranked as one of the most equal countries in the world based on quantitative measures. Furthermore, many organizations consider themselves gender-neutral, meaning that they make no difference between genders. So, how do minority employees experience the gender neutrality of their workplaces? This study explores the experiences of minority employees regarding the gender neutrality of their workplace. Primary data was collected through ten semi-structured interviews with female- and male minorities. By comparing the experiences of those two minority groups, it was found that both are doing gender at their workplaces; hence the gender neutrality of the studied organizations can be questioned. Furthermore, the study highlights that when males are in the minority, they do not face the same problems as females in the minority. The interviewed females experienced problems such as direct discrimination, being silenced, being under pressure, and having to take a step back; thus, they did not have the same rights and opportunities as males. On the other hand, the interviewed males experienced equal treatment at their workplaces. Hence, problems were not based on one being a minority, instead, it was based on still existing gender differences. Therefore, for organizations not to lose valuable resources, they must address the existing problems.

The purpose of this essay has been to investigate whether the Swedish Social Insurance Agency´s administrators and investigators feel that they perform gender-neutral assessments in sickness benefit and work injury cases. The method was based on interviews who gave the informants the opportunity to explain and describe their experiences around gender neutrality in their work. The results, which were analyzed using the qualitative method content analysis, clearly showed that the work ability assessments required in sickness benefit and work injury cases differ both depending on which company carries them out, where in the country they are carried out and that the scientific investigations that investigators at the Social Insurance Agency are required to do to follow are mainly designed on men. It is easier to investigate men´s work ability than women´s work ability, because they can follow the documents designed for men in male-dominated occupations. The informants know there is no or too little evidence that fits women´s disease pictures. Employees feel that their assessments are gender-neutral, but that their assessments are based on ready-made assessments templates that mainly work for men in male-dominated occupations. / Om Försäkringskassan inte utför könsneutrala arbetsförmågebedömningar av anställda inom kvinnodominerande yrken samt i förlängningen vid sjukpenning-och arbetsskadeärenden, så sker inte den likvärdiga behandling av kvinnor och män som Försäkringskassan är ålagda. Syftet med den här uppsatsen har varit att undersöka om Försäkringskassans handläggare och utredare upplever att de utför könsneutrala bedömningar vid sjukpenning- och arbetsskadeärenden. Den metod som följts har utgått från en kvalitativ ansats där semistrukturerade intervjuer givit informanterna möjlighet att både förklara och beskriva sina upplevelser runt könsneutralitet i sitt arbete. Resultatet, som analyserades med den kvalitativa metoden innehållsanalys, visade tydligt att de arbetsförmågebedömningar som krävs vid sjukpenning-och arbetsskadeärenden skiljer sig åt både beroende på vilket företag som utför dem, var i landet de utförs och att de vetenskapliga undersökningar som utredare vid Försäkringskassan är ålagda att följa främst är utformade på män. Informanterna upplever att det är lättare att utreda mäns arbetsförmåga än kvinnors arbetsförmåga, eftersom de då kan följa de underlag som är utformade för män inom mansdominerade yrken. Informanterna anser att det finns inga eller alldeles för få underlag som passar in vid kvinnors sjukdomsbilder. Anställda vid Försäkringskassan upplever därför att deras bedömningar sker könsneutralt, men att deras bedömningar sker utifrån de färdiga utredningsmallar som främst fungerar för män inom mansdominerande yrken. Det har i denna studie även framkommit att läkare gör skillnad i läkarintygen för män och kvinnor, till nackdel för kvinnor, samt att de utredare vid Försäkringskassan som försöker göra skillnad bestraffas av sin arbetsgivare Försäkringskassan.

This essay investigates the extent and significance of a gender decisive language in the foreign language classroom. Focus lies on teachers teaching English as a foreign language and their attitudes towards gender neutrality from a pure linguistic point of view. My starting point was previous research done concerning my topic and the survey was performed through questionnaires that were sent out with both qualitative and quantitative questions to thirty teachers.   My findings indicate that the teachers contradict themselves when answering the questionnaire. Their knowledge of gender neutrality is surprisingly low, but they think they know more than they actually do. It is essential to teach more about gender decisive language in schools and at the Teachers’ Education to promote equality. Conclusions can be drawn that this is an issue not dealt with enough and that teachers seem to have a distorted image about their approach concerning gender neutrality.

Traditionally, some occupational titles have been explicitly marked for the gender of the group dominating the occupation. For example, in male-dominated occupations, titles often end with -man. However, since the second-wave feminist movement, several of the previously gender-biased titles have been supplemented by new, gender-neutral titles. Previous research has shown a discrepancy between researchers regarding the implications of these new titles. Some argue that the gender-neutral titles are only used for female referents, whereas others claim that gender-neutral titles, especially for male- dominated occupations, tend to still presuppose maleness. In the present paper, a corpus-based study is conducted on a few selected occupational titles. The aim is to investigate whether the gender-neutral alternatives have increased in usage over time, and whether the gender-biased ones have decreased. In addition, the study aims at examining whether the gender-neutral forms tend to be used primarily for women or men. The present study is corpus-based, examining the particular terms in the TIME Magazine Corpus. The results of the study show that there has been an increase of the gender-neutral forms since their introduction to English, and that they are primarily used when there is no explicit gender referencing. Proposed explanations for these results are that it may depend on the type of work involved in the selected occupations, as well as them being male-dominated. Furthermore, the results indicate that the gender- neutral terms are opted for when gender is either unknown or irrelevant for the context.

All Blues is a unisex-brand that sells jewelry. They strive to communicate gender neutrality through their social media. All Blues communication strategy assume pictures on their social media speak for themselves and avoid influencing people's perceptions. All Blues says that gender neutral communication is essential to them which is what attracted and justified this study. The purpose is to seek an in-depth understanding of gender neutral fashion communication. A case study of All Blues communication will take place in order to fulfill the purpose of the study. The research questions are thereby: - How has a position on gender translated into the brand's communication strategy? - How do All Blues create a gender neutral expression through their visual communication? To investigate the purpose of the study a semi-structured interview took place with one of the owners of All Blues for deeper insight regarding how All Blues relates to gender structures. For further understanding a semiotic analysis was made with five pictures derived from All Blues social media. The analysis made it possible to identify multiple items from Butler's theory on gender along with Carey's ritual perspective on communication. The study shows that All Blues communication is partly successful regarding gender neutrality but it still has signs of classical gender norms. In addition to that, gender neutrality revealed a hegemonic male structure. Furthermore this shows how classical gender norms permeate our society. Overall communication can not be all gender neutral without accepting the classical gender norms that society is built upon.

This essay presents how a newly created non-binary folk costume named Bäckadräkten will  change and challenge traditions regarding Swedish folk costumes from the eighteenth century.  Bäckadräktens background as a tool to invent a new type of non-binary folk costume is presented. Different parts of Bäckadräktens clothing as a non-binary dress is compared to traditional folk costumes regarding male and female dressing as a mean of status concerning marriage and age.  Traditionally folk costumes usually derive from a specific region in contrast to Bäckadräkten with its background from the queer or non-binary community. Bäckadräkten can be used in different ways, colours and materials. It can be seen as a new type of folk costume for everyone who wants one and can be used in full scale or just as a part combined with other types of dresses. The founder of Bäckadräkten is the artist Fredy Clue and they want it to be a folk costume for everyone, not only non-binary or queer.       The analysis regarding Bäckadräkten is made by using ANT Action Network Theory and Queer Theory and focus on non-binary. The view of Bäckadräkten as a rhizome with a big and growing connected network is discussed. Seven people has been interviewed about their view regarding both folk costumes and Bäckadräkten.

Insatserna till våldsutsatta i nära relation utgår tydligare från kvinnor och deras behov i lagen. Hur yrkesverksamma socionomer betraktar våldsutsatta och vem som är offer kan påverka bemötandet av våldsutsatta. Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur skillnader i behov och insatser till våldsutsatta män respektive kvinnor i våld i nära relation [VINR] uppfattas av yrkesverksamma socionomer. Syftet var också att undersöka hur uppfattningarna om våldsutsatta i VINR kan förstås samt påverka våldsutsatta män respektive kvinnor som söker stöd hos socialtjänsten. Vår teoretiska utgångspunkt var begreppen habitualisering, ytliga och täta behovstolkningar samt Fraser modell om samhällsproblem. Studien hade en kvalitativ ansats och utgick från sju intervjuer med yrkesverksamma socionomer. Empirin analyserades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultatet visar att yrkesverksamma inte upplever att det finns skillnader i behov och insatser till våldsutsatta män respektive kvinnor samtidigt som en djupare analys av empirin visar att skillnader faktiskt finns. Erfarenhet och kunskap är viktigt för förståelsen av problemen. Resultatet visade vidare att mörkertalet inom VINR är stort. Hur yrkesverksamma ser på manlighet, kvinnlighet och tillämpandet av könsneutralitet i förhållande till våldsutsatta kan få negativa konsekvenser för våldsutsatta. Slutsatserna av studiens resultat är att det är viktigt att se problemet framför allt ur ett könstypiskt perspektiv för att synliggöra olika behov hos våldsutsatta män respektive kvinnor. Att i högre utsträckning börja se våldet och inte könet kan, menar vi, vara viktigt för att upptäcka VINR. Samtidigt bör könet, med stöd av vårt resultat och tidigare forskning, ges betydelse vid utformningen av insatser. / Interventions to victims of violence in intimate relationship violence [IRV] issues from women and their needs within the law. How professional sociologists sees the victims and who the see as the victim can effect the treatment of the victims. The purpose of this study was to look into how professional sociologists sees interventions and needs of men and women that are victims of IRV. The purpose was also to see how professional sociologists see victims of IRV and how their outlook on the vitctims effect the men and women seeking help from social services. Our theoretical outlook was the concepts habitualization, thin and thick descriptions of needs as well as Frasers model about societal problems. The had a qualitative approach and we interview seven professional sociologists. The empiricism was analyzed with a qualitative content analysis. The result whos that professional sociologists doesn’t experience any differences in interventions and needs between men and women who are victims of IRV. But in a deeper analysis of the result can we see that there are differences. Experience and knowledge are important in the understanding of IRV. The result showed that the hidden statistics in IRV are big. How the professional sociologists see masculinity, feminimity and how they apply gender neutralityin relation to the vitims can have negative effects on the victim. The conclusion of the study is that it’s important to see the problem above all with a gender typcial perspecitve to spot the needs of men and women who are victims of IRV. To spot the violence and not the fender in a higher extent could be important to spot IRV, according to us. Our study and previous research shows that the gender at the same time must be seen to give purpose to the shaping of interventions.