Språk både reflekterar och påverkar vår världssyn. Hur mottas då försök från gräsrotsnivå att introducera ett könsneutralt pronomen i ett språk som speglar den i samhället rådande könsdikotomin? Syftet med denna uppsats är att utifrån Hirdmans och Butlers respektive genusteorier undersöka vilken inställning användare på ett stort svenskt internetforum har till det könsneutrala personliga pronomenet hen. Undersökningen genomfördes med hjälp av en internetbaserad enkät som besvarades av cirka 150 personer. För att analysera svaren till de slutna frågorna tog vi hjälp av statistikprogrammet SPSS och för att bearbeta de öppna frågorna har vi använt oss av en tematisk analys. Resultatet visar på starkt polariserade åsikter runt hen, där ungefär lika många personer är för som emot ordet. Bland dem som är emot användandet av hen uppfattar de flesta att syftet med ordet är att skapa ett könslöst samhälle, medan hen-förespråkarna ser det som ett komplement till hon och han. Vi har även kunnat se att det finns ett visst samband mellan individens attityd till hen och dennes syn på kön och genus, vilket bekräftar vår hypotes om att det finns en sådan korrelation. / Language reflects our worldview as well as shapes it. How is grass roots level attempts to introduce a gender neutral pronoun received in a society which reflects a gender dichotomy? The purpose of this study is to, inspired by Hirdman’s and Butler’s respective theories on gender, explore what attitudes users of a large Swedish internet community have towards the gender neutral pronoun hen. The current work was performed using an Internet-based survey which was completed by roughly 150 individuals. To analyze the closed ended questions of the survey we used SPSS, whereas the open ended questions were processed with the aid of a thematic method of analysis. The results indicate that the opinions concerning hen are largely polarized, with about as many respondents pro as against the usage of the word. Among those who are against using hen the majority perceive that creating a “genderless” society is the main purpose of the word, whereas most of the word’s intercessors think  that the purpose is to pose as a complement to the pronouns han and hon (he and she).  The study shows that there is a certain connection between the respondent’s attitude towards hen and his/her view on gender, which confirms our hypothesis that there is such a correlation.

In this qualitative study ”Nice girls go to heaven but the rest of us go much further”, Johanna Olsson and Caroline Seveson examine how women in male-dominated management boards have experienced and handled female gender roles in order to reach management positions. The study has a gender perspective and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five women. Previous research shows that there is a role incongruity between female gender roles and management positions since these positions often are coded as male. To analyze the material, a theoretical framework was chosen based on previous research and the study’s empirical data. The framework consists of theories discussing structures that can affect women’s career progress and coping strategies that can be used by women to handle female gender roles in order to reach management positions. The analysis shows that female gender roles can affect women’s career progress. The role incongruity between female gender roles and male coded management positions does not seem to have affected the participants notably since they, in comparison to “nice girls”, match the male norm and male coded management positions. The participants have occasionally used a gender neutral strategy, conformist strategy and loyalty strategy in order to reach management positions and parts of the theoretical framework could be developed based on the result of the study.

The aim and purpose of this paper is to identify and investigate the effects of affirmative action as a tool to improve the equality of the sexes in a male dominated organisation such as the Swedish armed forces. The study takes a qualitative approach, using feminist theory as a point of departure. Primarily socially based differences between men and women are identified and the resistance towards change is taken into account. To understand the impact of affirmative action I have observed the political debate on the subject and contrasted it to the ongoing debate from within the armed forces. Extensive interviews have been held with both men and women from varying ranks and ages to understand what the overall opinion of the method is. My results show that there is a widespread animosity towards affirmative action as a method of improving equality. Both in the political debate and within the organisation in question. It is perceived as a method that rather compromises the balance and the equality that already exists in the Swedish armed forces, since women can be accepted on lower merits than men. The theoretical framework helps us to understand both the reaction towards the first women that were allowed into the organisation and the response to the latest efforts taken in improving the equality between the sexes.

In today´s labour market, men and women are segregated, both vertically and horizontally. Exceptions to the rule of gender segregation are few. There is, however, one managerial group where women and men are equal in numbers: school principals. In a short period of time, the distribution in terms of sex among principals in Sweden has changed dramatically. How does gender equality in numbers affect gender equality in a qualitative sense? That is the focus of this thesis. In order to find out, I interviewed eight senior level school principals, on the topics of sex/gender, leadership and gender equality. Three important conclusions were drawn from the interviews. The first one is that there is a strong connection between masculinity and leadership among the principals. When they talk about establishing boundaries and discussing right and wrong, they focus on male principals. In certain situations, no woman is good enough, no matter how good a principal she is. Male principals are described as different, in a positive way. The second conclusion has to do with the way men and women are described. The male principals describe themselves as intuitive and focused on relationship issues – features traditionally labelled as female. The women, however, describe themselves as masculine in some ways. It appears that who and what is labelled as male or female is negotiable among the principals in this study. The final conclusion concerns gender equality. It appears that the strive for gender equality in a quantitative sense has led to a focus on men and masculinity. The strive for gender equality in numbers, seems to put egual opportunitys for men and women at risk.

ABSTRACT   Essay in political science, C-level by Chris Baldebo spring semester 2010. Tutor: Arne Larsson. “Women’s conditions in municipal politics in the municipality of Karlstad - Six politicians tell”.   The purpose of this paper is to explore women’s conditions in the municipal political work in the municipality of Karlstad. Based on the objective, one research question is formulated: How is women’s political acting space limited on the basis of gender power relations in local politics in the municipality of Karlstad? To be able to say something about the women’s conditions my approach has been to interview six active local politicians to collect empirical data to analyze from Maria Höjer Wendts & Cecilia Åses theorizing about women and politics, and Yvonne Hirdmans theory of a gender system. My conclusions are that women’s political room for maneuver is limited in several ways in municipal politics in Karlstad. Foremost it is a restriction by various prevailing beliefs about the characteristics men and women are supposed to have and should have, and which behaviors that are legitimate in the local political process. These become the norm for their genders and contribute to various social practices are created and maintained. There is also a clear male dominance in terms of speaking in various political forums, where men to a higher extent compared with women are talking. Therefore women do not have the same opportunity to exercise half the real power when they are subjected to oppressive treatment, while local politicians are characterized by the male norm from which women are not valued as highly. The municipal politicians in the municipality of Karlstad (at various levels) is thus far from equal, although the lack of gender varies in different degrees depending on the forum politicians find themselves in.

This study contains an analysis of images through a gender perspective of three history text books for middle schools. The aim of this study is to clarify if the images reflect a gender power structure where men are superior women. The answered questions were: do women and men appear as often in the pictures of the books? How are women and men portrayed from a gender perspective in the pictures? What possible consequences could the portrayal of men and women cause the education and pupils? Our theoretical perspective is Yvonne Hirdman’s gender theory, Vivien Burr’s social constructionism and Ferdinand de Saussure’s and Roland Barthes’s theory about semiotics. Our methods were a quantitative content analysis combined with a qualitative semiotic analysis of images. The quantitative content analysis showed that there is an overrepresentation of men in the pictures of the books. The qualitative semiotic analysis showed that men are portrayed as main characters in the pictures. This by given more space by positions, accessories and activities. Women on the other hand is portrayed as passive and to some extent as accessories to the men. The women seem to rule in the sphere of children and home, while men seem to be absent in these same areas. Women and men are also physically separated on the images which makes the gender power structure even more clear.

Denna uppsats undersöker hur unga tjejer upplever och påverkas av normer kring sex och sexualitet, samt hur dessa normer återspeglar uppfattningar av genus. Fokuset ligger på de normer kring sex och sexualitet som unga tjejer själva upplever och kan urskilja både i vardagen och i de olika medier de konsumerar, såsom filmer, TV-serier, pornografi och sociala medier. Det material som använts för att undersöka detta har samlats in genom kvalitativa gruppintervjuer med fem tjejer i övre tonåren, samt genom observationer på olika sociala medieplattformar. Genom detta material visar uppsatsen på hur ungdomarna upplever att män förväntas vara mer dominanta än kvinnor, och att män och kvinnor på så sätt görs olika, vilket är en bild de upplever till stor del reproduceras i olika medier. Studien visar även att de unga tjejerna upplever samhället de lever i som heteronormativt, samt att genusuppfattningar även speglas i föreställningar om homosexuella personer, då homosexuella män förväntas vara feminina utav sig, medan homosexuella kvinnor förväntas vara och bete sig mer maskulint.

Syftet med studien är att, utifrån ett genusteoretiskt perspektiv, beskriva hur genussystemet upprätthålls eller ifrågasätts i böckerna Nidstången och Rum 213, vilka är de verk barn i årskurs 4-6 läser frekvent i sin fria läsning. Detta mot bakgrunden att skolans värdegrundsuppdrag är att arbeta för jämställdhet mellan könen och att elevers identitetsskapande påverkas av den skönlitteratur de läser. Syftet besvaras genom att söka svar på frågorna: vilka egenskaper tillskrivs karaktärerna baserat på deras tankar, känslor och handlingar? Hur framställs de relationer som finns i böckerna? Genom en karaktärsanalys som kombinerar ett mimetiskt och ett semiotiskt perspektiv, visar analysen av resultatet att samtliga karaktärer reproducerar genussystemets premisser, om än på olika sätt och i olika utsträckning.

Denna uppsats avser att fokusera på kvinnor i mansdominerade branscher, i synnerhet inom byggbranschen för att göra en avgränsning. Vi vill se vilka upplevelser kvinnor i en mansdominerad bransch har kring ledarskap bland män. Detta på grund av att arbetsdelningen som existerar på arbetsmarknaden många gånger har bidragit till svårigheter för kvinnor att avancera sig till chefspositioner i arbetslivet. Både under proceduren till att nå en chefsposition men även under den tilldelade tjänsten som chef, stöter kvinnliga chefer på svårigheter i sin roll. Vi har av avsikt att belysa eventuella hinder som uppstår för kvinnliga chefer på mansdominerade yrken på grund av deras kön. Detta genom att testa våra utvalda teoretiska perspektiv och begrepp och för att se om det råder ojämlikhet på grund av kön, homosocialitet, glastak samt glashiss. Kvalitativa intervjuer utfördes och utifrån våra fyra intervjupersoners uttalanden fick vi fram ett resultat som gav oss svar på våra frågeställningar kring kvinnliga chefer i ett mansdominerat yrke. Resultatet tyder på att majoriteten av våra intervjupersoner än idag upplever mer särbehandling och hinder än möjligheter på den mansdominerade branschen de befinner sig i, på grund av att de är kvinnor. Dock upplevs känslor av att det är mer jämställt numera, i jämförelse med tidigare decennier. Därmed har vi utifrån våra intervjupersoner kunnat konstatera att problematiken i våra utvalda teoretiska perspektiv förekommer ännu i dagens samhälle och i Sverige som betraktas som ett civiliserat samhälle. Problematik i form av hinder, särbehandling samt orättvisan mellan olika kön där kvinnor är underordnade män.   Nyckelord: Könsroller, genussystem, glastak, glashiss, glasklippa, kvinnlig ledare/chef, mansdominerat yrke, särbehandling, segregerad arbetsmarknad, upplevelse. / This essay refers to have its focus on women in male-dominated industries, especially within the construction industry to make a differentiation. We want to see what kind of experience women in a male-dominated industry have around leadership among men. Therefore, the separation existing in the work environment has brought difficulties for the women to advance to manager rolls in their work-life. Women encounter difficulties in their role as a manager also during the procedure to reach an executive position. We have the motive to clear obstacles that eventually come up for female managers in male-dominated professions due to their gender. By testing through our selected ideal point of view and term, to see if it counsels the inequality that exists between the two genders and homosociality, also when it comes to the glass ceiling. When evaluating numbers of interviews that were set up with four different people, their responses guided answers to questions regarding female managers in a male-dominated industry.  The results indicate that the majority of our numbers still experience more privileges and barriers than opportunities in the male-dominated industry that they occupy themselves in, because of their gender as females. However, feelings are felt that it is more equated nowadays compared to previous decades. We are able to conclude from our interviewers that the issue in our ideal point of view still exists in today's world, even in Sweden's civilized society, Through different obstacles, special treatments, and injustice between different sexes, women end up being subordinate to men. Key Words: Gender roles, gender system, glassceiling, glass elevator, glass cliff, female manager, man dominated, special treatment, segregated labor market, experience.

Abstract This microhistorical study examines the local circle of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom in Växjö during the years 1935 to 1967. The purpose of the essay is to contribute to research in women’s history by describing and analyzing some of the association’s members and activities. The unprinted source material consisting of the association’s protocol books provides the basis for this study.  The theoretical basis is a gender perspective and a microhistorical perspective. Short biographies highlight the background and roles of the individual members in the association. The association’s organization and activities are described too. The analysis shows the members’ solidarity with other women, for instance through helping refugees. It also shows how the members used their economic, social and cultural capital in their peace efforts, and in forming networks both among themselves and with other organisations. In short, the members’ economic, social and cultural capital enabled them to work for peace. In their efforts they both came to challenge and maintain the gender system of their time.