UN is a non-governmental organization which should promote gender equality within the organization. It is an organization which is based on human rights and claims that in order to solve the problem of poverty, famine and development we need to promote women’s status. In Sweden there is a strong tradition of gender balanced representation at the governmental level and this perspective raise the question if there is a spill-over effect to the civil society as in the case of a non-governmental organization. This makes it interesting to look at if a non-governmental organization which is not under state control work for gender equality within their own organization. What does the gender equality pattern look like in a sphere that is not controlled by the government? Does it work by itself? The main purpose of this thesis is therefore to examine opinions about the gender balance within the Swedish UN-movement. In order to understand and analyse the gender equality context within UN, interwievs with chairmens for each UN-district in Sweden was conducted and it was found that there was no active promotion of this issue within the organization. Instead, the survey showed that the promotion of gender equality issues was directed towards other societys. To a certain extent it was also shown that women’s understanding of UN as a gender equal organization was less prominent than men’s understanding. This thesis concluded therefore that gender equality does not work by itself in the civil sphere. Instead, it seems as if work for gender balance needs directive and control from the government in order to function. Key words: Gender equality, FN, feminism, politics of presence, non-governmental organizations.

Gender mainstreaming is accepted by many national and international agencies and Non-governmental organization, as an effective strategy for promoting gender equality. Many researchers widely agree that essential but can also lead to poverty eradication, human development and general economic growth everywhere but more specifically in Africa.   This just shows the importance at a global level of gender equality and any strategy towards achieving it.     The main aim of this thesis is to assess how gender mainstreaming as a strategy and approach has led to gender equality within the Swedish Cooperative Centre-Viagroforestry  project-Kisumu (SCC-VI). It is based on exploring how gender mainstreaming works on a day-to-day basis in the project area. To collect relevant information, a detailed background review of Swedish Cooperative Centre-Viagroforestry  project was done; field staff were interviewed with the help of a predesigned semi -structured question guides and focused group discussions were conducted with different farmer groups involved in the project.     The interviews and the focused group discussions were later transcribed as part of analysis. The focus group discussions, which were conducted in Luo, were translated to English. The main finding was that as a project, SCC-Vi is committed to mainstreaming gender in its activities, however the staff had limited skills for mainstreaming. Similarly, it was clear that focus was mostly put on numbers/quantitative  aspects as opposed to the qualitative aspects of equality. The conclusion drawn here is that mainstreaming may lead to gender equality, but its success highly depends on how the process is implemented and whether there is adequate knowledge about the structural causes of inequality and skills the staff have to do it. From this research however, it was not possible to show that gender mainstreaming has led to equality.

Despite significant progress in increasing female participation in national politics, Tanzanian households are still predominately run by men. Gender norms which define women as houseworkers and men as providers continue to pervade widespread notions that put a heavy burden on the backs of women and hinder an equal division of household labor, regardless of women’s employment situation. Although often disfavored in this patriarchal structure, research has found that women sometimes desire men to adapt to a role that further establishes these norms. This study examined how women and men in Babati town construct masculinities and the male role in romantic relationships, and how officially contested gender roles persist. Primary data was collected through qualitative interviews and focus groups with primarily highly educated married women and men in Babati town. The data was analyzed using a theoretical framework based on masculinities in gender relations and African notions of feminism. Moreover, explanations and rationalizations of gender inequality were deconstructed and categorized in a content-oriented analysis to explicate the resilience of dominant ideologies. The study found that men are expected to have a job and to make sure that the basic needs of the family are met. Most men did not construct ideal masculinity as mutually exclusive to cooking and cleaning, and neither did any woman. However, men often exempted themselves from household labor by arguing that African culture does not allow men to cook and clean unless the wife is sick or otherwise incapacitated.

Abstract The purposes of this study were to develop a gender equality program through information technology for junior high school to inquire the individual class students¡¦ gender consciousness-raising and to understand the changes of existing gender-role stereotypes among eighth grade students to offer some implications on adolescent¡¦s gender equity education program in the future. The subjects are one class (17 females, 20 males) of 8th grade students in Junior High School in Kaohsiung County as the case group. The study adopts qualitative and quantitative methods to explore subjects¡¦ the process of gender consciousness-raising. The former of which is major method including, colloquies and worksheets in the class and observation by researcher. In this study, the gender equality education program met for one a week, for 10 weeks. Teacher¡¦s introspection connects with student¡¦s performance would be the feedback to help researcher adjusts teaching strategy. From this process the major findings were as following: (1)By the systematized gender equality program, gender consciousness of students had been roused. (2) The gender consciousness of students presented from indefinitely to perceptively. (3) After taking part in this gender equality program, the mood of the class was developing by degrees into an esteemed¡Bcatholic and harmonious condition. (4) The e-learning experience had broadened students¡¦ horizons. (5) The response of students had positive feedback on teachers and induced their introspection. Finally, based on the research results, we can provide valuable suggestions to school education and further study plans.

The purposes of this study were to develop a gender equality program for junior high school, to inquire the individual class students' gender consciousness-raising and to find out the relation between teaching behavior and students' gender consciousness by undergoing a semester teaching experiment. The subjects were one class (19 females, 16 males) of 10th grade students in Junior High School in Kaohsiung City as the case group. The worksheet, depth interview and class observation were used to understand the real condition of the Implementation of Gender Equality Education. ¡uGender Bias Inventory¡vwas administered to the subjects before and after the program. The collective data were analyzed by qualitative and quantitative methods. The major findings were as following: (1) lacking of specific gender equality program, students had indistinct gender consciousness; (2) the response of students presented the dominant of fatherhood; (3) the program had improved the gender consciousness-raising but was rejected by some boys; (4) students who active participated in the program yearned for those knowledge; (5) Awakening of gender consciousness was obvious in the group of girls; (6) There were significant differences between boys and girls in gender bias. Teacher teaching behavior: (1) the response of students had positive feedback on teachers and induced their introspection; (2) the positive discrimination is empowerment for the weak group in the class.

<p>The estimated number of people living in extreme poverty is 1.3 billion and 70% of those are women. The aim of this study is to explain in what ways and why women are regarded as poorer than men.</p><p>The definition of poverty has expanded and is now multidimensional. In order to answer the aim of this thesis the following dimensions will be included and work as a theory in which the analysis will be structured after. Through a gender perspective, will the role of woman emerge through a multidimensional definition of poverty. If the balance is a negative in these dimensions, the situation for women will worsen and become permanent. This thesis can conclude that poverty among women is explained by discrimination of sex- and power structures that exists in societies. This gender inequality makes it very difficult for women to break these structures and get out of the poverty trap.</p><p>Aid organisations have for a long period focused their aid on women to generate development. As a result, women are now seen as a group of their own in order to improve conditions of the whole society. This thesis will, parallel to the aim of the thesis, describe aid organisations way of gender mainstreaming.</p>

Undergraduate thesis. / Format: PDF. Bibl.

Within the field of international development there has in recent years been an emerging interest to explore how secular and faith-based modes of development may interact. Yet there remains a considerable knowledge gap in how religious values, believes and practices may challenge, accommodate or complement secular development agendas. Against this backdrop, this thesis aims to make a small contribution to move our understanding onwards. Based on fieldwork in Apam, Ghana, my project illustrates how an individual may navigate between Pentecostal ideology, secular development discourse, and traditional believes and practices in contemporary Africa. More specifically, I employ theoretical insights from the anthropology of ethics to analyse how a young Christian man constructs his ethical identity while aspiring to shoulder the headship of his family, and being a promotor for gender equality and women empowerment in his community.

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Background: Previous researchers have identified perceptions and practices as key barriers to women's advancement opportunities. Moreover, the region of Umeå in Sweden has been experiencing a low representation of female managers, and the manufacturing industry is male-dominated throughout the country. Management perceptions of female managers could be categorized in four different perspectives and these were used after some modification, by adding other, relevant theories from the field of women in management. Organizational practices had shown to be crucial in enforcing gender equality in organizations, and for this study, internal and external recruitment, succession planning and training and development were explored. The intention was to explore how organizational practices had been influenced by management perceptions of female managers, by looking for indicators within these.Purpose: To explore how management, in general, perceive female managers, and how these perceptions might influence organizational practices.Research questions: How do management of several manufacturing companies in the Umeå region perceive female middle managers? and Do these perceptions affect the organizational practices? If so, how?Key concepts:Management perceptions: Subjective constructions of human behavior, more specifically, management attitudes and beliefs towards female middle managers.Middle manager: Someone who deals directly with employees and is in charge of at least one subordinate level and reports to a top-level manager.Organizational practices: Strategic activities in a company.Methodology: This exploratory study was conducted with a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews. Primary data was collected from six different companies in the Umeå Region and secondary data consisted of scientific articles.Findings and conclusions: The perceptions of female middle managers held by management at manufacturing companies in the Umeå Region did influence the organizational practices. In general, all had positive perceptions of women in terms of the economic benefits that they could bring to the companies. In addition, women’s opportunities in the manufacturing companies were influenced by management perceptions of whether women were considered to have the necessary, technical competencies for management positions. Furthermore, it was concluded that those manufacturing companies whose management prioritized the questions of women in management, had the highest representation of female middle managers.