This study presents an account of experiences of recent immigrant women professionals in negotiating labour market opportunities after arriving in Canada. The purpose of this research is to bring in immigrant women’s perspectives on immigration and employment study. Six immigrant women professionals from different cultural backgrounds were interviewed within the framework of qualitative research. Informed by feminist theories, this study intended to make women’s experience in post-arrival integration and settlement more visible and prominent. Research findings indicate both labour market and household factors contributed to shape the labour market experience of immigrant women professionals of recent years. Their experiences reveal the complicated social relations of their doubly burdened and triply oppressed location.

One major question in the area of Feminist Media Studies is to analyze the stereotypical female role portrayals in media. Researchers in this area have examined diverse media including television, radio, films, textbooks, literature and so on. Empirical evidence provided by these studies shows that women in media are often underrepresented or stereotypically portrayed in traditional roles such as housewives or mothers associated with feminine values, such as dependent, submissive, and passive. Using content analysis and semiotic analysis, this study is designed to examine the portrayals of female roles in a sample of contemporary (1949-2010) Chinese films. Content analysis is employed to examine how women have been portrayed in films, with the primary focus on the frequency of three types of female roles including (1) traditional roles, (2) modern role, and (3) ideal role. Results suggest that during this long period of time, representations and constructions of women in films have shifted from promotion of gender equality, to diminishing and erasing gender difference, and finally regressed to confining them to traditional roles while emphasizing traditional feminine values and expectations. In using semiotic analysis, this research is able to outline the connotative meanings of the female characters as well as the implicit cultural values and messages of gender that are embedded in films. On this cultural analysis, the findings reveal that female role portrayals in films, which are influenced by political, cultural, and social changes, remained associated with traditional feminine stereotypes, values, and expectations.

This thesis explores Wisdom Christology, the association of Jesus Christ and the mysterious and neglected biblical figure of Woman Wisdom. Because the descriptions of her bear a striking resemblance to the portrayal of Jesus Christ, I argue that they can be seen as two names for the same figure: Christ-Wisdom. This link between Jesus Christ and Woman Wisdom has some interesting repercussions in Christology. Firstly, it emphasizes the mysteriousness of Jesus Christ, preventing the illusion that Jesus Christ can be fully understood. In fact, the incarnation is a deepening of the mystery of God, meaning that theological language must rely on paradox and metaphor to describe the indescribable. I argue that the name Jesus Christ is inclusive, wide enough to hold many names, including that of Woman Wisdom, which he sanctifies so they become appropriate names for the divine. Secondly, the association of Jesus Christ with Woman Wisdom affects the gender of Jesus Christ. Throughout Christian history, there has been a gender fluidity in depictions of Jesus Christ, something legitimated by his full divinity. This does not mean his historical life as a male human being can be ignored, but although he was of the male sex, he arguably did not strictly adhere to socio-cultural gender expectations. Likewise, in Woman Wisdom, Jesus Christ provides an alternative, atypical way of being female. This relativizes the gender of Christ-Wisdom, pointing beyond it to the radical solidarity of the divine with all humanity in the incarnation. Thirdly, to view Christ as Wisdom changes the way gender is understood within the Church, the Body of Christ. If the Church is the representative of Christ-Wisdom, it is therefore a multi-gendered body in which Jesus Christ takes on male and female embodiment. In contrast to gendered ethical models, the Church thus has one ethical example in Christ-Wisdom, which all follow. Because of the various gifts of the Spirit, diversity remains, but is transformed so that differences, including gender, do not limit or determine the roles of believers in the Church, but remain part of the richness of the one Body under its one Head, Christ-Wisdom.

Country music, considered a uniquely American musical genre, has been relatively under-researched compared to rock and rap music. This thesis proposes research into the topic of country music, specifically the ways which country music songs portray gender. The thesis uses Billboard chart data to determine commercially successful songs, and performs a content analysis on the lyrics of these songs. I will select songs from a fifty year period ranging from 1955 to 2005, so as to allow for a longitudinal study of potential changes in presentation. Attention will be focused on the lyrical descriptions of men and women and how their roles are described in the songs.

Youth is a contested term which has been described as difficult to define and ‘pin down analytically’ (De Boek and Honwana 2005:3). In much youth development related issues, youth is categorised as a person between the ages of 15-24, which is defining a person only in terms of one’s chronological age. Age is a good indicator of where in life a person is, I used thus a wider range to include also older youth. Youth are often viewed in relation to other social categories as adults or children, and notions of youth are often as becomings, dependent, powerless, rebellious, risky (behaviour) and irresponsible, a focus merely on ‘negative’ aspects of youthhood, are these notions really describing the general youth? This study explores given youth identities in terms of behavioural patterns of being ‘in place’ and/or ‘out of place’. Identities are in this thesis approached as socially constructed, and people can hold multiple identities. This thesis therefore presents different identity narratives of Jamaican Youth ‘faces’. I used qualitative research methodology to collect and analyse the empirical data generated during fieldwork in Jamaica, Port Antonio in the period of February to beginning of May 2009. Methods such as informal conversations, observations, key informant interviews and photography is the main sources of the collected data, but also secondary data has been used in the analysis to grasp the surrounding realities. The youth participants of this study, 37, are persons who define themselves as youth and are viewed as youth by the Jamaica society based on their activities and behaviour, and are not dependent of their age, gender, class or occupation. In addition twelve (12) adults have contributed to the outsider’s views. The analytical concept of place is used to examine youth’s different behavioural patterns, based on socially accepted activities which are preformed in socially constructed youth places. The social meanings that identity performance have for the sense of being ‘in place’ and belonging to a place are explored to examine how this affects their identity building processes within a specific place. Also outside processes as national youth policy making, media representations and statements from ‘locals’, are evaluated as contributing to the present perceived Jamaican youth identities. I found multiple constructed ‘faces’of Jamaican youth; ‘the naughty’, ‘the nice’, the sexy’, ‘the wise’ and ‘the runner’ , are presented. These identities are fluid and transferable between different places in society and in time. The participants in this study each hold several of these ‘faces’, but often one which are more prominent in relation to the place one uses at that time. The located youth places; the youth centre place, the marina place and the dancehall place, are sites where the identity building processes takes form and social identities are constructed in relations to the socially acceptable conventions in the places in which youth occupy. These social conventions and identities may be negotiated, modified, reconstructed, challenged, contested or resisted in the ‘never-ending’ identity and place production processes. Identity, which is a complex term, holds several of attributes within categories as gender, race, age ect., but none of these attributes exist alone, and place as a contributor to the identity building processes is in this thesis seen as significant in the dynamic relation to all the attributes a person holds, which are preformed at different scales in society, both to be ‘in place’ and/or ‘out of place’. The youth ‘faces’ in Jamaica are also related and part of the national identity, they should therefore be accepted rather than rejected as ‘unwanted behaviour’, since a person rarely just hold one identity.

This thesis explores Wisdom Christology, the association of Jesus Christ and the mysterious and neglected biblical figure of Woman Wisdom. Because the descriptions of her bear a striking resemblance to the portrayal of Jesus Christ, I argue that they can be seen as two names for the same figure: Christ-Wisdom. This link between Jesus Christ and Woman Wisdom has some interesting repercussions in Christology. Firstly, it emphasizes the mysteriousness of Jesus Christ, preventing the illusion that Jesus Christ can be fully understood. In fact, the incarnation is a deepening of the mystery of God, meaning that theological language must rely on paradox and metaphor to describe the indescribable. I argue that the name Jesus Christ is inclusive, wide enough to hold many names, including that of Woman Wisdom, which he sanctifies so they become appropriate names for the divine. Secondly, the association of Jesus Christ with Woman Wisdom affects the gender of Jesus Christ. Throughout Christian history, there has been a gender fluidity in depictions of Jesus Christ, something legitimated by his full divinity. This does not mean his historical life as a male human being can be ignored, but although he was of the male sex, he arguably did not strictly adhere to socio-cultural gender expectations. Likewise, in Woman Wisdom, Jesus Christ provides an alternative, atypical way of being female. This relativizes the gender of Christ-Wisdom, pointing beyond it to the radical solidarity of the divine with all humanity in the incarnation. Thirdly, to view Christ as Wisdom changes the way gender is understood within the Church, the Body of Christ. If the Church is the representative of Christ-Wisdom, it is therefore a multi-gendered body in which Jesus Christ takes on male and female embodiment. In contrast to gendered ethical models, the Church thus has one ethical example in Christ-Wisdom, which all follow. Because of the various gifts of the Spirit, diversity remains, but is transformed so that differences, including gender, do not limit or determine the roles of believers in the Church, but remain part of the richness of the one Body under its one Head, Christ-Wisdom.

This study was designed to examine the relationship between a person’s goal orientation and the gender roles that they adopt. The relationship between gender and goal orientation has been studied for years, but the results have been inconclusive. Some studies find a gender difference and some studies do not. For this reason, this study examined if there was another factor that was influencing goal orientations that was related to gender. Goal orientations are perceptual-cognitive frameworks for how individuals approach, interpret, and respond to achievement situations. Gender roles are the behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that are considered acceptable and appropriate for each gender based on society and culture. Four hundred and seventy two participants answered an online questionnaire assessing their goal orientation and gender role identification. The participants answered questions using the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scale and the Bem’s Sex Role Inventory. Overall, the results showed that higher masculinity leads to a higher motivation to succeed, and higher femininity leads to a higher motivation to avoid failure.

Stieg Larsson has reached vast audiences with his popular, page-turning crime novels, the Millennium Series. The series tells a story not just for fictional purposes, but to draw attention to what people did not see about the society that Larsson lived in. In 2009, local actors starred in a film adaptation of Larsson’s first novel, which went beyond the Swedish public. In December 2011 an English-language remake based on the same bestseller was released, starring famous Hollywood actors. Considering language can hinder the reach of foreign language movies in international markets and that international and Swedish audiences demands differ, the current research aims to find out how the two movie adaptations diverge in terms of gender representation, production, graphic content, ideological meaning, and cultural representation as they attempt to target their respective audiences. In order to find answers, this thesis adopted a qualitative approach using two different, supporting methods. First a semiotic analysis of a representative scene with a high psychological and graphic impact on the viewer in both movies was conducted. Second, focus group interviews, with International and Swedish audience members, were conducted. The findings suggest that considerable differences exist between the two movies and that audiences have a different pre-conception in the way they perceive the same media product: gender role dynamic has been reversed in the two movies, the American version is more graphic in its display of nudity, and lacks the ideological layer. Furthermore, this study can serve as a basis for future research that could try to statistically represent the way Swedish and international moviegoers draw on the two adaptations.

This essay aims to describe and problematize gender roles and master suppression techniques in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga. This is done in order to enable me, in my future profession as a teacher, to start an emancipatory discussion in class where pupils can become conscious of different ways of reading the love story. I will use the following two research questions to fulfil the purpose: 1) investigate which gender roles that appears in the book’s main characters Bella and Edward and 2) which master suppression techniques that colours their relationship. To answer the questions gender theory and ideology-critics are used. Gender theory is first and foremost used to analyse gender roles whereas ideology-critics is a method of reading that highlights the importance of taking the society and thereto connected values in to account. Applying these two theories on the book it becomes clear that the main characters follows traditional gender roles for what is seen as typical feminine and masculine behaviour; Bella is caring, passive, sexually loyal, and addicted and Edward is aggressive, physically strong and fast, stubborn, dominant and protective. Further more, it is also evident that these roles are accompanied by a number of master suppression techniques used by Edward, such as: make Bella invisible and silly, keep information from her, and use of violence and threats. By using the knowledge in a pedagogical fashion pupils can be energized to start critically reflecting about these stereotypical roles and thereby emancipate from them. They will realize that Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga is a re-production of patriarchal gender structure through an emotional love story.

Each December thousands of Swedish families sit down to watch the annual "Christmas calendar", a series containing 24 episodes. Since the start in 1960, the Swedish public service television company, Sveriges Television, have broadcast a Christmas calendar every year, and is now seen as a firm tradition, attracting audiences of all ages, though the main audience is children. Research has shown that children’s television programs to a certain extent have the same function as news journalism has in agenda setting. Media, together with feedback and interaction with other individuals, plays a big role in the process of socialization. Researchers have though not yet been able to show how much media and media content matters when it comes to shaping people's perception of the world and reality. Thus, we are now concentrating on how gender is depicted in children's programs, in our case the Christmas calendars. How are men and women depicted? What characteristics do the characters have? Does this change due to time? Are there parallels that can be drawn to society as a whole? Our research resulted in ten overall analyses of Christmas calendars, picked from five decades, and five thorough analyses of episodes from these calendars.