Syfte: Syftet är att skapa en djupare förståelse för hur bakslagseffekten verkar inom en kvinnodominerad organisation när kvinnor avancerar i hierarkin. Metod: Vår studie antar en kvalitativ forskningsansats. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med nio kvinnliga chefer inom en kvinnodominerad organisation. Vi har en abduktiv ansats där vi låtit teorin ligga till grund för de teman vi har tagit upp och som är återkommande genom vår studie. Respondenternas åsikter har sedan tolkats genom en innehållsanalys. Vår teoretiska referensram bygger på tidigare forskning inom bakslagseffekten, könspräglade organisationer, könsroller och ledarskap. Resultat & slutsats: Vår studie visar att de kvinnliga cheferna antar ett transformativt ledarskap men att de trots det i vissa avseenden antar manliga karaktärsdrag. De möter vidare en bakslagseffekt som kan karaktäriseras av att de missgynnas i rekryteringsprocesser. När kvinnor blir chefer över tidigare kvinnliga kolleger möts de av en bakslagseffekt där de ogillas, deras kompetens ifrågasätts och i vissa fall blir de även utfrysta. Förslag på fortsatt forskning: Framtida forskning bör rikta in sig på att studera om det finns informella hierarkier som påverkar kvinnor när de avancerar i hierarkin. Organisationskulturer och generationsfrågan bör studeras närmare för att se deras inverkan på bakslagseffekten. En sista punkt är att definitionerna av könsroller och de karaktärsdrag som förskrivs till kvinnor respektive män förändras över tid därför kan det vara ett intressant område för att se vad det har för effekt på bakslagseffekten. Uppsatsens bidrag: Vårt teoretiska bidrag är att vi har visat att kvinnor som avancerar i hierarkin inom en kvinnodominerad organisation möter en bakslagseffekt till följd av att de blivit chefer över tidigare kvinnliga kollegor. De praktiska bidragen är att organisationer måste arbeta med att motverka informella hierarkier och att sträva efter att skapa mindre löneskillnader mellan könen. / Aim: The purpose with our study is to create a deeper understanding of how the backlash against women works in a female-dominated organization when women advances in the hierarchy.  Method: The study applies a qualitive research perspective. We have conducted semi structured interviews with nine female managers in one female-dominated organization. We have an abductive approach. Respondents' views have been interpreted through a content analysis. Our theoretical frame of reference is based on previous research on backlash, gendered organizations, gender roles and leadership. Result & conclusions: Our study shows that the female managers assume a transformative leadership, although they assume male characteristics in some respects. They face a backlash that can be characterized as being in disadvantage in recruitment processes and also by facing disapproval from colleagues. When women become managers of former female colleagues, they face a backlash in which thet are disliked, their skills are being questioned and, in some cases, they are also being exploited.   Suggestions for future research: Organizational cultures, informal hierarchies and different generations should be studied more closely to see how they impact on the backlash. One last thing is that the definitions of gender roles and the characteristics attributed to women and men change over time, hence it would be an interesting area to study, in order to see what possible effect it may have on the backlash. Contribution of the thesis: Our theoretical contribution is that we have shown that women who advance in the hierarchy in a female-dominated organization face a backlash as a result of becoming managers of former female colleagues. The managerial contributions are that organizations must work to counter informal hierarchies and to strive to decrease the salary gap between the sexes.

Because of I am a woman the gender issues are very close to me. Different perceptions of men and women we can see all arend us. Attributing stereotypical roles may have influence for the society as a whole. Currently have these issues the more and more attention. I believe that this is a favorable time for a change. From the available sources it is clear that sex discrimination does exist. Women do not have the same conditions as men. The role of mother has not enough for them. They want to achieve their own successes. And the more successes they want to achieve, the more they are forced to overcome barriers. In the theoretical part, after studying literature and other sources, I'm trying to describe briefly the main ideas of feminism and its influence on the pursuit of equality between men and women. Attention was focused primarily on gender, describing the basic concepts, as shown in the society and what principles are used in practice in these issues. After then I examine the labor market and the discrimination that exists here. From the available literature, I found out what the position of women and men in the labor market and what types of discrimination women face. I described the legislative measures in the Czech Republic and European Union. The closing part of theoretical part I focused for the women in politics and leadership positions and barriers, which restrict them access to these realms. The practical part of my work is divided into two chapters. In the first chapter, I analyzed the situation on the labor market of Czech Republic in terms of women's representation in politics. Representation of women is very low. I expressed my opinion on the issue of equal representation of men and women in politics and quotas that could solve this situation. The second chapter is devoted of the research, in which I learned how the public perceived gender issues, whether they met with the discrimination on the labor market themselves and whether they agree with these positive measures like the correct solution for this problem. For gaining these datas, I chose the method of questionnaire survey, thanks to which I managed to get valid answers from 195 respondents. In the final part, I evaluated the results of the questionnaire and to suggested the recommendations how to resolve the current situation.

This thesis focused on the French female writer Benoîte Groult studies the influence of her life and her feministic attitudes on her literary work. The work is divided into two parts, a theoretical and a practical one. The first part describes individual stages in the evolution of the feminist movement in France. In addition it contains Groult´s biography, the beginnings of her writing career, and her involvement in feminist events in France in the latter half of the 20th century. The practical part consists of analyses of two of her novels. It primarily focuses on the characteristics of the main female characters of these books and their relationships to their environment. The aim of this research is to find out through these analyses whether and how Groult?s feminist attitudes are reflected in her work and to what extent they are inspired by her life.

xv, 142 p. : ill. (some col.) / Young Latina women are at risk for unwanted pregnancy and sexually-transmitted infections. Researchers have suggested that factors such as self-efficacy and relationship power dynamics may contribute to difficulty in negotiating safe sex practices. For women in heterosexual relationships, the most common prevention practice--condom use--requires partner cooperation. Sociocultural variables related to gender role socialization can adversely affect a woman's ability to negotiate condom use. I developed and tested a model of sociocultural predictors of Latina women's safe sex practices. The predictors included ethnic identity, acculturation, womanist identity, gender role attitudes, sexual self-efficacy, and sexual relationship power. I surveyed 210 young adult Latina women via an online survey that was disseminated across the United States via social networking websites and email. I used path analysis to investigate the fit of the hypothesized model with the data, first to predict condom use and second to predict sexual history exploration. Results indicated that the hypothesized model predicting the safe sex practice of exploring a partner's sexual history had a good fit to the data, whereas the model predicting condom use did not provide an adequate fit to the data. These findings suggest that young adult Latinas' exploration of a partner's sexual history is more likely to occur when women have stronger ethnic identity and womanist identity, more egalitarian gender role attitudes, and higher levels of partner dominance and control in their relationship. The model accounted for 16% of the variance in sexual history exploration. Although the variance explained was low, this model is still informative of the factors that contribute to sexual history exploration. Exploring a potential partner's history is an important aspect of safe sex practices that can have major implications for healthy sexual decision-making. Understanding an individual's cultural identity via ethnic and womanist identity, as well as considering sociocultural (e.g., gender role attitudes) and interpersonal (e.g., relationship power) factors, can inform prevention efforts that will contribute to safe sex behavioral outcomes. Other factors that may contribute to safe sex practice outcomes that were not accounted for by the models are noted. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. / Committee in charge: Dr. Ellen H. McWhirter, Chairperson; Dr. Linda Forrest, Member; Dr. Joseph Stevens, Member; Dr. Lynn Fujiwara, Outside Member

The main aim of this paper was to identify the form and function of questions used by the three female and three male characters in the sitcom Friends, in order to see whether there were any gender differences in the use of questions. Another aim was to see whether gender roles remain static over time in the series, from 1994 to 2004. Four episodes in total were used, two episodes from the first season and two from the last. The results clearly showed that the male characters asked more questions than the female characters which was the opposite of what research suggested. Out of the four main functions of questions (external questions, talk-questions, relational questions and expressive style questions), the male characters used the external and expressive style the most. This reflects what research says about men using questions more to show power and domination in conversations. Talk and relational questions were used more by the female characters, which agrees with previous research which shows that women use questions as a conversational tool more often than men. Over the ten-year period studied, there were no striking differences between the female and male characters when it came to the form of questions used. To sum up, the results turned out to agree to a great extent with previous research and the scripted dialogues seem to reflect authentic conversations surprisingly well. / Syftet med detta arbete var att identifiera olika typer och funktioner av frågor som används av de tre kvinnliga och de tre manliga karaktärerna i den amerikanska TV-serien Friends, för att se om det fanns genusskillnader i användandet av frågor. Det andra syftet var att se om könsrollerna är statiska över tid i serien, från 1994 till 2004. Fyra avsnitt totalt har använts, två avsnitt från den första säsongen och två från den sista. Resultatet från denna studie visade att de manliga karaktärerna ställde fler frågor än de kvinnliga karaktärerna vilket var motsatsen till vad tidigare forskning påvisat. Av de fyra huvudtyperna av frågor (externa frågor, talfrågor, relationella frågor och uttrycksfrågor), så använde sig de manliga karaktärerna mest av de externa frågorna och uttrycksfrågorna. Detta speglar vad forskning säger om att män använder frågor för att visa makt och dominans i konversationer. Talfrågorna och de relationella frågorna, som användes mest av de kvinnliga karaktärerna, speglar också tidigare forskning då kvinnor använder frågor som ett verktyg i konversation mer än män. Över decenniet fanns det inga slående skillnader mellan de manliga och kvinnliga karaktärerna när man tittar på vilken form av frågor som användes. Sammanfattningsvis visade sig resultaten överensstämma i hög grad med tidigare forskning och de nedskrivna dialogerna verkar spegla autentiska konversationer överraskande väl.

Denna kvalitativa studie fokuserar sex förskollärares upplevelser av deras jämställdhetsarbete i förskolan. Studien tar sin utgångspunkt i genuspedagogik som huvudsakligen behandlar vuxnas förhållningssätt till könsstereotypa normer. Vi har använt oss av semistrukturerade intervjuer med sex förskollärare från sex olika förskolor i Sverige. Resultatet består av två övergripande teman ”Pedagogiska verktyg för att motverka traditionella könsroller” och ”Förskollärarnas upplevelser av två aspekter av jämställdhet i förskolorna” vilka båda har två underkategorier. Det första temat ämnar besvara forskningsfrågan ”Vilka pedagogiska verktyg använder förskollärarna sig av för att motverka traditionella könsroller?” och det andra temat syftar att besvara forskningsfrågan ”Hur beskriver förskollärarna sitt arbete med att motverka traditionella könsroller?” Studiens resultat visar att förskollärarna beskriver att de motverkar traditionella könsroller genom att ersätta könade ord samt styra barnens lekar för att förhindra flick- och pojkgrupper. Resultatet visar även på att bemötandet av könsöverskridande barn inte lyfts i personalgrupperna samt att förskollärarna upplever att den individuella pedagogens personliga intresse för jämställdhet är ett måste för att bedriva en jämställd pedagogik i förskolan. Studiens slutsats är att jämställdhetsarbetet i förskolorna är sårbart då arbetet är förankrat i intresset och kunskapen hos enskilda pedagoger snarare än i konkreta styrdokument. / This qualitative study has focused on the experiences of six different preschool teachers with their day to day work regarding gender equality linked to the Swedish preschool curriculum. Gender pedagogy has been used in this paper which primarily focuses on adult attitudes regarding gender stereotypes. We have used semi-structured interviews with six different preschool teachers from six different preschools. The data focuses on two different sets of themes being ”Pedagogic tools to counter traditional gender roles” and ”The preschool teachers experiences of two aspects of gender equality in the preschools” with each theme having two sets of subcategories. The first theme intend to answer the research question ”What educational tools do preschool teachers use to counteract traditional gender roles?” and the second theme intend to answer the research question ”How do the preschool teachers describe their work to counteract traditional gender roles?”. The result of the study shows that the preschool teachers describe that they counteract traditional gender roles by using their language by replacing gendered words and by controlling the children’s use of games. The result also shows that the treatment of transgender children is not lifted in the staff groups and that the preschool teachers feel that the individual interest in gender equality is a must if you want to achieve effective gender equality work. The conclusion of the study is that gender equality work in the preschools is vulnerable as it is rooted in the interest and knowledge of individual teachers rather than in concrete regulatory documents.

I denna intervjustudie har jag använt mig av kvalitativa intervjuer för att ta reda på hur pedagoger resonerar kring genus, könsroller och könsneutrala ord på förskolan. Intervjuerna har jag genomfört utifrån frågeställningar som tar upp pedagogers medvetenheten kring språk som genusformare, hur och vad de gör för att motverka de traditionella könsrollerna samt användningen av könsneutrala ord på förskolan. Resultatet visar att pedagogerna ser på barnen som individer istället för bärare av genus och att fokuset istället kan ligga på det specifika barnets intressen. Det är fokuset på individen och inte språket som pedagogerna talar om när det gäller att motverka de traditionella könsrollerna på förskolan.När de talar om könsneutrala ord diskuterar de ord som fungerar lika bra för flickor och pojkar, de nämner även det könsneutrala ordet hen. Men för att könsneutrala ord ska fungera och användas av pedagogerna på förskolorna behöver de mer kunskaper, det är i slutändan pedagogerna som måste förklara för både barn och vårdnadshavare om dess betydelse. / In this interview study I have used qualitative interviews to find out how educators in preschool reason about gender, gender roles and gender neutral words in preschool. The interviews are based on issues concerning awareness about language as a shaping factor of gender, how and what educators do to counteract traditional gender roles, and the use of gender neutral words in preschool. The result show that the educators look at children as individuals rather than as carriers of gender, and that the focus can be on a specific child's interest. It it also the individual focus not the language that the educators talk about when it comes to breaking the gender roles in preschool. When talking about gender neutral words they diskuss words that work just as well for both for girls and boys, the swedish gender neutral word “hen” is also mentioned. But in order for gender neutral words to work and be used by the educators in preschools they need more knowledge, it is ultimately the educators who must explain its meaning of it to both children and guardians.

C-paper Abstract Title: Fluidity and Solidity in Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping Author: Linda Lindqvist The purpose of this essay is to show that fluidity and solidity constitute a central tension on all levels in Housekeeping, and how this tension leads to a choice of either a fluid or a solid lifestyle and view of the world. I focus on fluidity and solidity in gender roles, in memories, in dreams, in nature, and in different perceptions of reality. By taking a closer look at Ruth’s first-person narration (seeing fluidity as not resisting deformation, while solidity resists deformation), we find that the characters in Housekeeping have fluid and solid traits, but that there is no reality that allows mixed manifestations of these. This results in repression of either fluidity or solidity, which creates tension and feelings of loss. Ruth chooses a fluid lifestyle, thus her memories and dreams become mixed with her present, and this also leads her to become a transient, outside gender roles and traditional small town society. Transience in this novel questions all distinctions conventionally made between dream and reality; male and female. In conclusion, this essay highlights how tension between fluidity and solidity is generated on all levels in Housekeeping, and how this leads to either fluid or solid lifestyles since the characters follow a cultural code that dictates a choice between them.

Den somaliskfödda gruppen beskrivs ofta som den mest svårintegrerade i Sverige med en stor underrepresentation på den svenska arbetsmarknaden. De beskrivs ha traditionella värderingar och könsroller som ofta dikterar arbetsfördelning och funktioner i familjen. Den aktuella studien ämnar undersöka effekten av ett förvärvsarbete för somaliska familjeroller i ett migrationsperspektiv. Genom att jämföra lönearbetande och arbetslösa somaliskfödda kvinnors upplevelser avser studien även belysa förvärvsarbetets betydelse för kvinnans vardagsliv. Uppsatsen bygger på tidigare forskning om de historiska, sociala och transnationella dimensionerna i somaliskt familjeliv och kultur samt teoretiska begrepp såsom rollkonflikt, rollförändring och rollförhandling. En kvalitativ jämförande fallstudie har genomförts, där resultatet baseras på data från semistrukturerade intervjuer. Åtta respondenter deltog i undersökningen, varav fyra var förvärvsarbetande och fyra arbetslösa somaliskfödda kvinnor. Med utgångspunkt från tidigare forskning och samhällsvetenskapens rollteori har resultatet analyserats för att kunna besvara forskningsfrågorna. I resultatet framkommer det att det finns vissa skillnader mellan de båda grupperna. De somaliska familjerna där kvinnorna inte befinner sig i ett förvärvsarbete har en distinkt uppdelning av hushållsarbetet, där kvinnan står för majoriteten av sysslorna. Det är även tydligt att de traditionella somaliska familjerollerna fortfarande vidmakthålls. I de familjer där de somaliskfödda kvinnorna lönearbetar däremot, har de traditionella familjerollerna uppluckrats och lett till en mer jämlik fördelning av hushållsarbetet. Där delar mannen, kvinnan och barnen på ansvaret. Fortsättningsvis framkommer det att de arbetslösa somaliskfödda kvinnorna är mycket angelägna om att ha ett arbete då självständighet från stat och myndigheter är drivkraften. För de lönearbetande kvinnorna framkommer istället ett tydligare fokus på att vara självständig från mannen och kunna bestämma mer i familjeangelägenheter. Resultatet visar även hur samhällets förväntningar på kvinnorna har påverkat deras drivkrafter till att arbeta och sätt att tänka om sin funktion i familjen. / Somali-born immigrants are often described as the most difficult group to integrate into Swedish society with an extensive underrepresentation on the Swedish labour market as well as traditional values and gender roles that often dictate the division of labour and functions in the family. This study aims to examine the effects of a job on Somali family roles from a migration perspective. By comparing wage-earning and unemployed Somali-born women's experiences, the study also aspires to elucidate the importance of a job in their everyday life. The essay is based on previous research on the historical, social and transnational dimensions of Somali family life and culture, as well as theoretical concepts such as role conflict, role change and role negotiation. A qualitative comparative case study has been conducted, based on data from semi-structured interviews. Eight respondents participated in the survey – four employed and four unemployed women born in Somalia. The results were then analyzed in the light of previous research and the theoretical concepts. The result shows that there are some interesting differences between the two groups. The Somali families in which the women are unemployed have a distinct division of the household work, where the woman assumes the majority of the workload. Here it is also clear that traditional Somali family roles are still of importance. However, in the families where the Somali-born women have employment, traditional family roles have changed and led to a more even distribution of household work, where the men, women and children share the responsibility. Furthermore, it appears that the unemployed Somali-born women are very keen to have a job, as independence from the state and government is a main driving force. For the wage-earners on the other hand, there is a clearer focus on being independent from the man and being able to be a decision-maker in family matters. The result also illustrates how society's expectations on women influence their driving forces to work and the way they think about their role in the family.

One purpose of this study is to examine how predominant patriarchal practices can affect the experiences of women refugees. This study also examines how the gender roles and patriarchal practices may change during a conflict. A theoretical framework was constructed to examine the patriarchal practices through radical feminism approach. Also, possible ways of social change within a conflict is examined. Empirically, the Syrian conflict is selected for the case study. In order to answer the research questions, 26 semi-structured interviews were conducted to track any possible social change in the patriarchal practices in Syria during the conflict in comparison to before the conflict. The main two findings of this study are that a change did occur in the patriarchal practices in which women did achieve more freedom and more independence during the conflict in Syria. However, there were increased patriarchal practices when women became refugees outside Syria, in which there was less freedom and less independence for Syrian women, especially the less educated women.