This dissertation examines how breastfeeding mothers develop distinct geographies due to the stigma, symbolic and structural violence they encounter while breastfeeding if different spaces. I utilize multiple in-depth semi-structured interviews, participant observation and photo elicitation to develop portraits of four urban mothers. My findings highlight the complexity of motherhood and demonstrate how distinct socio-spatial power dynamics situate and contextualize the experiences of breastfeeding mothers. I find that breastfeeding behaviors are influenced and maintained by broader social inequalities related to their social positions. Mothers seem caught in a paradoxical position, in which they must constantly discipline their bodies to maintain modesty while simultaneously ensuring their continued success breastfeeding. These issues are compounded by a mother's intersecting identities and their own social and cultural contexts.

Maternal mortality in Nigeria is unacceptably high, accounting for 14 percent of global maternal deaths, thereby making it a global public health issue. Given that maternal mortality is essentially a women problem, it is a matter of justice and discrimination. In addition, significant regional disparities in maternal mortality exist within Nigeria, particularly between the northern and southern parts of the country. The maternal mortality ratio in the North is six to ten times greater than that of the South. The country's maternal mortality crisis occurs along regional and socioeconomic lines-the poorer northern Nigeria has a disproportionately higher maternal mortality ratio than the wealthier southern Nigeria. This thesis explores the disparities in maternal health across different regions in Nigeria from an intersectional perspective, taking into account economic, religious, cultural, rural, and urban differences. The study adopts intersectionality theory to examine how these factors intersect to impact maternal health outcomes in Nigeria. Furthermore, the thesis employs a functional comparative law approach, using India and South Africa as comparators, to assess how the constitutional courts of these countries have applied intersectional perspective to right to health. It highlights the importance of adopting an intersectional approach to understanding maternal health disparities in Nigeria, as it considers the multiple and interconnected factors that contribute to poor maternal health outcomes. This is particularly crucial in the Nigerian context, where maternal mortality rates remain high and access to quality maternal health services is limited, particularly in rural and underdeveloped regions. The comparative analysis of India and South Africa sheds light on how these countries have approached constitutionalizing the right to health and intersectionality in their courts. In South Africa, the Constitutional Court has played a crucial role in advancing the right to health and applying an intersectional perspective in its judicial decisions, leading to improvements in maternal health outcomes. In India, the Supreme Court has also played an important role in interpreting the right to health to include other associated factors, but its impact on maternal health outcomes remains limited, particularly in rural areas. The thesis concludes by advocating for constitutionalizing maternal health in Nigeria, through incorporation of the right to health in the Nigerian Constitution to ensure that this right is enforceable through the court processes. The study recommends that an adoption intersectional perspective in the implementation of maternal health policies and programs, in order to address the multiple and interconnected factors that contribute to maternal health disparities in Nigeria. The findings of this thesis contribute to the existing literature on maternal health and the right to health, and have important implications for policymakers and health practitioners working to improve maternal health outcomes in Nigeria and other developing countries. By incorporating an intersectional and comparative approach, the thesis provides a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities for constitutionalizing maternal health in Nigeria and highlights the need for a more nuanced and integrated approach to maternal health policy and practice.

Research within discrimination against ethnic minorities and females suggest that members of these groups face discrimination during recruitment processes in organizations. However, less is known on whether leaders from these groups are discriminated against due to their ethnicity and gender by being perceived less suitable as leaders at the workplace. Moreover, most previous research has focused on discrimination and stereotypes of members of single groups rather than of multiple group categories. In this study conducted in Sweden (N=300), we investigate whether the intersection of gender and ethnicity of a leader at the workplace affects employee perception of their leadership suitability and how signaling ethnicity and gender differs for Arab (minority) versus Swedish (majority) and Male (majority) versus Female (minority). The results show clear evidence of ethnic discrimination where a male Arab is less preferred to a leadership position than male Swede. However, there is no evidence indicating discrimination based on gender nor any significant interaction between gender and ethnicity.  Keywords: Discrimination, Gender, Ethnicity, Intersectionality, Leadership

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Representing marginalized identities in visual communication is animportant effort to making them part of the majority’s perceived reality,therefore normalizing and destigmatizing their existence. By exploringthe concepts of discourse, re-presentation and reception,based on the works of Michel Foucault and Stuart Hall, and examining whereidentity and labels originated, I came to the conclusion that the current(common) practice of representation in design is rather paradoxical. Thoughrepresentation intends to push back on hegemonic oppressive structures,designers rely on the visible recognizability of marginalized identities, reinforcingthe structures that singled out and condemned traits outside of thenorm to begin with. This foundational research is compiled as the Grundstein(engl. cornerstone), essentially a foundational handbook, to encouragedesigners to rethink representation as a practice and think of other ways visualcommunication can aid not only the inclusion of marginalized people,but the deconstruction of oppressive structures. Throughout, the thesis focusesspecifically on the mis- and underrepresentation of [aromantic asexuals]and lays out how considerations of those identities could also impactdesign practice.Delabeling is my implementation of the Grundstein into design, proposingthe immaterialization of identity by omitting the depiction of bodies,and instead focusing on the representation of shared experience betweenminority and majority groups. The aim is to introduce [aromantic asexuality],a rather unknown sexual identity, by not focusing on what makes them‘different’ from the majority, but by inviting the observer to ‘recognize’ themselvesin the [aro-ace] experience. Neither Delabeling or the Grundstein are intended as ‘alternatives’ tocurrent practice, but I hope they invite designers to reconsider industry‘rules’ and standards and motivate them to develop own ideas for more radicalforms of representation in visual communication.

Women often feel unsafe outdoors, restricting their use of public places. They have still not been prioritized in urban planning. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to study usage and perception of public places by young women in Flemingsberg. The intersectional perspective chosen lifts their voices. "Safety" and “place” are still the primary focus, using Jane Jacob’s theories about safety in the city. Interviews with nine young women and observations of unsafe places in Flemingsberg were conducted. The results show that the women generally feel safe. Their perception of their safety and place-attributes still makes them use public places restrictively, especially at night. Some feel safer in Flemingsberg, some are safer elsewhere. Connections were also found to the intersectionality theory, as the women felt more vulnerable at a younger age. Jane Jacob's implication that it is safer with more people present at a place was also relevant. The most influential attributes which make the women feel safe or unsafe are what number and kind of people are out in the streets, lighting, and familiarity with a place. Specific locations are thereby safer and more used for some of the women, for others unsafe. Improvements suggested show what can make them safer.

Youth in the United States are experiencing a steep increase in mental health issues. Concurrently, unique political, economic and social dynamics in the U.S. make the circumstances of nonwhite children's mental health partially contingent on experiences of racism. In this study, I examine the relationship between racial minority children's mental health and perceived racism, while also examining the moderating effects of gender on this relationship. I first review prior research which suggest that racism is a salient determinant of several health outcomes among racial minorities and racial minority children, including depression and anxiety. I then review research on both gender and racial socialization and posit possible implications of these differentials on mental health. Considering both the racialized and gendered factors contributing to youth's mental health outcomes, this study fills a gap in previous research by exploring the differences by gender and race in the effect of perceived racism on children's mental health. I use data from the National Survey of Children's Health from 2016 to 2019. Using average marginal effects, calculated from a series of logistic regression models predicting depression, anxiety, behavioral and emotional problems, I find support for previous research which suggests that perceived racism predicts poor mental health among non-white children. I elaborate further by adding the intersection of gender, splitting and comparing the sample across race and gender subgroups. I find considerable variety in the effects of perceived racism across race and gender, such that Latina and Asian girls who experience racism are at heightened risk for being diagnosed with mental health conditions.

The present thesis explores how people’s gender with its various intersections shape theirexperiences of making friends in adulthood in the Finnish context and presents anintersectional analysis of the processes and challenges of making friends. The intersections Ifocused on were those of gender with ethnicity, race, religion and migrant or non-migrantstatus. Additionally, it discusses how the decolonial concepts of “world”-travelling anddiatopical hermeneutics can be used to explore how making friends could become easier. Thedata was collected through two focus group discussions with participants I recruited at anevent which provides a space for people of various backgrounds to meet people and makefriends. The research shows that making friends requires conscious effort and the challengesfor people who inhabit certain intersections can be bigger than for others. There are manybarriers that need to disappear for friendship formation to become easier, and that can happenby challenging our own prejudice and having an open mind. Making friends requires us to beable to travel to others’ “worlds” and welcome them to our own, which can only becomepossible if we encounter people that are different to us without prejudice. Meeting andlistening to each other is key to making friends, while also education from a young age maybe the key to combat and most importantly prevent discrimination and promote positiverelationships between people of different backgrounds.

The purpose of this study is to examine how everyday racism is expressed in preschool by analyzing how teachers in preschool discuss “race” and ethnic discrimination that occurs in children's lives at preschool. The preschool must follow Lpfö 18 which gives teachers direction on how to work against racism and is obligated by law to base its operations on it (Skolverket, 2018).  The study's questions highlight preschool teachers´s view of their work in promoting the equal value of all children. The study is based on intersectionality as a form of analysis (Mattsson, 2015) and critically examines how power structure, social construction, and categorization affect how people relate to each other. The essay uses a qualitative approach, where preschool teachers who work in preschool are interviewed with a semi-structured approach. Digital recording documents the interviews and is presented anonymously.  The results highlight how preschool teachers make discrimination that occurs in children's everyday lives at preschool visible. The study contributes to an increased understanding of inequality that affects everyone in the preschool environment and how that impact can create insecurity in those who are exposed to discrimination.

Individer som befinner sig mellan olika kulturer upplever ofta utmaningar associerade med dubbelidentitet. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur andra generationens invandrare upplever sin identitet när de har föräldrar med annan etnisk bakgrund än svensk. Studiens två frågeställningar fokuserar på identiteten i sociala och kulturella kontexter. Urvalet gjordes genom ett målinriktat och snöbollsurval, och vidare genomfördes åtta semistrukturerade intervjuer där deltagarna berättade om sina upplevelser. Analysen utfördes utifrån en tematisk analysprocess i sex steg där sju teman identifierades: anpassning i dagliga interaktioner, intern självreflektion av social identitet, social tillhörighet och gemenskap, kulturell dualitet med balansering, fördomar och identitet, språkets roll, och upplevda kulturkrockar. Resultatet visade att deltagarna ständigt förhandlar sin identitet mellan två kulturer för att passa in. Några viktiga diskuterade ämnen var tillhörighet, bikulturell identitet och kulturkrock. Studien kan bidra till framtida forskning om mångkulturella situationer och till en fördjupad förståelse för individers upplevelser kring etniskt ursprung.