The feminist movement of the last two decades decried the dominance of hierarchical structures in public and private organizations. This thesis scrutinizes the differences and overlappings of three major feminist "schools" in regard to their advocacy of non-hierarchical forms of organization. The three strands examined are 'radical feminism', ‘cultural feminism' and ‘difference feminism'. The theoretical positions of two of them (radical and difference feminism) are evaluated through the example of two feminist, egalitarian organizations. The discussion focuses on the problem of maintaining egalitarian structures and achieving a certain level of efficiency and effectiveness in such groups. / Master of Arts

In this thesis I explore feminist technoscience strategies in computer science, starting in “the gender question in computer science”, and ending up in communication and translation between feminist technoscience research and computer science educational practice. Necessary parts in this work concern issues of boundary crossings between disciplines, and focusing on the foundations of computer science: what it means to “know computer science”. The point of departure is in computer science (CS), in particular CS education. There are at this starting point two intertwined issues: the gender question in computer science (often formulated as “what to do about the situation of women in computer science?”) and the foundation question: “what does it mean to know computer science?”. These are not primarily questions looking for answers; they are calls for action, for change and transformation. The main focus and goal of this thesis concerns how to broaden the meaning of “knowing computer science”; to accommodate epistemological pluralism and diversity within the practices and among the practitioners of CS. I have identified translation as fundamental, to make feminist research and epistemological perspectives communicable into the community of computer science practitioners. In this, questions of knowledge and how knowledge is perceived and talked about are central. Communication and translation also depend on the ability and willingness to cross boundaries, to engage in “world- travelling” (Lugones). Additional issues of importance are asking questions open enough to invite to dialogues, and upholding critical (self) reflection. An important goal for feminist research is transformation. Because of this, interventions have been part of my research, interventions in which I myself am implicated. The work has been based in feminist epistemological thinking, where the concepts of positioning and partial perspectives (Haraway) have been of particular importance. After an introduction, the thesis consists of three parts, each part relating to one of the three issues in the title, issues identified as important for feminist technoscience work in computer science. In part A, I investigate and discuss what it means to be simultaneously an engineer/computer scientist and a feminist technoscience researcher. What boundary crossings, challenges, conflicts, negotiations and issues of being inside and outside are involved? This part also focuses on what the implications of these boundary crossings and different “mind-sets” are for transformatory work in science and engineering education, as well as a discussion of what feminist technoscience research can be and how it can be used for interventions and transformations. Part B focuses on foundations of computer science. This part consists of studies of texts, which I critically read and query from a feminist technoscience perspective, in order to challenge existing approaches and concepts within computer science. The texts are about the gender question in computer science; foundational topics of “what is computer science”, as well as epistemological questions concerning approaches to knowledge in computer science: “what does it mean to know computer science”? Part C deals with a concrete intervention project aiming at establishing conversations with computer science faculty. In this project, the issues of communication and translation appear as central. The focus in this part is communication between computer science educational practice and feminist technoscience research, language as a carrier of epistemology, and a discussion of translation.

published_or_final_version / abstract / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

In the aftennath of the policy crisis which followed the chaining of pregnant prisoners in labour and childbirth, this study constitutes the first to provide qualitative data (supported by basic quantitative analysis) derived from in-depth interviews with pregnant prisoners about their experiences, conducted in England and Wales. From this data, the thesis describes: ( a) the characteristics of pregnant prisoners, (b) the effect of pregnancy on the experience of imprisonment, and (c) the effect of imprisonment on the experience of pregnancy. In addition to this, the thesis presents an account of Prison Service policy and practice relating to pregnancy in prison using data obtained from questionnaires completed by prison staff. Infonned by the medicalisation critique and perspectives from Foucault, it is argued that due to the construction of pregnancy and childbirth as medical events, pregnant women's bodies are subject to medical control and intervention. The reproduction and enforcement of this medical model in Prison Service policy and practice duplicates the control endured by pregnant prisoners producing docile bodies, subject to controlled knowledge and restricted autonomy. The overall effect of this is the deconstruction of women's competency to deal with pregnancy and childbirth. The thesis argues that the motivation behind this control is the creation of productivity, namely, healthy bodies and the control of sexuality, and the perpetuation of docility, through the social control of women's multiple-deviance. The thesis attributes the success of this control to the selfpolicing operated by pregnant women, which is evident from their expectations and demands for pregnancy, even in prison. Finally, the thesis argues that the conditions experienced by pregnant prisoners are punishing, in view of the dual control endured and the physical effects of imprisonment on pregnancy. IV

The purpose of this study was to investigate the discursive construction of teacher subjectivity by mapping and complicating the normative discourses that dictate the im/possibility of what counts as a “good teacher” in Taiwan. This research employed the “new” postmodern ethnography and various methods of data collection, including archival documents, interviews, classroom and school observations, and a researcher’s journal. Data was analyzed using critical discourse analysis and thematic analysis. Feminist poststructuralist theories of identity, subject formation, agency, and teachers as a discursive category were used to inform analyses about the working of regulatory discourses on teacher identity and about teachers’ negotiations. This study juxtaposed competing discourses and historicized discourses as strategies to destabilize commonsense assumptions about the good teacher. The stories about teachers’ schoolgirl days were also gathered not only because there is a dearth of such stories that cut across Taiwan’s history from martial law to democratization but also because educational biography is assumed to be reproduced in teaching. This research found that the normative discourses of the “good teacher” include (1) Good teachers promise students high scores on examinations; (2) Good teachers are moral teachers; (3) Good teachers devote themselves to students; and (4) Good teachers strengthen the nation. Two transgressive discourses that arise from my analysis of archival texts include (1) Good teachers recognize students’ homosexual identities; and (2) Good teachers question the government’s educational policies. The researcher concluded that the “good teacher” should be better understood as a “normative ideal” (Young, 1990, p. 320) that designates what a teacher ought to be, but obscures the cultural and historical specificities of the identity category good teachers and excludes the excessive discourses and knowledge that teachers employ to live the identity called teacher. Implications for teacher-education curriculum are provided. The researcher also suggests implications for (1) the future research on teacher education; (2) the methodologies used to study teachers; and (3) the education and educational research in Taiwan. / text

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In the early 1980s, feminist councillors and the women's movement pushed for the establishment of structured provision in UK local government to address the issue of women's equality. Women's initiatives were set up by a small number of Labour controlled councils. At the height of their activities in 1987 there were 45 Women's Committees, by 1995 only 9 remained (Halford 1988). A central question of this thesis was to examine why the delivery of equal opportunities for women was changing and what form the new initiatives were taking. The wider significance of studying the political activity of women's initiatives relates to the development of a new approach to women's equality delivery. Previous approaches can be classified as a legislative approach, based on the principle of equal treatment, and a positive action approach, which foregrounds women's material and social oppression. The new approach promoted, most notably, by the European Union argues for the need to 'mainstream' the work of equality practitioners so that every member of an organisation routinely and systematically adopts a 'gender perspective' in their work. A focus on gendered differences, rather than on women, aims to provide a more inclusive agenda which will appeal to a wider number of policy-makers, businesses and citizens. The second main thrust of this thesis was to explore the development of a mainstreaming approach to equality delivery in the UK. It contrasts UK practice to that advocated by the European initiative, and also begins to theorise the concept of mainstreaming in terms of feminist, organisational and sociological theory. Using a new concept of the'equality stool' to describe the historical development of equality practice, the thesis attempts to explain why practitioners in the UK local government have been averse to a mainstreaming approach. The thesis used qualitative methodology and a case study design to examine, in depth, the experience of women practitioners in three local authorities, over the last 20 years. It reports on practitioners' attitudes and opinions and makes the links between their views of the world, and the actions and events which they have described. The thesis has three main findings. First, that past practice holds important insights for the development of a mainstreaming approach in the UK and European member states. Second, that mainstreaming in the UK has been developed for different reasons and from different perspectives than those of the European initiative. Third, that women's equality practice can be seen as a strategy of embodiment, which demands that individuals transform themselves into gender aware actors. Women practitioners' underlying purpose has been to challenge the gendered conception of women's roles at work and in society. The findings are used to construct a table of prerequisites (organised according to Connell's 1987 gender order) which UK practitioners have identified as important for a mainstreaming approach to be successful. These prerequisites suggest that the development of a structured women's equality initiative may be a crucial first step before a mainstreaming strategy can be pursued.

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