The strategy of gender mainstreaming was implemented as a policy tool with its objective of achieving gender equality and benefitting both women and men. But it has been seen that the strategy had the tendency to present and focus only on one side of the gender coin, which are women and girls. Men and boys are hardly mentioned in gender related issues and appear as hazy background figures, which have further resulted in serious consequences for women and men, as well as the relationship between them in relation to gender equality efforts. This research analyzes the existing literature within the field of gender and development in order to comprehend the complexity surrounding gender equality concerning the policies with gender mainstreaming and its impact on women, men, and on the relationship between them. To increase the reliability of the research, an analytical model in the shape of a triangle was constructed to illustrate the symmetric correlation between gender policies, and their impact on women and men. The results of the research showed that with its main focus on women’s issues and empowerment, policies with gender mainstreaming appear to contribute to negative and threatened responses from men towards women’s increasing power. This is in relation to men’s sense of exclusion and disempowerment. The results further indicate a potential backlash in the objective of gender equality where men’s negative reactions can be seen to hamper women’s ability to perform their advanced role in households and communities, which further exacerbate the efforts of achieving equality.

How do municipalities and county councils work with gender mainstreaming? What tools are used and which are the conditions and obstacles in the working process? Gender mainstreaming has been an official strategy in Sweden since 1994. In all policy decisions at all levels, a gender perspective shall be integrated. This will ultimately have an impact on the citizen level. The essay shows that despite the fact that the strategy has been official for 21 years, it is not used everywhere. I examine how the county council and municipalities in the county of Västmanland are working with gender mainstreaming. In Västerås, there is much work going on, on the basis of the strategy. While in other municipalities, no work at all can be found. Within the framework of gender mainstreaming, the municipalities and the county council are using a set of tools. There is talk about several conditions and obstacles in the work with gender mainstreaming, where knowledge is a recurring element. This makes the study particularly interesting when we get an insight of how much the work within gender mainstreaming can be separated for each municipality.

The purpose of this essay is to investigate and analyze the term diversity in five Swedish municipality’s combined gender equality- and diversity plans. The purpose is also to investigate who or whom of the employers that are included in the term diversity and if gender equality is included in the diversity work. The material is analyzed on the basis of theory of intersectionality and discourse analysis. The outcome of the analysis indicates that the municipalities use the term diversity in many different ways in the combined gender equality- and diversity plans. The municipalities usually use the term diversity for all of the employers and all groups of people are included in the work with diversity. Gender is included in the term diversity but gender quality work is often not included in the diversity work. In this essay the term diversity seem to be a difficult term for the municipalities to use and they often uses the term in different contexts.

Lyčių lygių galimybių politika – atskira valstybės vykdomos politikos sritis, reguliuojanti moterų ir vyrų lygybės principo efektyvų įgyvendinimą įvairiose visuomenės gyvenimo srityse. Jos turinį sudaro teisinė principo reglamentacija, programos bei specialios priemonės, kuriomis siekiama sudaryti vienodas galimybes moterims ir vyrams dalyvauti visose visuomenės gyvenimo srityse Da rbo tikslas buvo išanalizuoti moterų ir vyrų lygių galimybių politikos formavimą ir įgyvendinimą Lietuvoje, remiantis Socialinių inovacijų fondo projekto atveju. Šio išsikelto tikslo buvo siekiama per pagrindinių tarptautinių bei Lietuvos teisės akt��, susijusių su lyčių lygybe nagrinėjimą, LR Vyriausybės ir politinių partijų programų, Valstybinės moterų ir vyrų lygių galimybių 2003-2004 ir 2005 – 2009 m. programų analizę, pagrindinių veikėjų, formuojančių ir įgyvendinančių lyčių lygybės politiką Lietuvoje, aprašymą. Siekiant geriau įsigilinti į analizuojamą problemą ir norint atskleisti praktinius efektyvumo aspektus lyčių lygybės srityje Lietuvoje, darbe taip pat naudojamas atvejo analizės metodas - Socialinių inovacijų fondo projekto „Moterų ir vyrų lygių galimybių įgyvendinimas užimtumo srityje - priemonės, praktika, pokyčiai“, remiamo Europos Sąjungos, analizė. Taip pat buvo atlikti pusiau struktūruoti interviu su šio projekto koordinatore, Socialinių inovacijų fondo direktore Liudmila Mecajeva bei projekto lektorėmis: sociologe Audrone Kisieliene ir LR Lygių galimybių kontrolieriaus tarnybos... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Gender equality policy is a part of Government executive policy, which regulates effective implementation of women and men equal principle in various spheres of life. The purport of it comprises of legally regulated principle, programmes and special means, by which women and men equal opportunities of participation in all spheres of life is being formed and ensured. The main aim of the thesis was to analyse the formation and implementation of gender equality policy in Lithuania, using Social innovation fund‘s project case study. To achieve this purpose the analysis of main international and Lithuanian laws on gender equality, programme of the government of the Republic of Lithuania, programmes of political parties, National programmes for gender equality of women and men year 2003-2004 and year 2005 – 2009 has been done, as well as description of main characters (institutions), that form and implement gender equality policy in Lithuania. In purpose to get absorbed in the analysed problem and reveal the practical aspects of efficiency in gender equality sphere in Lithuania, there was used Social Innovation Fund‘s project case study analysis. There were made interviews with Liudmila Mecajeva, a director of Social Innovation Fund and a coordinator of the project, also lecturers of the project: Audrone Kisieliene, a sociologist, and Laima Vengale, a lawyer and an advisor at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman of Lithuania. The objective of the analysed project is to... [to full text]

Pasirinkta tema – “Nedarbas ir užimtumas Lietuvoje: lyčių lygių galimybių aspektas”. Vienas svarbiausių šiuolaikinių visuomenių raidos bruožų yra esminiai moterų socialinių vaidmenų pokyčiai – per pastaruosius keturiasdešimt-penkiasdešimt metų jos aktyviai įsitraukė į darbo rinką, švietimą, politiką ir kitas visuomenės gyvenimo sferas. Tačiau tiek ES valstybėse, tiek ir kitose išsivysčiusiose šalyse moterų ir vyrų padėties skirtumai tebėra gana ryškūs, nors pagal įstatymus jie turi lygias teises. Šiandieninė moters situacija šeimoje yra dvilypė: nepaisant to, kad dažniausiai jos yra lygiavertės partnerės, priimant sprendimus, tvarkant biudžetą ir pan., jos tuo pačiu yra ir neapmokama darbo jėga namų ūkyje, visų šeimos narių aptarnautojos ir kasdieninių buitinių poreikių tenkintojos. Būtent nelygus pasidalijimas namų ruošos darbais bene labiausiai atspindi patriarchalines mūsų visuomenės nuostatas, kurių nepakeitė penkiasdešimt aktyvaus moterų dalyvavimo ekonominiame Lietuvos gyvenime metų. / Transformation in social process determined changes of women status. In recent decades new opportunities have opened to women and the gender roles of women have changed greatly. These changes led to changes in the attitudes of women about work which resulted in women becoming more career and education oriented. Today's women are actively participated in economic, political and education life. Although in EU and other developed countries laws make men and women legally equal in their rights changes between men and women are visible. Despite of certain adaptation of society to social changes, it has still remained high degree of traditionality. For instance, although nowadays a role of a woman as an economic provider, decision maker had been significantly enforced, the role of a caretaker in a family still remains to be a prerogative of a woman. As part of the historical process in the development of a patriarchal system, roles and behavior deemed appropriate to the sexes are expressed in values, customs, laws, social roles. Differences between men and women in family jobs share are still showing patriarchy, or the establishment and practice of male dominance over women. While Lithuania had made progress by passing new legislation and creating mechanisms for their implementation, gender equality had not been achieved yet in all spheres. In this thesis was analysed employers approach to the gender equality in labor force in Anyksciai area with the aim to show the situation... [to full text]

A sample of 383 toy commercials aired on Nickelodeon Sverige were coded over the duration of two weeks concerning the type of toy, gender portrayal, number of children of both gender, the dominant kind of interaction, the dominant kind of setting and gender orientation. The results were then compared with findings from a previous study conducted in the United States that used the same method to determine a possible relationship between the way the commercials were designed and the two countries' levels of gender equality. In Sweden, the much more gender equal country according to Hofstede's dimension of masculinity/femininity, most commercials featured children of both gender and stereotype usage way more rare than in the United States where also most commercials only showed solely girls or solely boys. Judging from these findings a relationship could therefore be found.

States respond to dissent with repressive means to stay in power. However, there are observed variations in how violently this repressive behavior actually is. Drawing on theories using gender inequality as one of the main, but often dismissed, determinants of violence and armed conflict, the thesis hypothesizes that attitudes to gender equality can help explain the variations in state repression. The theoretical argument is grounded in how gender norms characterized by militarized masculinities shape conflict norms since it is related to how ‘others’ in general are treated in society. By employing regression analysis, and testing the relationship between gender equality, operationalized through the Women’s Political Empowerment Index, and state repression in relation to a maximalist campaign, I found statistical support for the hypothesis that at higher levels of gender equality, repression is less likely to be extreme. The results also suggest that previous repressive behavior matters and that the severity of repression depends on the primary method of resistance within the campaign as well. The thesis thus further reinforces the importance of incorporating gender equality when attempting to explain collective violence.

The thesis film In the Eyes of Others is the result of three-years of research on viewers' fascination with horror films, Brazil televisions' seeming non-stop broadcast of news about crimes of passion, and my study of the link between crimes of passion and domestic violence. The film tells the story of Amanda and Jack, a battered woman and her abusive husband, who, in the eyes of others, seem like the perfect couple. By showing one of the possible tragic outcomes of a life where violence against women is hidden from the eyes of society, my goal with In the Eyes of Others is to advocate the end of violence against women and to promote discussion that will lead us to gender equality.

Title: Nudging towards gender equality: An application of social norms to explain female increasement in corporate boards.   Authors: Freja Redder Petersson & Ida Eklund   Level: Master thesis, 30 hp    Keywords: Nudging, Social norms, Gender equality, Corporate boards Background: Sweden is regarded as one of the leading countries when it comes to gender equality, but women are still underrepresented in corporate boards in the private sector. Research argues that increasing the female representation is beneficial for companies, and it seems as if the people in the boards need to change their behavior in order to better themselves in the matter. To change behavior, social norms can be used, and in relation to this, the concept of nudgingas a way of changing behavior is a new and interesting field to look at, particularly in relationship to increasing female representation in boards.    Research question: What is affecting corporate boards in the private sector to increase their female representation and to what extent is this connected to nudging?   Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe how corporate boards view gender equality, explain important factors in the process of gender equality work. Further, the aim is to develop and broaden the academic field of nudging by uncovering nudge-related influences in regard to an increasement of women in corporate boards.   Method: A qualitative research method was used in this study, by semi-structured interviews with ten respondents from various boards in the private sector in Sweden, and one expert in the research field. The respondent companies were chosen because of their gender equal boards.    Theoretical Framework: Theories about how corporate boards function, gender equality work and effects of women entrance in boards are presented. Followed by behavioral economic-theories focusing on rational and irrational behaviors which derived the concept of nudging that are lastly discussed. Within nudging, choice architecture, social norms and loss aversion are addressed.      Findings: In this study, the findings of what is affecting corporate boards in the private sector to increase their female representation is divided into two approaches. The first implies that the so-called nudge-related influences are affecting the boards, primarily with the factors of choice architecture, social norms and legal norms. These factors have been found to be greatly connected to nudging. The second approach shows the finding that two other influences, power and competence, also affects corporate boards to increase their female representation and move towards gender equality.

The municipalities are important actors in the struggle to achieve gender equality. The main purpose of this study is to compare two municipalities, one with a higher representation of women and one with a lower representation in the political assemblies. We want to determine if there´s a difference in the way that the municipalities approach and define their gender equality work. To answer these questions we have divided our study into three different analyses. Based on previous research, our hypothesis is that in the municipality with a higher degree of women's representation, gender equality will be mentioned more often in political meetings (analysis one). We also assume that this municipality will have a more norm-critical approach in it´s gender equality plan (analysis two) and that the result will be reflected in the municipality's annual report (analysis three). The method of this study is a comparative analysis based on the most similar system design. The municipalities studied are Gällivare, which has a high representation of women and Arboga that has a low representation of women in the political assemblies. The overall findings of the first two analyses indicate that women´s representation doesn’t have a positive impact on how often gender equality is adressed and that women´s representation doesn´t lead to a more norm-critical approach in the gender equality plan. The results of the third analysis doesn´t reflect the result of the first two. On the contrary it indicates that the representation of women actually can have an effect on the municipality's gender equality focus. When all three of the analyses are taken into account we find that neither of the municipalities prioritize gender equality work.