<div>Online gendered collectivities like the Manosphere (an online collection of blogs, forums, and chat spaces devoted to shedding light on perceived social misandry) have provided opportune spaces for regressive forms of gendered organizing to occur. These spaces offer individuals an online network of safe spaces dedicated to antifeminism, misogyny, and pick-up artistry. While Manosphere networks have gained attention with their connections to the emerging Alt-Right activism online, these spaces have been legitimized in and throughout specific social networking platforms. For instance, sites like Reddit (dubbed the ‘Internet Culture Laboratory’) have become known as a hotbed of misogynist behaviors fostered and shared on comment threads and its subcommunities (known as subreddits).</div><div><br></div><div>Whereas previous scholarship pertaining to the Manosphere and The Red Pill have described the larger technocultural spaces that contribute to an increasingly toxic online world, less studied is how these organizations are organized—particularly with a focus on gendered organizing. SubReddits may adopt and take organizational forms wherein organizing occurs primarily through communicative engagement between users in the spaces (e.g., sharing posts, commenting on posts, and supporting some ideas over others through Reddit’s ‘upvote’ currency system). Over time, spaces like The Red Pill are networked, enacted, and organized. With an aim of understanding how organizational identity is organized and enacted on The Red Pill’s subreddit, this study analyzed the Top 100 posts of all time (over 35,000 comments and roughly 6,000 pages of text data) from The Red Pill to understand how conversations and content enacted a masculine organizational identity.</div><div><br></div><div>Using a multi-level analysis, this dissertation examines members’ text-based engagement, the social network, and types of roles influencers adopt to construct an organizational identity for r/TheRedPill. Using the comment threads from the Top 100 posts of all time, text mining and semantic networks were generated to understand how members of r/TheRedPill construct meanings and concepts focused on the organizational identity of the space. Second, using social network analyses, this dissertation illustrated the networks of influence of central users within r/TheRedPill. With a goal of understanding the roles that central users adopted, the dissertation adopted an online observation of the space to create a typology of leadership roles within r/TheRedPill. The findings uncovered three distinct contradictory themes focused on masculinity, sexual activity, and backlash that were central to organizing in The Red Pill. In addition to these three themes, the social network analysis and observation revealed distinct roles that influencers adopted to promote the organizational identity of r/TheRedPill.</div><div><br></div><div>Theoretically, the dissertation contributes to the Communicative Constitution of Organizing online by showcasing how the interconnections between conversations around gender, sexual activity, and backlash ‘scale up’ to construct a gendered organizational identity. Methodologically, this dissertation utilizes multiple levels of analysis to investigate online organizational activity. Pragmatically, these findings help provide a rich portrait of alternative forms of gendered organizing that occurs online. Future directions include examining the broader Red Pill network on Reddit, as well as examining contrastive spaces (e.g., r/TheBluePill or r/ThePurplePill) to investigate how members’ discursive engagement organizes and constitutes organizational activity as a response to r/TheRedPill.</div>

Declining birth rate in Japan has been acknowledged as a demographic crisis since the 1970s. Higher education and better jobs has given women freedom and alternatives to starting a family, and some say the value of marriage and children has decreased overall. This study explored attitudes towards childlessness on Japanese Internet forums in order to understand why Japan, a country with continually persistent and conservative gender roles, can experience such a drastic population decline. Especially since this phenomenon seems paradoxical in relation to women’s traditional roles in society. This paper has explored how people spoke about childlessness and two major discourses emerged. The attitudes were categorized into a modern versus a traditional discourse on childlessness. Money, conservative gender roles and relationships were identified as important reasons affecting the decision to have children or not. However, only money seemed as a rationale behind childlessness accepted in both discourses.

Gender equality is an important attribute in Sweden, much connected to the country’s selfimage. This thesis analyzes Swedish state policy strategies for Sweden’s works with gender equality abroad, in development cooperation. From a feminist postcolonial perspective, the thesis conducts a critical discourse analysis of the policy framework regulating Swedish development cooperation in relation to gender equality. The result show that women and men are constructed as discursively different in the policy framework. Further, the issue of gender inequality, as portrayed within the policy framework, constructs women as particular vulnerable and subordinated to men. A discursive construction which paradoxically reinforces the traditional, stereotypical gender norms which the policy framework aims to abolish. In line with this paradox the result also show that men are not recognized as responsible for gender inequalities nor are they lifted as agents of change in gender equality work. A result that suggests that women are both the ones in need of and the ones responsible for creating a gender equal future in developing nations according to the discourse of Swedish development cooperation policy.

Gender mainstreaming has become a widely discussed and applied tool, aimed to aid progress towards gender equality. The latter has been an important aspect of international development and humanitarian action, as is evident from the Sustainable Development Goals. In humanitarian aid, this tool has the purpose of making aid more effective and inclusive, by critically assessing how crises affect women, men, girls, and boys differently. Specifically, it enforces a needs-based approach to delivering aid. However, gender biases still guide perceptions of vulnerability, which is a key determinant in needs assessment. Specifically, women and children are perceived to be the most vulnerable in all cases, while men are either sidelined, perceived as necessary allies to gender equality at most or, in the worst case, as threats. Though women and girls do suffer most from systematic gender inequality due to various factors, gender-specific threats are not reserved for women and girls, alone. Men and boys face different types of threats that are unique to their gender. This paper will explore male-specific vulnerabilities by addressing conceptual and theoretical concerns, followed by a policy analysis. This analysis is based on policies of implementing organizations in Syria in 2017. The purpose of this analysis is to determine whether these humanitarian actors are aware of male-specific vulnerabilities, and whether they address them in their policies and programming. In doing so, obstacles to the successful inclusion of men in gender mainstreaming efforts will be identified.

Thesis (Ph.D.) University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Law, 2014 / This study is interested in questions of law and social change, with a particular focus on how litigation can be used strategically to change the law to benefit women. Given law’s patriarchal nature, feminist litigators have often asked questions about whether, and how the law can be used to reflect women’s experience and to improve women’s lives. In this sense, the feminist project in law considers how feminist theory and methodology can be used in constructing legal arguments that seek the improvement of women’s rights and gender equality. The focal point of this study is amicus curiae participation and how this participation is employed by means of feminist litigation strategy so that it enhances rights-claiming and advances gender equality for women within the court system. I examine the way in which amicus curiae participation promotes litigation from a feminist and gendered viewpoint and validates the employment of feminist method to create effective arguments. The main body of the dissertation is dedicated to a case analysis of the Constitutional Court’s core gender jurisprudence and the amici curiae that have participated in these matters. The case discussions are divided into three categories: violence against women, women as part of cultural communities, and specific areas of vulnerability including prostitution and domestic partnerships (between heterosexual couples). The purpose of this analysis is to establish whether the amici curiae that have participated in these matters were able to influence judicial decisions, and how the amici used litigation to communicate a feminist and gendered viewpoint. The study concludes that, whether the relevant amici curiae participation had a direct or indirect impact on judicial decisions or not, its importance lies in engaging the law from a feminist and gendered viewpoint to create awareness of gender inequality, how this inequality is entrenched in the legal system and how it might be remedied.

ABSTRACT This study seeks to contribute to feminist analysis of whether the post-apartheid South African state represents a model of how the state can advance gender equality. The study analyses the institutional mechanisms that have been put in place by the South African government aimed at advancing gender equality. It focuses on the Office on the Status of Women (OSW) as the entity established within the government to steer the national gender programme. The role of the OSW is to coordinate the National Gender Machinery (NGM) as well as to define and develop a gender mainstreaming strategy for government. The study evaluates the assertion that South Africa serves as a model for advancing gender equality is justified, by exploring whether the country has overcome the problems associated with national gender machineries globally or whether it has reproduced them. It points to the fact that the location of the Office on the Status of Women in the Presidency is strategic as it is at the centre of government machinery. The study argues that the value of this has, however, been hampered by various factors. The OSW’s location in the Presidency has not provided it with the political leverage required to enforce gender equality. There are four indicators that show that this has not happened. First is the limited accountability measurer to enforce the fulfilment of existing commitments in government and between the NGM and civil society organisations. This has limited the OSW’s effectiveness. Secondly, the gender mainstreaming strategy is largely undefined. There is a lack of clarity about the roles of the NGM institutions, which tends to lead to duplication of roles as well as limited strategic reinforcement. The OSW has also been weakened by limited strategic relationship with civil society organisations. Thirdly, the OSW has had to operate on a limited budget. This has limited what it has been able to achieve. Lastly, the National Gender Policy Framework for Women's Empowerment and Gender Equality, the policy document developed under the auspices of the Office on the Status of Women, is a relatively weak policy framework for conceptualising women’s subordination, as well as articulating the overall goal of gender equality. It is further weakened by the fact that it not enforceable; thus government entities cannot be held accountable for not implementing it.

Background – This paper examined the literature on the concept of the glass ceiling in the management field, with an emphasis on Finnish and Swedish female leaders' perceptions of the barriers and facilitating factors of their career. Purpose – The purpose of this thesis was to explore the factors that affect the career development of women in the context of Nordic countries, namely in Finland and Sweden. Furthermore, this thesis tried to understand the welfare state paradox better and how the women in Finland and Sweden perceive it. Lastly, the purpose of this study was to find out if there are any differences between the perceptions of these countries due to the societal and cultural differences. Method – Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 female leaders from different companies in Finland and in Sweden. The grounded analysis was used in the qualitative analysis of the coding. Conclusion – The research resulted that there are several barriers and facilitating factors that have affected the career of female leaders. Finnish and Swedish women highlighted their own individual factors such as motivation, self-esteem and courage as the major facilitating factor, and thereof lack of them a barrier. Based on this research, women’s perception of Nordic welfare policies is that they are beneficial to career development, providing an opportunity to focus on work more. Contrary to the expectations, there were relatively few differences in perceptions between Finnish and Swedish female leaders identified in this study. However, it seems that in Sweden the responsibilities about family are shared more equally and the overall social atmosphere is more encouraging for women's career success.

At the largest university in Tanzania, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the gender distribution is unequal. At the University’s Department of Mathematics (DoM), the number of women ranges between 20-30 %. As a PhD degree can pose an important bridge into higher academic positions, the purpose of this study is to discern the current prerequisites for women to complete a doctoral degree at UDSM, compared to their male colleagues. The thesis is based on a field study carried out at DoM, in the spring of 2018. As such, both the formal and the perceived conditions could be examined. During the field study, both focus groups and individual interviews were held. By means of Grounded Theory, a mainly inductive method, the empirical framework obtained from the field research has guided the study and recurrent observations from the local context analysis have shaped the results. As the methodological outset for the study also draws on abductive reasoning, it results in that the analysis is concurrently theoretically guided and based on obtained data. The conclusions from the field research show that the conditions for female and male PhD students at UDSM are not equal. There are policies, quotas and other initiatives introduced in an attempt to level the playfield, however, other policies and social norms that create challenges for women in their strive for an academic career are still in motion. Among other things, as women are expected to be the primary caretaker and there are no support systems in place, the decision to start a family affects women’s studies more than men’s.

ABSTRACT   Title: Gender Equality in Higher Education- Comparative study in Sweden and India Level: Final assignment for Master’s Degree in Business Administration Authors: Dhiviya Janoris and Paula Prela Supervisor: Maria Fregidou-Malama Examiner: Daniella Fjellström Date: May 2019   Aim: The aim of this study is to understand gender equality in higher education in two different countries, Sweden and India. Method: The study uses a qualitative study method and a constructivism approach. We conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and document experiences regarding gender equality. We had 6 interviews from the University of Gävle, Sweden and 5 interviews from Patrician College, India. Result and Conclusions: The results have shown that there is gender equality within the University of Gävle and Patrician college. However, there can be improvements made regarding the vertical and horizontal segregation in both universities. Additionally, when examining Patrician College on a macro level, it is shown that the parental leave policies and the gender wage gap has a large impact on gender equality. Suggestions for future study: It can be suggested that future study in this topic concentrate on to understand why there is a majority of male professors rather than female professors. Additionally, the reasons as to why there is a wider gender wage gap in India and poor parental leave policies should be examined. Contribution of the thesis: The theories are used to understand gender equality in different dimensions and its relationship with the different levels of the construct of gender as a social structure with the help of different theories.   Keywords: Gender Equality, Individual level, Interactional level, Macro level, University of Gävle, Patrician College.

The aim of this thesis is to achieve a deeper understanding of how media portrays politicians and examine whether media is gender-biased. This is done by carrying out a case study within the Swedish context, which compares print media’s portrayal of the Moderate party’s former leader Anna Kinberg Batra with their current leader Ulf Kristersson. A quantitative content analysis is applied on 330 articles from four Swedish newspapers. By examining previous literature, a theoretical framework is constructed using theories on framing, the gender system as well as media’s treatment of female and male politicians which is later operationalized. In brief, the results of the study show there are differences in certain parts of media’s portrayal of Kinberg Batra and Kristersson, however they were not always as substantial and obvious as previous literature had indicated.