In this thesis I aim to investigate the Swedish preschool teacher interested in change and her work, here conceptualised as gender pedagogy. I will take my departure in sexual difference theory to contrast some of the assumptions behind preschool work, gender pedagogy and gender equality. I am also reflecting upon the concepts of normalisation, freedom and change and their relevance for preschool work. To help me with this endeavour I have interviewed five preschool teachers about their work and their interest for change. The thesis is divided into three chapters mirroring the themes of the interviews. In the first chapter I reflect upon normalisation as a process inherent to preschool work, both historically and in the present, connected to notions of class, cognitive ability and sexual difference. Through the statements of my informants and theoretical discussion the concept of normalisation is nuanced and understood as a process inherent to the whole of society as well as the preschool but also as a practice that might not be possible to abolish in its entirety. In the second chapter I move my focus towards gender pedagogy. An outline of different strands of, and discussions on, gender pedagogy is given as well as a critical discussion on the aim to go beyond gender in gender pedagogy and feminist theory. As an alternative and additional approach I suggest sexual difference theory as a possible source of inspiration for gender pedagogy. In the second part of this chapter the preschool teachers express their views on, and their work with gender pedagogy. This allows for a more entangled and process oriented understanding of gender pedagogy and its different strands. I conclude this chapter by stating that gender pedagogy could be understood in terms of normalisation and even as reinforcing the masculine norm, however the process oriented understanding of change as highlighted by my informants, as well as the use of multiple strategies, theories and methods, might allow for a practice where difference instead of likeness serves as a condition for the gender pedagogical work. In the last chapter I turn to the preschool teacher as such and her history entangled with notions of femininity, motherhood and gender equality. Employing the strategy of “working through” as described by Braidotti I lay bare how the position of the preschool teacher  and her work has been represented as stereotyped woman’s work and thus connected to less worth, but simultaneously how the actual work of the preschool teachers strongly denounce this view of  woman’s work, as well as motherhood and femininity. I also show how the work of preschool teachers put into question such prominent binary pairs as mind/body, emotion/intellect, practice/theory and adult/child. I conclude that the misrepresentation of woman’s work also has material consequences in terms of working conditions for preschool teachers. To conclude the whole thesis I emphasise how the view of the female preschool teacher and the view of the child cannot be radically separated and therefore the importance of considering both adults and children in the gender pedagogy work. I also conclude that what gender equality or gender pedagogy is, is not settled ones and for all, but rather the importance to fill these concepts with a positive view of difference.

Gender equality is a central topic in the curriculum of the upper secondary school and it should permeate all of the school’s activities. The purpose of this study is to determine whether three textbooks written for the course Swedish 1 in upper secondary school lives up to the requirements of gender equality as stipulated in the curriculum. The textbooks are analyzed both by means of comparing how often women and men are mentioned in the texts, as well as by evaluating the adjectives and participles by which women and men are described. Gender theory and sociolinguistics form the basis for this study. Gender theory addresses gender roles and gender identity in relation to the power of society and norms. Sociolinguistics describes the language from different perspectives, such as gender. The analysis shows that men are more frequently mentioned in the texts than women are. Moreover, positively charged adjectives and participles are more commonly associated with the male gender. The analysis also shows that men are usually linked to the public sector by association to their proffesional titles, while women are connected with the family. This study concludes that the reviewed textbooks cannot be said to meet the gender equality requirements in the curriculum for the upper secondary school. Men are in focus and the books confirm prejudice that exists in the society against women and men. However, these books do not need to be dismissed. Teachers can use these to show and discuss the realationship between women and men in today’s society with their students. This way norms can become more developed and contribute to a more permissive climate in the future.

The general aim of this thesis is to use foodwork and cooking in Sweden as a way to better understand theoretical questions about men and masculinities. Paper I discusses how an increased public interest in elaborate cooking and gastronomy in Sweden, a country with a cultural idealization of gender equality, could explain why men in Sweden assume responsibilities for domestic cooking without feeling emasculated. Papers II, III and IV draw on interviews with 31 men from 22 to 88 years of age and with different levels of interest in food. Paper II shows how domestic foodwork and cooking are associated with ideas of Swedish progress in terms of gender equality and culinary skills. Paper III demonstrates further that domestic cooking is not only a responsibility which men assume, but also a way of being sociable with friends, partners and children. Thus, both papers II and III challenge the idea that men only cook at home if they enjoy it. The data rather indicate that domestic foodwork responsibilities are a cultural expectation of men in Sweden, ingrained in desirable masculine practices. Paper IV explores men’s responses to media representations of food. The interviewed men responded to these representations with indifference, pragmatism, irony, and at times even hostility. In general, the responses are based on gender and age-differentiated taste distinctions and notions of masculine and culinary excess. Paper V uses a mix of texts (81 online texts and two magazines) and observations from the food fairs GastroNord (2014 and 2016), Mitt kök-mässan (2014) and the chef competition Bocuse d’Or Europe (2014) complemented with pictures and videos. I argue that a Swedish culinary community that promotes Swedish culinary excellence is constructed by drawing on preestablished national (self-)images. This culinary community is constructed as open and tolerant, with ethical concerns for the environment and for nonhuman animals. Its culinary icons are represented by chefs in whites and the leading restaurants. In sum, this dissertation provides empirical and theoretical contributions to both food studies and gender studies that critically scrutinize men and masculinities. Food-issues are permeated by gender, both in people’s everyday life and in the gastronomic elite.

Diploma thesis Gender Equality Implemented by Gender Segregation: Analysis of TV show "Tah dámou" deals with an issue of gender segregation. The theorethical part of the thesis presents results of academic researches of feminist media studies covering the topics of women's representation within media contents and women's status within media institutions. History of different feminist's approaches is described and followed by definitions of sex/gender. The thesis provides discussion of different approaches to gender equality from different feminist's points of view. The study also examines how feminism is presented in the media content in the Czech Republic and abroad as well and how feminism is evaluated by journalist in the newsrooms. Analysis of Tah dámou TV show focuses on both the TV producers (contributers) and media response that the show provoked after its launch in 2011. The results of analysis revealed that the gender segregation was motivated by underrepresentation of women in media and public sphere. The authors tried to equilaze "women's voice" to "men's voice" in the manner of the second wave of feminism. The authors defined cathegory of "women" through common women's life experiences. Criticism of segregation character of the show appeared in the analysed articles. Journalists pointed...

This study har aimed to examine why there are still so few women working full time as firefighters in the Swedish municipal firefighting services, even though there has been a political goal for about twenty years to increase gender equality in firefighting. The study uses a structured focused comparison of two groups of municipal firefighting organizations to compare them against each other in order to understand why they differentiate, and identify factors that has made some organizations more successful than others. The study uses Lundquist’s (1987) simplified actor model’s three factors, understand-can-will, to explain the failed implementation. The study concludes that the simplified actor model can be used to explain differences in implementation and to identify factors that have led to successful implementation, and that the most important one seems to be the understanding of the problem. However, they seem to enable each other in a way that makes it impossible to say that they could create successful implementation if one was lost.

This thesis focuses on work-life balance policy; one of the key field of EU gender equality policies. The purpose of this study was to analyze most recently proposed policy on work-life balance ‘An initiative to support work-life balance for working parents and carers’ that aims to upgrade existing policy and legal frameworks. The main objective of the study is to identify problem representation(s) of gender equality in the stated policy. The study objectives comprises of problematizing identified problem representation(s) by drawing attention to silences and underplayed issues including its far-reaching implications on various groups. Analysis presented in this thesis is guided by theoretical framework of poststuructural feminism chiefly through discourse analysis methodology. In that endeavor, Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem represented to be?’ (WPR) approach has been applied for discourse analysis of the policy by employing 3 out 6 postulated questions. The study identifies several problem representations of gender equality in the stated EU reconciliation policy. Among others, childcare responsibility is identified as the most dominant problem representation. Likewise, the study points out silenced issues in the policy. This includes structural challenges affecting accessibility and advancement of women in labour market, the type of work, division of unpaid work besides caring responsibilities, inequalities engendered by intersectional factors, well-being of individuals, family, children, elderly care and commitment from employing organizations. The study finally notes ensuing lived effects on women due to added responsibilities. The study analysis concludes some still present pitfalls in the modernized work-life balance policy.

Rapporten utgår från en undersökning utförd av Sveriges Byggindustrier som visar att bristen på flexibla arbetstider är en anledning till att många kvinnor väljer att lämna byggproduktionen. Då branschen eftersträvar en större mångfald och det därtill råder arbetskraftsbrist krävs fortsatta studier angående hur byggarbetsplatserna kan moderniseras och bli mer inkluderande.      Denna undersökning utfördes med syftet att undersöka sambandet mellan flexibla arbetstider och mångfald samt för att ta reda på om flexibla arbetstider kan göra produktionsdelen av byggbranschen mer attraktiv. En nutidsanalys genomfördes i form av två enkätundersökningar där en riktades till tjänstemän på Skanska och en till studenter med byggteknisk inriktning, därutöver utfördes kompletterande intervjuer.       Resultatet visar att de som arbetar produktionsnära är mindre nöjda med sina arbetstider och det nuvarande arbetstidssystemet i jämförelse med de som arbetar på kontor. Det framkom att det både finns könsmässiga och generationsmässiga skillnader beträffande frågor kring flexibilitet i arbetslivet. De som främst ville kunna tillämpa flexibla arbetstider var kvinnor och de födda på 80- och 90-talet. De hinder som framkom vara kopplade till flexibla arbetstider handlade till stor del om kulturer i byggbranschen.     En klar majoritet vill kunna tillämpa flexibla arbetstider vilket pekar på att det skulle kunna vara lönsamt att testa arbetssättet i verksamheten. Då den nuvarande lösningen är att flytta de anställda som önskar en mer flexibel arbetsdag ifrån produktionen till mer kontorsbaserade tjänster pekar detta på att flexibla arbetstider inom byggproduktion skulle kunna bidra till ökad mångfald. / This report is based on a former study which illustrates that women in the construction industry are leaving their positions due to lack of flexible work arrangements. As the construction industry strives for increased diversity, and there is a shortage of labor in the engineering field, further study of modernization and new working methods is required.    The present study was conducted with the purpose of researching the relationship between flexible working hours and diversity, and to examine if flexible working hours can make the construction industry more attractive as a workplace. This was achieved by carrying out a survey in the form of two questionnaires, one of which was addressed to officials at Skanska and the other to students with a building orientation. In addition, supplementary interviews were conducted.     The results show that those who work at the construction sites are less satisfied with their working hours and the current time system compared to those who have more administrative work roles, differences both tied to gender and age where noted: Those who primarily would prefer flexible work hours were women and those born in the 80's and 90's. Difficulties related to flexible work were mainly based on current cultures in the industry.   The majority of responders were positive to flexible work, which indicates that a trial of this work arrangement could be worthwhile. The current solution in the company is to transfer employees who need more flexible work from the construction sites to more office-based services. This suggests that successfully implementing flexible work in the construction sector would lead to increased diversity, which subsequently would make this a more attractive work place for diverse groups.

Student Number: 0304476F Faculty of Humanities Maters in Arts / The study investigated gender employment practices and conditions of work among small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Gauteng Province of South Africa. A comparison of the practices and conditions between productive and service industries is clearly the major focus of the research. Interviews were conducted on two productive and two service industries (all private) situated in Benoni and Johannesburg respectively. The research found that generally, SMEs, in the productive and the service sectors contribute to job creation. Evidence shows that women are going into previously male dominated jobs like electrical and mechanical jobs, but the movement is quite minimal. This is a sign of progress on the part of women and a shift from the traditional belief that certain jobs are exclusively meant for men. The study found a salient discrepancy between the rhetoric of gender equality and the practice of gender equality in all the industries. There are clear signs that the legislation on minimum conditions of employment is followed in the productive industries than in the service industries but both still stick to the traditional gender division of labour.

This study examines the role women’s groups play in the lives of 10 Muslim women in South Africa. A qualitative methodology was employed to gain information from two women’s groups in Johannesburg. An open-ended questionnaire, focus groups, and individual interviews were used to elicit information. The data were initially analysed using a computer-based content analysis programme (Atlas-ti), to identify a priori and emergent themes and categories in the data. These themes and categories were then used as the basis for a qualitative interpretive analysis, focused in particular on issues of empowerment with respect to psychological, community, economic, intellectual and political empowerment, and more specifically on gender equality. The study would thus suggest that while these groups do have many positive outcomes, the issues dealt with in women’s groups cannot be isolated from the broader social context in which Muslim women live. While the processes of empowerment appear to have begun in areas of psychological, community, intellectual, economic and political empowerment in this sample of women, empowerment with respect to gender equality still seems far off.

Les questions de genre dans le développement pour l’avancement des droits des femmes et de leur statut ont connu un intérêt croissant au niveau universel, notamment depuis les années 1990 et la Conférence mondiale sur les femmes du Beijing de 1995.L’enthousiasme suscité autour de ces questions est ainsi illustré par les moyens mis en œuvre au Timor par la communauté internationale dans ce domaine en parallèle du processus d’établissement de l’Etat de droit et de construction de ce nouvel Etat dans le contexte post-conflit dans lequel celui-ci se trouve, l’assimilant parfois à un « laboratoire » des Nations Unies pour la mise en œuvre des principes internationaux relatifs à l’établissement de l’Etat de droit et à l’approche de genre dans la reconstruction et la gestion d’un Etat ainsi que des mécanismes de contrôle des droits de l’homme au bénéfice de la femme. Se basant sur une recherche empirique, la présente étude tente ainsi d’analyser de quelle manière le droit international influence non seulement les droits des femmes au Timor d’un point de vue formel, mais aussi et surtout leur statut au sein de la société timoraise. / Gender issues in development for the advancement of women's rights and their status have gained increasing attention at the universal level, particularly since the 1990s and the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women. The enthusiasm for these issues can be illustrated by the means implemented in Timor by the international community in this field in parallel with the process of establishing the rule of law and the construction of this new State in a post-conflict context, making equating it as a United Nations "laboratory" for the implementation of international principles related to the establishment of the rule of law and the gender approach in the reconstruction and management of a State as well as the evaluation mechanisms of human rights to the benefit of women. Based on an empirical research, the present study attempts to analyze how international law not only affects formal women's rights in Timor but also, and especially, the status of women within Timorese society.