The aim of this thesis is to highlight how male and female characters are portrayed in children’s books, that have football as a theme, and are written for children between 9-12 years of age. I have chosen this subject so that I, as a pre-school teacher, can adhere to the curriculum’s aim of maintaining the school’s responsibility for counteracting traditional gender roles. I aim to study how gender is represented in literature for children. I shall apply Yvonne Hirdman’s theories on the gender system which is built on the principals whereby the sexes are separate entities and there is a structural hierarchy between them. There is also a gender contract which maintains a balance of power according to which woman is considered inferior to man. From the reproduction process Hirdman identifies cultural influences that literature conveys to the reader as to how genus concepts are created. To answer questions on how characters in the books are presented, I use a qualitative analysis. I primarily use Maria Nikolajevas “character-theory” and gender based “opposite concepts”. This thesis deals with the following questions: Which kinds of descriptions are used to present female and male characters, and if there are, can one see any differences between them? How are the relations between coaches, parents and children portrayed? From these I have come to the conclusion that gender is presented in a traditional manner so that in stories in which the main characters are female are motivated by love; while stories in which the main characters are male are about football. Girls are rather orientated towards relations, as apart from boys who are described as more independent and egocentric. I can also identify that the team leader is gentler and more personal when dealing with girls, in contrast to when dealing with boys. It may be mentioned here that some of the characters have at time some qualities that go against the norm and which may be considered as challenging the established “keeping them apart principle”. That man is the norm on the football arena is however common in all the books.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the dilemmas that pedagogues’ reflect about in gender equality work at preschool. The target group is active pedagogues in pre-school. A qualitative survey has been realized to achieve the purpose. Semi-structured interviews have been conducted with eight pedagogues. They are working in three different preschools in a medium-sized city in Sweden. The dilemmas that emerge in the study are analyzed from a gender theoretical perspective. Hirdmans gender system (1988) reveals how pedagogues' statements can be related to three different levels in a gender contract. The result shows that pedagogues' experience the level of society and preschool norms and values ​​as the biggest challenge with the gender equality mission. The pedagogues show awareness of that traditional gender patterns and gender roles are largely conveyed to children through the border maintain level in social practice at preschool. In turn to the two levels affect the cross-border level, in which the individual is in focus. The results shows that the focus of pedagogues is on a social level, while inequality is realized through border maintain. I have come to the conclusion that knowledge is the tool for an equal preschool, focusing on its own activities. / Studiens syfte är att undersöka dilemman som pedagoger reflekterar kring i jämställdhetsarbetet på förskolan. Målgruppen är verksamma pedagoger inom förskolan. En kvalitativ undersökning har realiserats för att uppnå syftet. Semistrukturerade intervjuer har genomförts med åtta pedagoger som är verksamma på tre olika förskolor i en mellanstor stad i Sverige. Dilemman som framkommer i studien analyseras ur ett genusteoretiskt perspektiv. Hirdmans genussystem (1988) synliggör hur pedagogernas utsagor kan relateras till tre olika nivåer i ett genuskontrakt. Resultatet visar att pedagoger upplever nivån med samhället och förskolans normer och värderingar som största utmaningen med jämställdhetsuppdraget. Pedagoger- na visar en medvetenhet kring att traditionella könsmönster och könsroller till största del förmedlas till barn genom gränsupprätthållande nivån i den sociala praktiken på förskolan. De två nivåerna påverkar i sin tur den gränsöverskri- dande nivån där individen är i fokus. Resultatet visar att pedagogernas fokus ligger på en samhällelig nivå medan ojämställdhet förverkligas genom gränsupprätthållande. En slutsats har framkommit om att kunskap är redskap- et för en jämställd förskola, där fokus hamnar på den egna verksamheten.

Local research regarding women's contribution to municipal policy is very small. The majority ofresearch focuses on welfare expansion during the early 20th century and only mentions the role ofwomen in some subchapters in their research. Other researchers have mentioned that there is relativelylittle local research that puts women in focus regarding municipal work and that women need to bemapped more clearly. This essay decided to focus on the early 1950's as its starting point and lookdeeper into the women in the city council. With the help of municipal archive materials such as Lists ofMembers and Documents in the City Council, does this thesis aim to investigate what the representationof men and women looked like before and after the election in 1950 in Karlstad municipality? Whattypes of committees did the female city council members participate in? And what issues did the womenin the city council raise in their motions? This was also interesting to contrast with the gender contract. What this case study came to was that the women were very underrepresented in the city council andthey usually behaved in various assignments which meant that they did not break the gender contract.However, some of the women had broken away from the traditional patterns. It turned out, however, thatthe women in the various committees were usually very few, it was usually only a single woman whohad a place in each committee, which indicates that the women were side-by-side in differentcommittees. The motions that the women in the City Council highlighted also pointed out that a genderdistribution, where the women usually worked with only women regarding issues that were expected tobe women's issues.

Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på om, och i så fall hur, en eventuell genusordning kan ta sig uttryck i en bestämd till synes könsneutral lek i skolans undervisning i idrott och hälsa, bland elever i årskurs fyra och fem. För att svara på syftet använde vi oss av följande frågeställningar; Uttrycks en hierarkisk genusordning, även i tillsynes könsneutrala lekar i skolämnet idrott och hälsa? Och hur tar den sig i så fall uttryck? För att svara på detta utfördes sju stycken, femtio till sextio minuter långa observationer på fyra sydskånska skolor. Observationerna, i vilka vi i varierande grad agerade deltagande och ickedeltagande, planerades och utfördes under en lektion i idrott och hälsa i vardera grupp: en grupp i årskurs fyra i och sex grupper årskurs fem. Uppsatsens teoretiska utgångspunkt beskrivs i Yvonne Hirdman samt R.W Connells socialkonstruktivistiska och feministiska tankar om samhällets kulturella genusordning. En ordning där normen är hegemoni där män och maskulinitet är överställda kvinnor och femininitet. Resultatet visar ett en hierarkisk genusordning går att finna, där pojkar ikläder sig statusroller, och flickor trots visad motvilja, underordnar sig. En hegemonisk ordning syns hos såväl flickor som pojkar och maskulina egenskaper leder till styrande positioner i gruppen. / The purpose of this study was to determine whether, and if so how, any gender order can be expressed in a given seemingly gender-neutral game in physical education in schools among students in grades four and five. To answer the purpose we used the following questions: is a hierarchical gender order expressed, even in seemingly gender-neutral games in physical education? How does it express itself? To answer the purpose of our study, we made seven fifty to sixty minute’s long observations in four schools in the southern part of Sweden. In these observations, we participated and in non participation. They were planned and executed during one lesson each in physical education: six groups of fifth graders and one group of the fourth grade. The theoretical basis of this essay comes from Yvonne Hirdman, professor of gender and feminism and RW Connell´s social constructivist and feminist ideas about the cultural gender order. The order in which hegemony of men and masculinity seem as the superior norm in contrast to women and femininity. The results show that a hierarchical gender order can be found in the schools and in the physical education surrounding. Boys are in charge and take command and girls, despite the demonstrated reluctance, submit to boys. A hegemonic system is seen in both sexes and girls or boys with masculine characteristics take controlling positions in the group.

This thesis seeks to understand and explain gendered everyday life in the village of HatNyao in Northwestern Laos, specifically in relation to rubber cultivation, by using an ethnographic approach and methods. The ‘rubber boom’ is changing the landscape of Northern Laos, and in the process is reshaping gendered everyday life. Gender relations in the village of HatNyao are undergoing various transformations whereby previous gender structures start to erode. Additional changes will probably continue to occur, largely due to increasing labour shortages. Gendered everyday life in HatNyao is therefore ‘bending’ with the changes associated with rubber cultivation, as well as in relation to different spaces of the everyday and household diversity. The concept of ‘paradoxical gendered spaces’ is invoked to capture the ways in which the dimensions and activities of the everyday vary with, in particular, ethnicity and age. Most households in HatNyao have improved their living conditions due to rubber cultivation. Nevertheless, inequalities are increasing within the village: better-off households have improved their situation, while for others it has been more difficult to adapt to the new conditions of everyday life and rubber cultivation. As the number of villages introducing rubber in Laos is increasing, alongside the number reaching the crucial tapping stage, it is essential to understand how rubber cultivation in smallholder communities interacts with gender relations and the division of labour. There are thus both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ outcomes from introducing rubber in Laos, since it depends on the context, as well as on the diverse spaces of the everyday.

Dansen har funnits länge i människans närhet och den har olika betydelser beroende på vad individen har för uppfattning om dansens normer och uppbyggnad. Syftet med vår empiriska studie är att undersöka om pojkar och flickor har en liknande syn på ämnesområdet rörelse till musik samt dans i gymnasieskolan och i så fall varför eller varför inte de har det. Vi har utgångspunkt i genusperspektivet och därmed Hirdmans (2001) teorier om genuskontraktet. Metoden vi har använt oss av är den kvantitativa undersökningsmetoden. Inom ramen för den kvantitativa undersökningsmetoden valde vi enkäter eftersom det är enklast att få svar på våra frågeställningar samt för att det ger oss stora möjligheter att nå ut till många individer.   Rörelse till musik samt dans uppfattas som ett feminint ämne. Resultatet visar på att den uppfattningen är generell bland det manliga könet. Pojkar som svarat på enkäten menar att dans är ”tjejigt”. Elevers inställning är att dans rent generellt är till för båda könen.

Det senaste året har flertalet våldtäktsmål fått stor uppmärksamhet i media. I mars 2014 startade tidningen Metro #NEJÄRNEJ - kampanjen som granskar hur polisen och domstolar hanterar våldtäktsfall. Denna kampanj består av en serie artiklar som uppmärksammar domar där män frias från misstankarna om våldtäkt. Kvinnans trovärdighet ifrågasätts, deras samtycke misstolkas och ord står mot ord. En konsekvens av detta resulterade i att det blev allt svårare för kvinnor att bevisa inför rätten att det de hade blivit utsatta för var en våldtäkts handling. Vårt mål i denna studie är att söka förståelse för hur tingsrätten motiverar sina friande domar. Syftet med denna uppsats är att belysa vilken diskurs som konstrueras genom friande våldtäktsdomar utifrån ett genusperspektiv. Syftet uppnås genom att undersöka de subjektiva rekvisiten i beslutsskäl som ligger till grund för friande våldtäktsdomar. Kritisk diskursanalys används som både metod och teori som behandlar diskursiva mönster i domstolsbeslut i friande våldtäktsmål. I den här studien har vi analyserat fem texter i form av domar från svensk tingsrätt. Studien visar att tingsrätten i sina bedömningar utgår ifrån olika diskursiva och sociala praktiker. Dessa diskurser är kopplade till det så kallade genuskontraktet med bestämda föreställningar, där män definierar hur kvinnor ska vara i olika sammanhang; denna diskurs ser kvinnan som "det ideala offret" och säger hur kvinnor ska bete sig inför, under och efter att kvinnor ha blivit utsatta för våldtäkt. Ett hård draget exempel kring de bestämda föreställningarna är om kvinnor bär korta kjolar kan detta ses som en inbjudan till att bli våldtagna. Vidare handlar och hävdar de sexologiska teorier som att kvinnor kan frivilligt acceptera en viss grad av våld. Efter att ha genomfört vår undersökning anser vi att tingsrätten inte bara konstruerar diskurser om vad som är normalt vid ett våldtäktsbrott, utan även avspeglar rådande maktförhållanden mellan det manliga respektive kvinnliga könet och definierar hur människor ska bete sig i detta sammanhang. / This past year, the media has been giving a major attention to exculpatory rape cases. In March 2014 the newspaper Metro started the # NEJÄRNEJ – campaign that examines how the police and courts handle rape cases. This campaign consists of a series of articles commemorating the judgments of the men cleared of allegations of rape. The woman's credibility is questioned; their consent is being misinterpreted and when word stands against word, men’s word tends to weight more. One consequence of this was that it became increasingly difficult for women to prove in court that it was indeed rape. Our ambition for this study is to seek understanding of how the district court justifies its guilty sentences. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the discourse constructed by exculpatory rape sentences from a gender perspective. We aim to achieve the purpose by investigating the subjective criterions of the decision in the evaluation process. Critical discourse analysis is used both as method but also as theory and deals with discursive patterns in the court's decision in acquitting rape cases. In this study, we analyze five texts in the form of sentences of the Swedish district court. The study shows that the district court bases on different discursive and social practices in the evaluation process. These discourses are linked to the so-called gender contract with certain ideas where men define how women should be in different contexts; this discourse sees the woman as the "ideal victim" and says how women should behave before, during and after the women have been victims of rape. An example around the determined performances is about women wearing short skirts and how that can be seen as an invitation to be raped. Further claim the sexological theories that women may voluntarily accept a certain degree of violence. After conducting our investigation, we believe that the district court not only construct discourses about what is normal at a rape crime but also reflects power relationships between the male and female gender and defines how people should behave in this context.

This master’s thesis examines the Swedish gymnastics troupe, the Sofia Girls 1942-1964 from the perspective of gender and girlhood. The aim is to analyse the construction of the Sofia girl by their leader Maja Carlquist, the audience and the girls themselves, focusing on their characteristics, abilities and experiences. By applying Yvonne Hirdman’s theory of the Gender contract on another subject than the housewife, the girl, it is possible to discover a more nuanced history on gender. The results show that through her leadership of the Sofia Girls, Carlquist created the idea of a particular kind of girl to present to the world. This girl was strong, yet feminine, natural, and resolved to the ideals of womanhood while also challenging them. The girls who adapted to this construction, therefore agreeing to this particular kind of gender contract, were given opportunities to travel and were situated in positions of responsibility. This gave them self-esteem as they continued their lives. Thus, by conforming to the ideals, opportunities were created for the girls rather than holding them back. In this sense, the Sofia Girls displayed signs of progress during a period where it was rare at best.

Climate adaptation is an important and necessary response to global climate change.Numerous studies show that adaptive capacity is shaped by cultural and social determinants.Gender relations are an integral aspect of social relations in all societies, yet the literature onhow gender influences climate adaptation is limited. Women and men, with different roles,responsibilities and decision-making power have different possibilities to cope and adapt withclimate change, thus adopting a gendered approach to climate adaptation is essential toenhance our understanding of successful adaptation.The aim of the study is to explore how cultural attributes and power relations of genderinfluence adaptive capacity in relation to climate change among smallholder farmers inwestern Kenya. Furthermore this study contributes to resilience thinking by using the lens ofpost-structural feminist political ecology and the concept of gender contracts, whichhighlights the influence of power laden gender discourses and the construction andreconstruction of such contracts. The study is triangulated by the use of qualitative methodsand draws upon 12 semi-structured interviews, 4 focus group discussions and 4 expertinterviews.Gendered power relations were primarily a constraint to the adaptive capacity of women,restricting their possibilities to pursue a number of coping and adaptation strategies, which inturn affected the resilience of the household. Capacity building and farmer group formationpromoted by a Swedish NGO (ViAFP) resulted in altered power relations, renegotiated andreconstructed gender contracts which increased adaptive capacity and adaptation opportunitiesfor both men and women, although particularly for women because of their initial vulnerableposition. This study adds an understanding of the gendered dimensions of local climatechange adaptation and shows that adaptation cannot be understood separate from socialrelations. The policy implication is thus that enhancing local climate adaptation requiresconsideration of power relations and gender equality.

This study contains an analysis of images through a gender perspective of three history text books for middle schools. The aim of this study is to clarify if the images reflect a gender power structure where men are superior women. The answered questions were: do women and men appear as often in the pictures of the books? How are women and men portrayed from a gender perspective in the pictures? What possible consequences could the portrayal of men and women cause the education and pupils? Our theoretical perspective is Yvonne Hirdman’s gender theory, Vivien Burr’s social constructionism and Ferdinand de Saussure’s and Roland Barthes’s theory about semiotics. Our methods were a quantitative content analysis combined with a qualitative semiotic analysis of images. The quantitative content analysis showed that there is an overrepresentation of men in the pictures of the books. The qualitative semiotic analysis showed that men are portrayed as main characters in the pictures. This by given more space by positions, accessories and activities. Women on the other hand is portrayed as passive and to some extent as accessories to the men. The women seem to rule in the sphere of children and home, while men seem to be absent in these same areas. Women and men are also physically separated on the images which makes the gender power structure even more clear.