This study aims to examine whether women are being discriminated against at the initial contact of a small business transfer. Existing research shows that men dominate in entrepreneurship and that entrepreneurship is generally associated with being a man. Based on social psychological theory on gender stereotypes and economic theory on statistic discrimination we assumed that female buyers are discriminated against at the market for small business transfers. To study this, a pre-registered randomized field experiment was conducted in which we expressed interest in buying a business from fictional potential buyers to 906 business owners that had announced their business for sale on the Swedish marketplace Blocket. The gender of the fictional potential buyers was signaled through randomly assigned first names that are associated with being a man or a woman. We studied the share of messages that led to Response or Positive response from the sellers. Our results revealed that people selling their businesses are not less likely to respond to potential female buyers, meaning that women are not discriminated against at the initial contact of a business transfer. However, we did find that female buyers have a higher probability than male buyers of receiving a Positive response from a seller with a business in a female dominated industry. Corresponding advantage for male buyers compared to female buyers among sellers with businesses in male dominated industries could not be found. The experiment is the first to examine gender discrimination in the market for small business transfers. / Denna uppsats dokumenterar en studie som undersökte huruvida kvinnor blir diskriminerade som potentiella köpare på marknaden för mindre företagsöverlåtelser vid den initiala kontakten med säljare. Tidigare forskning visar att entreprenörskap domineras av män och att företagande i allmänhet ofta förknippas med att vara en man. Med utgångspunkt i socialpsykologisk teori kring könsstereotyper och ekonomisk teori om statistisk diskriminering antog vi att kvinnliga köpare diskrimineras på marknaden för mindre företagsöverlåtelser. För att testa vår hypotes genomförde vi ett förregistrerat randomiserat fältexperiment där vi meddelade intresse från fiktiva köpare till 906 verkliga företagsägare som utannonserat sina företag för försäljning på Blocket. Köparnas kön signalerades genom att slumpmässigt ange förnamn som förknippas med kvinnor respektive män. Vi studerade andelen intressemeddelanden som ledde till en Respons och en Positiv respons från säljarna. Resultaten visade att kvinnliga köpare inte var mindre sannolika än manliga köpare att erhålla en Positiv respons från säljaren på deras intressemeddelanden. Däremot visade resultaten att kvinnliga köpare hade högre sannolikhet än manliga köpare att erhålla en Positiv respons från säljare med företag i typiskt kvinnodominerade branscher. Motsvarande fördel för manliga köpare jämfört med kvinnliga köpare bland säljare med företag i typiskt mansdominerade branscher kunde ej observeras. Experimentet är det första som undersöker könsdiskriminering vid marknaden för företagsöverlåtelser.

Social enterprises are hybrid organizations that tackle societal challenges by using conventional business models. Being hybrid organizations means that social enterprises pursue dual objectives: social (developmental) and financial. By taking performance, subsidization and internationalization perspectives, this thesis contributes to understanding the hybridity of social enterprises and how this hybridity drives their general operations and key decisions such as foreign market selection and targeting strategy. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Title: Marketing content containing sexual depiction.- An empirical study of social media platforms after a scandal's occurrence. Authors: Gülay Edin and Elin Månsson Level : Master thesis, 30 credits Keywords: Social media marketing, content analysis, sexual marketing, gender discrimination, scandals in marketing Background: The internet has seen significant growth in marketing, leading to opportunities for sexual marketing practices that are difficult to control. Despite increased regulation and awareness, sexist marketing persists over time. This creates negative consequences, and ethics play a role in highlighting public vulnerability and marketers' responsibility. Sexual marketing can lead to scandals, and mitigating their impact is crucial for businesses. Businesses must therefore communicate with their audiences during crises. Research Questions: How a scandal related to sex appeal in marketing influence the content of businesses’ social media publishment afterwards? Purpose: This study aims to gather and analyse content published on social media after the deemed to include sexism in marketing. The aim is to broaden the academic field of sexual marketing and social media content by adding new empirical findings in this field. Method: This paper adopts a qualitative research approach to gather information. The qualitative approach allows for questioning existing variables and obtaining new perspectives. The study focuses on marketing scandals related to sexual appeal and social media content in the Swedish context, divided into two parts. Both stages utilise qualitative and inductive research approaches. Frame of Reference: The main theories in this research do cover several blocks in the field that are, social media marketing and visual content, sexual objectification in visual marketing content, the linkage between ethics and sexuality in marketing, corporate Social Performance, regulations, crisis management in the social media environment and Scandals in business contexts and mediatic influence. Findings: The results of this paper highlight a trend of sexism in the beauty and health industry's marketing. The research question focuses on how scandals related to sex appeal in marketing influence subsequent social media content, and the analysis reveals a significantly low impact in all contexts. / Titel: Marketing content containing sexual depiction. - En empirisk studie av socialamedieplattformar efter att en skandal inträffats. Författare: Gülay Edin och Elin Månsson Nivå : Examensarbete, 30 hp Nyckelord: Marknadsföring i sociala medier, innehållsanalys, sexuell marknadsföring, könsdiskriminering, skandaler inom marknadsföring Bakgrund: Internet har ett en betydande tillväxt i marknadsföring, vilket leder till möjligheter för sexuell marknadsföring som är svåra att kontrollera. Trots ökad reglering och medvetenhet kvarstår sexistisk marknadsföring. Detta skapar negativa konsekvenser och etiken spelar en roll för att synliggöra allmänhetens sårbarhet och marknadsförares ansvar. Sexuell marknadsföring kan leda till skandaler och att mildra deras inverkan är avgörande förföretag. Därför måste företag kommunicera med sin publik under kriser. Forskningsfråga: Hur påverkar en skandal, relaterad till sexappeal i marknadsföring,innehållet i företags sociala medier efteråt? Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att samla in och analysera innehåll som publiceras på socialamedier efter fällande dom från Reklamombudsmannen för sexuell marknadsföring. Syftet är att bredda det akademiska forskningsområdet angående sexuell marknadsföring och innehåll i sociala medier genom att bidra med mer emperi och analyser i detta område. Metod: Denna artikel antar en kvalitativ forskningsmetod för att samla in empirin. Den kvalitativa metoden gör det möjligt att ifrågasätta befintliga variabler och få nya perspektiv. Studien fokuserar på marknadsföringsskandaler relaterade till sexuella utryck och innehåll isociala medier i den svenska kontexten. Artikeln är uppdelad i två delar, båda stegeninnefattar kvalitativa och induktiva forskningsmetoder. Referensram: Huvudteorierna i denna forskning täcker flera området inom marknadsföringsom är sociala medier och visuellt innehåll, sexuell objektifiering i visuelltmarknadsföringsinnehåll, kopplingen mellan etik och sexualitet i marknadsföring, företagenssociala prestanda, regleringar, kris hantering i sociala mediemiljöer och Skandaler iaffärssammanhang och medial påverkan. Resultat: Resultaten av denna artikel visar på en trend av sexism inom skönhets- och hälsobranschens marknadsföring. Forskningsfrågan fokuserar på hur skandaler relaterade till sexuell marknadsföring påverkar efterföljande innehåll i sociala medier och analysen avslöjar en signifikant låg påverkan i alla sammanhang.

The thesis studies gender inequality in interpreting studies. In specific, gender imbalances in European interpreting institutions such as the Institute of Translatology of the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. At the Institute of Translatology, it investigates the gender ratios among master's and doctoral graduates and the gender ratios in individual language programs from 1989 to the present. Through a survey, it traces the opinions of lecturers and students at the institute regarding gender issues and ascertains their views on the causes and consequences of the high proportion of women in the interpreting studies program.

Datum: 2024-05-28   Nivå: Kandidatuppsats i Företagsekonomi, 15 hp   Institution: Akademin för Ekonomi, Samhälle och Teknik, Mälardalens Universitet   Författare: Ronja Berglund (930413) & Rebecka Lindfors (990130)   Titel: Mot en jämställd arbetsplats: En undersökande studie av två företags jämställdhetsarbete och de anställdas upplevelse av det.    Handledare: Konstantin Lampou   Nyckelord: Jämställdhetsarbete, organisationskultur, inkludering,                             könsdiskriminering, mansdominerade arbetsplatser och jämställdhet.   Forskningsfrågor: Hur ser organisationens arbete ut för främjandet av jämställdhet? Hur blir de anställda involverade i processer som främjar jämställdhet?   Syfte:  Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka jämställdhetsarbetet och hur jämställdhet tar sig i uttryck bland medarbetarna i två företag inom fastighetsbranschen, som länge har kännetecknats av att vara en mansdominerad bransch.   Metod: För att samla in det empiriska materialet har en kvalitativ forskningsmetod genom semistrukturerade intervjuer använts. Målgruppen för studien var medarbetare och chefer inom fastighetsbranschen. Vid analysen av data applicerades en tematisk analysmetod. En abduktiv forskningsansats har tillämpats som tillät flexibilitet vid utvecklingen av teorier.   Slutsats: Studien identifierar att det finns en saknad vetskap bland de anställda om organisationernas interna jämställdhetsarbete. Detta beror helt enkelt på att det inte presenteras några distinkta strategier för jämställdhetsarbete från ledningen och att de anställda inte inkluderas i frågor som berör jämställdhet. Organisationskulturen har dock en betydande påverkan på de anställdas upplevelse av jämlikheten mellan könen, där allt ifrån de subtila interaktionerna mellan kollegor och tydliga stereotypiska åsikter spelar roll. / Date: 2024-05-28   Level: Bachelor thesis in Business administration, 15 cr   Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalens University   Authors: Ronja Berglund (930413) & Rebecka Lindfors (990130)                 Title: Towards an equal workplace: An exploratory study of two comapnies´ equality work and its employees´experience of it    Supervisor: Konstantin Lampou   Keywords: Equality work, organizational culture, inclusion, gender discrimination, male-dominated workplaces and equality.   Research questions: What does the organization´s gender equality work look like? How do the employees get involved in processes that promote equality?   Purpose: The aim of this essay is to investigate gender equality initiatives and how gender equality work is expressed among the employees of two companies operating in the real estate industry.    Method: To gather empirical data, a qualitative research method was employed through semi-structured interviews. The study targeted both employees and managers within the real estate industry. Data analysis utilized a thematic analysis approach. An abductive research approach has been applied, facilitating flexibility in theory development.   Conclusion: The study identifies a lack of knowledge among the employees about the organizations´ internal gender equality work. This is simply because no distinct strategies for gender equality work are presented by the management, and that the employees are not included in matters concerning gender equality. However, organizational culture has a  significant impact on employees´ perception of gender equality, where everything from the subtle interactions between colleagues to explicit stereotypical opinions plays a role.

La presente tesi, attraverso l’utilizzo di diverse fonti di dati, sia longitudinali che trasversali, contribuisce alla letteratura esistente in materia di lavoro precario, invecchiamento e discriminazione di genere, fornendo evidenza empirica riguardo le conseguenze in termini di salute e benessere della precarietà, del pensionamento e della leadership femminile nel mercato del lavoro. Il primo capitolo esamina la relazione esistente fra insicurezza sul lavoro, prospettive di reimpiego e disagio psicologico, utilizzando dati cross-country provenienti dalle European Working Conditions Surveys del 2010. Il secondo capitolo è dedicato alla stima dell’effetto causale del pensionamento sull’utilizzo dei servizi sanitari in 10 paesi Europei nel periodo 2004-2013. In particolare, il capitolo approfondisce il tema della riduzione del costo opportunità del tempo libero dopo il pensionamento, che può dare luogo ad aumenti improvvisi nell’utilizzo dei servizi sanitari. Il terzo capitolo, infine, studia la relazione esistente tra leadership femminile, pratiche organizzative a livello aziendale e discriminazione di genere per 30 paesi Europei, considerati nel periodo 1995-2010. / The present dissertation, using both longitudinal and cross-sectional data from different sources, contributes to existing literature on precarious employment, aging and gender discrimination providing empirical evidence on the health and wellbeing outcomes of work-related insecurity, retirement and female leadership across European countries. Chapter 1 examines the relationship among perceived job insecurity, employability and psychological distress in Europe, using cross-country data from the 2010 European Working Conditions Surveys. Chapter 2, using SHARE data (from 2004 to 2013) for 10 European countries, is devoted to the analysis of the (causal) effect of retirement on health care utilization. In particular, it explores the existence of a discontinuous change in health investment at the time of retirement, as suggested by the theory, asking whether this ``puzzling'' jump is associated with the drop in the opportunity cost of time induced by retirement. Chapter 3 investigates the association between female leadership, work organization practices and perceived gender discrimination within firms, using EWCS data for 30 European countries for the period 1995-2010.

La présente thèse avait pour mandat d’examiner la question suivante : quels sont les indices visuels utilisés pour catégoriser le sexe d’un visage et comment sont-ils traités par le cerveau humain? La plupart des études examinant l’importance de certaines régions faciales pour la catégorisation du sexe des visages présentaient des limites quant à leur validité externe. L’article 1 visait à investiguer l’utilisation des indices achromatiques et chromatiques (sur l’axe xy) dans un contexte de plus grande validité externe. Pour ce faire, nous avons utilisé la technique Bubbles afin d’échantillonner l’espace xy de visages en couleurs n’ayant subi aucune transformation. Afin d’éviter les problèmes liés à la grande répétition des mêmes visages, nous avons utilisé un grand nombre de visages (c.-à-d. 300 visages caucasiens d’hommes et de femmes) et chaque visage n’a été présenté qu’une seule fois à chacun des 30 participants. Les résultats indiquent que la région des yeux et des sourcils—probablement dans le canal blanc-noir—est l’indice le plus important pour discriminer correctement le genre des visages; et que la région de la bouche—probablement dans le canal rouge-vert—est l’indice le plus important pour discriminer rapidement et correctement le genre des visages. Plusieurs études suggèrent qu’un indice facial que nous n’avons pas étudié dans l’article 1—les distances interattributs—est crucial à la catégorisation du sexe. L’étude de Taschereau et al. (2010) présente toutefois des données allant à l’encontre de cette hypothèse : les performances d’identification des visages étaient beaucoup plus faibles lorsque seules les distances interattributs réalistes étaient disponibles que lorsque toutes les autres informations faciales à l’exception des distances interattributs réalistes étaient disponibles. Quoi qu’il en soit, il est possible que la faible performance observée dans la condition où seules les distances interattributs étaient disponibles soit explicable non par une incapacité d’utiliser ces indices efficacement, mais plutôt par le peu d’information contenue dans ces indices. L’article 2 avait donc comme objectif principal d’évaluer l’efficacité—une mesure de performance qui compense pour la faiblesse de l’information disponible—des distances interattributs réalistes pour la catégorisation du sexe des visages chez 60 participants. Afin de maximiser la validité externe, les distances interattributs manipulées respectaient la distribution et la matrice de covariance observées dans un large échantillon de visages (N=515). Les résultats indiquent que les efficacités associées aux visages ne possédant que de l’information au niveau des distances interattributs sont un ordre de magnitude plus faibles que celles associées aux visages possédant toute l’information que possèdent normalement les visages sauf les distances interattributs et donnent le coup de grâce à l’hypothèse selon laquelle les distances interattributs seraient cuciale à la discrimination du sexe des visages. L’article 3 avait pour objectif principal de tester l’hypothèse formulée à la fin de l’article 1 suivant laquelle l’information chromatique dans la région de la bouche serait extraite très rapidement par le système visuel lors de la discrimination du sexe. Cent douze participants ont chacun complété 900 essais d’une tâche de discrimination du genre pendant laquelle l’information achromatique et chromatique des visages était échantillonnée spatiotemporellement avec la technique Bubbles. Les résultats d’une analyse présentée en Discussion seulement confirme l’utilisation rapide de l’information chromatique dans la région de la bouche. De plus, l’utilisation d’un échantillonnage spatiotemporel nous a permis de faire des analyses temps-fréquences desquelles a découlé une découverte intéressante quant aux mécanismes d’encodage des informations spatiales dans le temps. Il semblerait que l’information achromatique et chromatique à l’intérieur d’une même région faciale est échantillonnée à la même fréquence par le cerveau alors que les différentes parties du visage sont échantillonnées à des fréquences différentes (entre 6 et 10 Hz). Ce code fréquentiel est compatible avec certaines évidences électrophysiologiques récentes qui suggèrent que les parties de visages sont « multiplexées » par la fréquence d’oscillations transitoires synchronisées dans le cerveau. / In this thesis, we asked which face cues are used for gender discrimination and how they are processed by the humain brain. The few studies have tried to answer this question used only a small set of grayscale stimuli, often distorted and presented a large number of times. In Article 1, we reassessed the importance of chromatic and achromatic facial cues for gender categorisation in a more realistic setting. We used the Bubbles technique to sample the xy plane of a set of 300 color photographs of Caucasian faces, each presented only once to 30 participants. Results show that the region of the eyes and the eyebrows—probably in the light-dark channel—is the most important facial cue for accurate gender discrimination; and that the mouth region is also driving fast correct responses (but not fast incorrect responses)—the gender discrimination information in the mouth region is concentrated in the red-green color channel. Several studies suggest that a cue which we did not examine in Article 1—interattribute distances (e.g. the interpupil distance)—is critical for gender discrimination. A recent study by Taschereau-Dumouchel et al. (2010) challenged this idea by showing that participants were nearly at chance when asked to identify faces on the sole basis of real-word interattribute distances, while they were nearly perfect when all other facial cues were shown. However, it remains possible that humans are highly tuned to interattribute distances but that the information conveyed by these cues is scarce. In Article 2, we tested this hypothesis by contrasting the efficiencies—a measure of performance that factors out task difficulty—of 60 observers in six face-gender categorization tasks. Most importantly, efficiencies for faces that varied only in terms of their interattribute distances were an order of magnitude lower than efficiencies for faces that varied in all respects except their interattribute distances or in all respects. These results provide a definitive blow to the idea that real-world interattribute distances are critical for face gender categorization. In Article 3, we tested and confirmed the hypothesis formulated at the end of Article 1 according to which observers would rapidly extract chromatic information in the mouth region during sex categorization. One hundred and twelve participants each performed 900 trials of a face gender categorization task in which the achromatic and isoluminant chromatic content of faces were partially revealed in space and time with Bubbles. This experiment also allowed us to perform time-frequency analyses, which showed that achromatic and isoluminant chromatic information within the same facial part were sampled by the brain at the same frequency, whereas different facial parts were sampled at distinct frequencies (ranging from 6 to 10 Hz). This sampling code is consistent with recent electrophysiological evidence suggesting that facial features are multiplexed by the frequency of transient synchronized oscillations in the brain.

Cette thèse analyse la portée actuelle des droits humains au sein des groupements religieux à travers la question de la discrimination des femmes dans l’accès aux fonctions cultuelles. Si actuellement, le principe de liberté de religion conditionne l’appréhension juridique du caractère discriminatoire de l’exclusion des femmes de certaines fonctions cultuelles, l’enracinement de l’égalité des sexes dans les sociétés contemporaines amorce de nouveaux traitements et réflexions en ce qui concerne les atteintes aux droits des femmes et les discriminations sexuelles liées au religieux, au niveau du droit positif et dans le cadre des droits internes de certaines religions. / This thesis focuses on the current impact of human rights within religious communities, through the topic of women’s discrimination in access of some religious functions. If the principle of religious freedom conditions the legal understanding of discriminatory nature of women’s exclusion from some religious functions, the implantation of gender equality in contemporary societies initiates new treatments and reflexions about women’s rights violations and gender discriminations from religious, at the level of positive law and of some religious laws.

The number of girls that are being exploited for prostitution in Nepal has increased in recent years, and girls suffer a high risk of being exposed when they come from already poorly conditions. Previously, uneducated girls could be found in the adult entertainment sector, but nowadays even educated girls are being exploited. This thesis aims to gain further understanding to why girls are being exposed and why it is difficult to protect them. By conducting qualitive interviews with employees from several NGOs working to protect girls from being exploited for prostitution, insights has been given about socio-structural factors that influences the situation for girls. By examining these factors with support from theoretical approaches that highlights social injustice, gender discrimination and structural oppression this thesis presents how different factors affect the work of protecting girls, and how the same factors also are contributing to why girls get exposed. The state of Nepal shows several efforts in trying to eradicate the problem and have ratified both the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. The state has also made changes in national law that shall promote and strengthen children's rights. Although the laws are strong, the protection for girls is insufficient and girls are vulnerable to being exploited by traffickers. The Government of Nepal, NGOs and several other authorities are working together to eradicate the problem, but the work needs be strengthened, coordinated and responsive to influencing factors simultaneously in order to achieve a long-term solution. This thesis suggest that cultural norms need to be challenged more and that the Government of Nepal needs to oversee how structural injustices affect opportunities for girls to take part of social benefits. In addition, knowledge about legal and moral rights needs to be increased among girls and in society as a whole, moreover the knowledge about trafficking and prostitution needs to be spread.

Research was conducted using hermeneutic-phenomenology and semi-structure interviews to explore and understand the lived experience of women veterans of the Canadian Forces. Women recently entered Canadian military combat positions, taking on a profession historically exclusively occupied by men. Due to the lack of research on women veterans of the Canadian Forces, knowledge was drawn from research about women in nontraditional work, American paramilitary and military occupations, as well as an historical review of women’s involvement in the Canadian Forces, to provide context to the research themes. Participants comprised of 6 women veterans who described 11 essential and 4 significant themes. Unique contributions to literature include essential themes such as, Slut or a lesbian, take your pick, Proving I’m good enough, Trying to be treated better, Got some support, Visible and singled out, Perpetual outsider, Given gender based tasks or opportunities, and Women demeaned. Suggestions for future studies and implications for counselling practice are discussed.