I dagens samhälle finns en allmänt negativ inställning till klimakteriet som grundar sig i genusnormer. Majoriteten av de metoder som finns för att behandla klimakteriebesvär är medicinska och de personer som av olika anledningar inte använder dem lämnas utan alternativ.Den här studien undersökte hur produktdesign kan användas för att underlätta klimakteriebesvär och samtidigt synliggöra klimakteriet. Syftet var att synliggöra klimakteriet och genom det bidra till en positiv inställning till det. Det konkreta målet var att ta fram ett förslag på en produkt som i största möjliga mån uppnår syftet. Studien vilar på en teoretisk grund av genusvetenskap, historisk syn på gynekologin och kvinnosyn, normkritik, normkreativitet samt normkreativ- och användarcentrerad design. Den empiriska insamlingen bestod huvudsakligen av intervjuer och diskussioner med representanter för målgruppen (personer med klimakteriebesvär) samt undersökningar av den befintliga marknaden för klimakterieprodukter och varför den ser ut som den gör.Studiens slutsats visar att en produkt som ska kunna underlätta klimakteriebesvär och samtidigt synliggöra klimakteriet måste uppfylla tre kriterier; underlätta besvären rent praktiskt, vara uppseendeväckande samt vara något som målgruppen är bekväm med att använda bland folk. Den produkt som har tagits fram i den här studien ses enbart som ett av många möjliga lösningsförslag då det inte finns ett korrekt svar på hur en klimakterieprodukt kan se ut eller fungera. Genom att se bortom de normer som vanligtvis styr hur klimakteriebesvär behandlas går det att ta fram nya innovativa alternativ. / Due to gender norms, the general attitude towards menopause in today’s society is negative. The majority of available methods to ease menopause symptoms are medical alternatives and the ones who choose not to use those, for different reasons, are left without an option.This study examined how product design can be used to ease menopausal related problems and contribute to put focus on menopause. The purpose was to make menopause more visible and by that contribute to a positive attitude towards it. The overarching goal was to develop a proposal for a product achieving that. The study relies on a theoretical foundation of gender studies, a historical view of gynecology and perception of women, norm criticism, norm creativity, norm creative design and human-centered design. The empirical evidence consisted mainly of interviews and discussions with representatives from the target group (people with menopausal related problems) and market research of existing menopausal products.The conclusion of the study shows that for making it possible for a product to both ease menopausal problems and make menopause more visible it needs to fulfil three criteria; in a way practically ease the symptoms, be eye-catching and be something the target group are comfortable using around other people. The product that has been developed in this study is only to be considered as one of many possible solutions since there is no correct answer to how a menopausal product should look or function. By moving beyond the norms, that usually control how menopausal problems are treated, it is possible to develop new and innovative alternatives.

Background: In South Africa (SA), women with breast cancer (BC) present to the health care system at advanced stages of the disease, resulting in poor prognosis. Limited awareness of the disease, large distances to health care centers, and lack of affordable transportation have all been implicated as factors delaying presentation. In addition, women in SA have limited social and financial independence, which may make it difficult for them to resolve their own health care needs. Despite this, little is known about what South African male partners know about breast cancer and what role they play in their partner’s access to health care. Methods: This interpretive qualitative case study, guided by the theoretical framework of hegemonic masculinity(ies), used semi-structured interviews to investigate perceptions and knowledge of BC and gender norms in regards to health care access in a group of black South African males (n=20) in long-term heterosexual relationships living in a resource-poor setting. Interview data was analyzed using thematic analysis and compared to observational data collected through opportunities with local BC organizations. Results: Participants demonstrated very little knowledge of breast cancer and cancer in general. Some specific misconceptions about cancer are reported, including confusion between cancer and HIV. Participants were positive about receiving health care for cancer but are burdened by barriers to reaching care and a lack of access to information about the disease. The men describe themselves as playing an active, mostly positive role in their partner’s access to health care. They demonstrate perspectives about gender relations that defy hegemonic forms of masculinity. Conclusions: Major public health efforts are required to increase awareness of BC in order to encourage earlier presentation to the healthcare system. These efforts should recognize the importance of the male partner in women’s health issues. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / In South Africa, women with breast cancer often do not reach the conventional healthcare system until the disease has progressed significantly and chances of survival are poor. This occurs because of a lack of knowledge about the disease and large distances to health care centers. Furthermore, in the male-dominated society of South Africa, women have limited independence. Therefore, this study sought to determine what men in South African know about breast cancer and how they are involved in their partner’s access to health care. Interviews were conducted with 20 men living in a resource-poor setting. The men portrayed little knowledge and specific misconceptions about breast cancer and cancer in general. They appear to be playing an active and mostly positive role in their partner’s access to health care. Public health efforts should increase awareness of the disease and recognize the significant role of the male partner in women’s health issues.

According to the State of the Nation’s Housing (Harvard, 2005) more than one in five homebuyers is a single woman and twice as many unmarried women as unmarried men are buying homes. Notably unmarried women make up more than one-third of the growth in real estate ownership since 1994. The purpose of this study was to examine this cultural phenomenon. Utilizing an interpretative qualitative paradigm, in-depth interviews, social identity and reason action theories, this research explored the social, psychological, and symbolic meanings single, never-married, women in their 30s and 40s attributed to home buying as well as the design and purchasing behaviors they displayed. In an effort to create and refine the questionnaire for this research, a five participant pilot study was conducted in southwestern Virginia. The main body of this work consisted of 12 in-depth interviews and included six participants from southwestern Virginia, five participants from northern Virginia and one from western Pennsylvania. The average age of the participants was 39.5 years, with a range of 29 – 48 years. In total, 21 themes emerged in this study: 18 were strongly supported and mentioned by at least 50%, or six of the twelve, dissertation participants, while three received moderate support and were discussed by at least 25%, or three of the twelve, respondents. The themes were further divided into the following categories: behavioral themes which answer the question of the how women approach the buying process; behavioral themes which answer the question of what women buy, psychological themes which answer the question of why single women buy; social themes which promote a sense of security or stability; and social themes which promote a sense of isolation. The findings of this study can be used to enhance the residential construction industry and to assist housing professionals who routinely interact with female homebuyers. In addition, these findings suggest the continued need for home-buyer education and further research. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / No abstract provided.

Gender equality is an emerging field in conflict studies, but so far research has mainly focused on the onset of conflict. However, strong correlations between low levels of gender equality and the risk for conflict has been found, which gives encouragement for further research. Other fields have explored the field of gender equality more extensively, and has for example found relationships between attitudes towards gender equality and the prevalence of violence in personal relationships. Building on those findings, this thesis attempts to advance the field of gender equality in conflict studies by examining how attitudes towards gender equality affects the dynamics of violence during conflicts, with the hypothesised relationship that more positive attitudes towards gender equality results in lower levels of violence. This is done through a statistical study of 172 selected cases from different regions and with different ideologies. The suggested mechanism for this relationship is that of traditional gender norms, and in particular traditional ideals of masculinity which are closely associated with violence. While not lending strong support for the all the hypothesised relationship, the results gives some reason for optimism for future research.

Inledning: Psykisk ohälsa är ett växande samhällsproblem, där pojkar är överrepresentativa i självmordsstatistiken. Maskulinitetsnormer kan ha negativa konsekvenser för pojkars sätt att uttrycka psykisk ohälsa. Forskning påvisar att pojkar enbart söker hjälp om deras problem är så pass varaktiga och desperata att de inte ser någon annan utväg. Syfte: Undersöka hur maskulinitet och könsnormer hindrar pojkar (10–25 år) från att söka hjälp för psykisk ohälsa. Metod: En systematisk litteraturstudie, baserad på 10 vetenskapliga originalartiklar med kvalitativ metod (fokusgrupper och individuella intervjuer). Datainsamling har skett via CINAHL, Academic Search Elite och WorldCat Discovery. Resultatet har analyserats med kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Resultat: Resultatet tyder på att maskulinitetsnormer i hög utsträckning begränsar pojkar från att söka hjälp för psykisk ohälsa. Faktorer som var avgörande var stigmatisering, rädsla för konfrontation och hantera känslomässiga svårigheter. Det framkom kunskapsbrist kring psykisk ohälsa och tröskeln för att söka hjälp var hög. Pojkar undviker i hög utsträckning psykiska problem genom olika externa strategier. Slutsats: Maskulinitetsnormer har negativ inverkan på pojkars psykiska ohälsa och är ett hinder till att pojkar inte söker hjälp. Även strukturella faktorer framkom som ett hinder. Maskulinitetsnormer är påtagliga och påverkar pojkars syn på sin egen och andras psykiska ohälsa. Förståelse för hur pojkar uttrycker och upplever psykisk ohälsa och vilka begränsningar för att söka hjälp är viktiga att förstå för att uppnå en jämlik vårdkedja. Metoder kring normbrytande strategier bör prioriteras, samt involvera pojkar i förändrings- och utvecklingsarbetet. Forskning bör även fokusera på att fördjupa kunskaper inom aktuell kontext för att kunna generalisera resultaten. / Introduction: Mental illness is a growing problem, where boys are overrepresented in the suicide statistics. Masculinity norms can have negative consequences for boys' way of expressing mental illness. Research suggests that boys only seek help if their problems are so long lasting and desperate that they don’t see any other way out. Purpose: To investigate how masculinity and gender norms prevent boys (age 10–25) from seeking help for mental illness. Method: A systematic literature review, based on 10 scientific original articles with qualitative method (focus groups and individual interviews). Datacollection took place in CINAHL, Academic Search Elite and WorldCat Discovery. The result has been analyzed with qualitative content analysis. Result: The result suggests that masculinity norms restrict boys from seeking help for mental illness. Factors that were decisive were stigmatization, fear of confrontation, and dealing with emotional difficulties. There was a lack of knowledge about mental illness and the threshold for seeking help was high. Boys avoid psychological problems through different external strategies. Conclusion: Masculinity norms have a negative impact on boys' mental illness and are an obstacle to boys not seeking help. Even structural factors emerged as an obstacle. Masculinity norms are tangible and affect boys' view of their own and others mental illness. Understanding how boys express and experience mental illness and limitations to seeking help are important to understand in order to achieve an equal healthcare. Methods regarding norm breaking strategies should be prioritized, as well as involving boys in the change and development. Research should also focus on deepening knowledge within the current context in order to be able to generalize the results.

This essay is focused on gender issues in the film The Kissing Booth directed by Vince Marcello and how it can be used in a Swedish EFL classroom to problematize the stereotypical portrayals of the main characters. Since film is readily available for people in the Western world, including young students, it is important to teach them to be mindful of how media content can influence people in different ways. Even though the movie challenges some gender norms at first glance, an application of the Bechdel test shows that The Kissing Booth actually strengthens the Western world's traditional representation of gender. Because gender was mostly viewed as a binary correlated to sex before, it is easy to stay within those restrictive ways when creating and depicting characters in film. However, theorists have found that gender is not innate but performative and if it is not depicted as such in mainstream media, it may uphold outdated notions of gender and prevent changes in attitudes needed for a more inclusive society. Modern events, such as the Me Too movement, also indicate that there is a need for more conversations about these issues.

This thesis investigates the affects of the French Revolution of 1789 and the Mexican Revolution of 1910 on gender roles in their respective societies. Women that contributed to political discourse challenged separations of public and private spheres, which dictated order in the late and postrevolutionary periods of France and Mexico. Given the deliberate acts by both postrevolutionary governments to send women to the periphery of their respective societies, it is vital to revisit the examples of female influence that shaped the early French and Mexican Revolutions. The understanding that comes from a detailed analysis of the parameters of gendered spaces before, during, and after revolution sheds light on the relationships between order and gender that determined the future of women in their respective postrevolutionary worlds.

Ce travail propose une réflexion sur les obstacles, souvent "invisibles", qui contribuent à maintenir les femmes aux niveaux inférieurs de la hiérarchie professionnelle. Ce phénomène a été baptisé « plafond de verre ». L’asymétrie des profils professionnels entre hommes et femmes est interrogée à partir d’une approche constructiviste multidisciplinaire profitant des contributions conjointes de l’histoire, de la philosophie, de la sociologie et de la psychologie sociale. L'introduction théorique propose une réflexion sur les déterminants historiques et psychosociaux de l’asymétrie du masculin et du féminin dans leurs rapports au pouvoir et au travail. Les théories des Représentations Sociales (Moscovici, 1961), de l'Identité Sociale (Tajfel & Turner, 1986) serviront de cadre conceptuel à l’ensemble du travail. Les antécédents psychosociaux du « plafond de verre » sont étudiés au travers d’une série de 6 études. La première explore le vécu et les représentations des femmes évoluant dans un contexte professionnel masculin tel que la politique et montre l’existence chez elles d’une tension entre les normes instrumentales en vigueur dans ce contexte et l’approche relationnelle qu’elles voudraient promouvoir. La deuxième et la troisième études explorent respectivement les représentations sociales de l’« emploi idéal pour soi » et de la « réussite » chez des jeunes universitaires (garçons et filles) en partant du présupposé qu’afin de mieux comprendre les stratégies différenciées de mobilité ascendante chez les deux sexes, il est important d’interroger les représentations sociales liées à la sphère professionnelle que les uns et les autres possèdent avant d’y être intégré-e-s. Enfin, trois études empiriques testent l’hypothèse générale selon laquelle la sous-représentation des femmes aux niveaux supérieurs de la hiérarchie sociale pourrait résulter des discordances qui existent entre, d’une part, les normes de genre endossées par les individus (i.e. féminine vs. masculine) ainsi que le niveau d’identification au genre et, d’autre part, les normes sous-tendant la culture des organisations. Les résultats suggèrent l’existence d’une telle incompatibilité normative et de son impact potentiel sur les stratégies de mobilité ascendante./Adopting a constructivist and multidisciplinary perspective, the present dissertation questions the “hidden obstacles” contributing to maintain women in the lower positions of the professional ladder, a phenomenon called “glass ceiling”. Framing our work in the social representations theory (Moscovici, 1961) and the social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1986), we address the asymmetry in men’s and wome’s careers trough 6 study. Study 1 explores the representations of Belgian politician women with regard to their personal professional experiences and their relation to the normatively masculine political functioning. Furthermore, a second set of studies starts from the idea that, in order to understand women’s and men’s professional mobility strategies, we have to take social representations related to the professional domain into account. Hence, study 2 and 3 explore respectively the social representations of « an own ideal job » and of « a successful life » amongst young students of both sexes. Finally, studies 4, 5, and 6 test the general hypothesis that the lack of women in positions of power could be partially due to the incongruence between potentially conflicting social norms. Namely, while work settings seem to induce a social norm favoring instrumental social orientations, women socialization is still characterized by the existence of prescriptions about relational orientations. Results suggest the existence of this normative inconsistency together with its potential impact on women’s professional mobility strategies.

There is an awareness of the importance of gender equality in most western societies, both at the political level and in everyday life. In academia, for instance, gender is nowadays a scientific field which indicates that there is a lot of knowledge about the subject. What we do not have much knowledge about is whether gender knowledge leads to changes in gender relations in practice. The aim of this study is to explore how gender scholars relate to using – practicing – gender knowledge. Key issues in this study are how gender scholars construct gender, how they practice gender theoretical knowledge, and their reflections of gender boundaries.             Theoretically, this study is mainly based on Sara Ahmed’s perspective on gender. The main finding of the study is that despite gender knowledge gender scholars tend to reproduce traditional gender orders. By identifying concepts such as reflected and unreflected masculinity/femininity, different ideals of masculinity/femininity are made visible. There seems to be an ideal among gender scholars to practice their gender knowledge. This ideal is practiced among “gender scholar women” by doing reflected masculinity and reflected femininity. Among “gender scholar men”, however, the ideal to practice gender knowledge by doing unreflected masculinity and reflected femininity seems to be a taboo at the same time. For men, it seems important to mark a distance to a certain type of femininity and to maintain the heterosexual – straight – line. For women, it seems desirable both to distance themselves from a certain type of masculinity and femininity and thereby follow alternative – queer – lines. / Stereotypa föreställningar om kön lever vidare i dagens samhälle, trots att det finns en medvetenhet om vikten av jämställdhet på politisk nivå och i vardagslivet. Det bedrivs även forskning om genusfrågor inom akademin. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka hur genusvetare förhåller sig till att använda – praktisera – genuskunskap. Centrala frågeställningar i uppsatsen är hur genusvetare ser på kön, hur de praktiserar genusteoretisk kunskap och vilka begränsningar och möjligheter som kommer till uttryck i intervjuerna.           Teoretiskt utgår uppsatsen huvudsakligen från Sara Ahmeds perspektiv på kön. Uppsatsens viktigaste resultat är att även genusvetare som har gedigen teoretisk kunskap tenderar att reproducera maktordningar om genus. Genom att identifiera begrepp som reflekterad och oreflekterad manlighet/kvinnlighet synliggörs olika ideal för manlighet och kvinnlighet. Det framstår vara ett ideal för genusvetarna att praktisera genuskunskap. För ”genusvetarkvinnorna” praktiseras idealet genom att använda reflekterad manlighet och reflekterad kvinnlighet. För ”genusvetarmännen” är idealet att praktisera oreflekterad manlighet och reflekterad kvinnlighet samtidigt tabu. För männens del verkar det viktigt att markera avstånd till en viss typ av kvinnlighet och upprätthålla den heterosexuella – straighta – linjen. För kvinnorna framstår det eftersträvansvärt att både ta avstånd från en viss typ av manlighet respektive kvinnlighet och följa alternativa – queera – linjer.