This thesis consists of three essays that explore incentives and disincentives in the U.S. social safety net. In the first essay, my coauthors and I measure the size and impact of U.S. marriage taxation. Our marriage tax measure incorporates all major federal and state taxes and transfer programs. The measure is calculated as the expected percentage loss in lifetime spending from marriage, controlling for partner choice. We find an average marriage tax of 2.69 percent that is substantially higher for low-income individuals. Exploiting state-level variation, we find that the marriage taxes strongly disincentivize marriage. Among females with children, a one percentage point increase in the marriage tax rate decreases the probability of marrying by 3.69 percentage points. The second essay evaluates the effects of free pre-kindergarten (Pre-K) programs on maternal labor force participation (LFP). Pre-K rules vary across U.S. states, and most states have income eligibility requirements. To estimate the causal effects of access to Pre-K on labor supply, we examine the change in the LFP of mothers whose child becomes age-eligible for Pre-K controlling for individual factors. We find that access to Pre-K increases overall maternal LFP by 2.3 percentage points. However, the effect is significant only for mothers with certain demographic characteristics. Our results are robust across a series of placebo tests and alternative specifications and sample restrictions. In the third essay I estimate how the Affordable Care Act (ACA) changed the returns to work and affected labor supply decisions. First, I identify three natural experiments where the ACA changed work incentives. I find that depending on the experiment and affected population, the ACA changed weekly hours worked by between -3 and +2. Next, I use an exogenous shock to effective marginal tax rates (EMTRs) introduced by the ACA as an instrument to estimate the overall labor supply elasticity. I find it to be 0.1. Using this elasticity, I estimate the aggregate effect of the ACA on work effort. I find that, in the aggregate, the ACA did not affect US labor supply. However, for some groups the effect was economically and statistically significant.

Este estudio analiza la femvertising, la reciente estrategia publicitaria que emite mensajes de empoderamiento a la mujer e igualdad de género, y su relación con el efecto de la tercera persona, que indica que las personas tienden a percibir a los demás (ellos) como más influenciados por los medios de comunicación que sí mismos (yo). Es un estudio cualitativo cuyo diseño es el estudio de caso, donde se analizó la campaña del BCP: “#NoMeDigasFelizDía” lanzada en el Día Internacional de la Mujer (2019). Se realizó entrevistas semiestructuradas a 15 mujeres trabajadoras del emporio de Gamarra de 25 a 52 años. Como resultado, la femvertising logra construir igualdad de género en las mujeres del emporio comercial de Gamarra mediante los mensajes expuestos en sus anuncios, los cuales muestran las desigualdades de género y formas de empoderamiento de la mujer, eliminando los estereotipos típicos femeninos, pero que no necesariamente se dan por el efecto de la tercera persona. / This study analyzes femvertising, the recent advertising strategy that issues messages of empowerment to women and gender equality, and its relationship with the third-person effect, which indicates that people tend to perceive others (they) as more influenced by the media than themselves (me). It is a qualitative study whose design is the case study, where the BCP campaign was analyzed: "#NoMeDigasFelizDía" launched on International Women's Day (2019). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 15 women workers from the Gamarra emporium from 25 to 52 years. As a result, femvertising manages to build gender equality in the women of the commercial empire of Gamarra through the messages exposed in their advertisements, which show gender inequalities and forms of empowerment of women, eliminating the typical stereotypes of women but that is not necessarily given by the third-person effect. / Tesis

This study aims to examine whether there has been a difference for female journalists in local newsrooms in terms of task assignments and workplace environment since the #MeToo movement. We investigated whether there has been a difference in their treatment at the newsrooms and whether their duties have changed. The study used field theory and gender theory together with previous research that supports it. The study used qualitative interviews where we interviewed four female journalists and two female editors at various media companies in smaller towns around Sweden. The interviews were designed after semi-structured interviews in order to examine and understand women journalists’ experiences. Our research questions were “How do female journalists perceive that their areas of coverage have changed?” and “How has the treatment of female journalists changed in local newsrooms since #MeToo?” The results of the study shows that the tasks have become more equal, this is for journalists who work in local editorial offices, as the smaller newsrooms do not have the same opportunity to divide the news into smaller coverage areas as the large newsrooms. The results also show that female journalists write about both “hard” and “soft” news, which is a change from previous studies. In terms of #MeToo, the movement has not brought about a big change in how female journalists are treated. It has become more of a difference in the awareness of what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. The participants in the study say that both male and female managers and colleagues think more often about how they are perceived by those around them. They think about how they behave and express themselves towards others.

The purpose of this study is to analyze women’s political representation in Umeå City Council from 1913 to 1946. By analyzing patterns in the representation, it is defined how the representation at a local level has changed over time and why. The article argues that female representation is affected by several factors, especially institutions, structures and actors. The analysis is based on these three, and how they interact. To determine continuity or change in the female presence a qualitativevariable analysis of patterns is applied. The representation is compiled and analyzedusing descriptive statistics and bar graphs. Female representation is continuously low throughout the period studied. The political role of women is characterized bythe male dominance of politics. Women represented in the political areas that were considered lighter, or stereotypical women's territories.

In the curriculum for the compulsory school it is stated that teachers should provide gender equal environments free from gender bias. Furthermore, some researchers suggests that the EFL (English as a foreign language) classroom in particular is an important place for the regulation and production of gender. As a result, I decided to explore some EFL teacher’s attitudes towards gender bias and how they work with gender equality in their classrooms. To do this, I conducted semi-structured interviews with two 4-6 EFL teachers. Prior research on the subject suggests that EFL teaching materials often contain gender biased depictions. Despite this, some researchers do not consider this a problem since teachers should be able to work around these types of issues. Instead, looking at research on how much attention boys and girls receive in the classroom, boys often come out on top. However, this is likely due to the teacher more frequently telling the boys to not disturb their classmates. When it comes to students own attitudes, some research claims that boys undermine girls in the classroom and consider femininity as something negative. Shifting focus to the consequences of gender bias, research proposes that it may result in passivity and lack of self-esteem for the victim. Lastly, according to research, some strategies for counteracting gender bias includes teachers having students reflect on the problems with gender bias, changing the gender of characters in texts and alternating between boys and girls when asking questions to ensure a gender equal distribution of talking time. Through the two interviews I conducted, I learned that both teachers have seen consequences of gender bias similar to those described in the research. They also agree that there are norms affecting student’s behaviors that may restrict their participation and learning. The male norm is brought up as something particularly bad. To discourage these norms, and gender bias in general, the two teachers suggests several strategies. This includes complementing traditional teaching materials with more nuanced sources, encouraging a critical stance in terms of discourse, making sure that every students is active and placing their desks strategically.

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Automation technologies such as industrial robots, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics threaten to dislocate a large number of workers, given their ability to perform many work activities. This thesis aims to give a complete overview of the effects of automation on employment and consists of three papers. The first paper reviews prior studies investigating how automation technologies affect employment. Relevant publications are presented by distinguishing how the effects of automation technologies are estimated (i.e., estimation of the probability of automation or of the net impact on employment), the levels of analysis (i.e., global, international, continental, country, regional, labour market, industry, firm, occupational, worker, and work activities) and the type of automation technology (i.e., industrial robots, artificial intelligence, and big data analytics). Research gaps and future research agenda are identified. The second paper investigates how the institutional context in terms of gender equality (in general and in the education and work components) affects the risk of substitution faced by women, i.e., their risk of being replaced by automation technologies in performing work activities. The study shows that in institutional contexts where gender equality is high, women face a lower risk of substitution as women do not face stereotypes and structural barriers and can thus acquire the skills that cannot be automated by machines (i.e., perception and manipulation, creative intelligence, and social intelligence). The third paper analyses how the invention of automation technologies affects the labour demand of the innovative firm. It emerges that innovating in automation technologies increases firm employment, with the largest impact found for industrial robots and big data. Jointly innovating in the three automation technologies also increases firm employment. However, innovating in industrial robots decreases firm employment in SMEs, while innovating in industrial robots and in artificial intelligence decreases firm employment in young firms. This thesis enhances knowledge about automation by providing a review of previous studies, by developing a gender perspective on automation by taking into account the influence of the institutional context in terms of gender equality, and by focusing on firm level effects of automation technologies. Policy and managerial implications can be derived from this thesis as the results provide an insight into how automation technologies impact employment. Policy makers can be informed for the design of policies promoting the invention and adoption of automation technologies and removing gender barriers in education and in the labour market. Firms can evaluate the effects of automation technologies on their workforce and help workers in protecting against the risk of substitution. The necessary interventions at the national and firm level can be planned to reap the benefits of automation while safeguarding workers.

This thesis examines whether, how and to what extent social cash transfers help the poor in reducing poverty; not only in income terms but also in relation to how they build on their capabilities and address gender inequality, risk and vulnerability. The thesis explores these questions through an analysis of a community targeted social cash transfer scheme from Traditional Authority Mlomba, Machinga district in Malawi, using the capability approach as the conceptual framework of analysis. The study is located in the critical realist domain as its underlying research philosophy. The study is qualitative in nature, using semi-structured interviews, observations and life histories. The scheme targets the poorest 10% of the population who are also labour constrained and deemed to be economically unproductive. Thus, the study offers some insights into an area that is not well researched as it is a relatively new concept to target the poor who are also labour constrained and not economically productive. In this thesis, I show that despite the limited resource base compared to the large number of the poor, social cash transfers as low as US$14 per household per month can make a valuable contribution to the reduction of poverty through building capabilities of the poor, empowering women and addressing some of the gendered inequalities, risk and vulnerability. Therefore, social cash transfers are not just handouts but act as ladders that can uplift the absolute poor out of poverty.

In 2016 the Colombian Government signed an historic peace deal with the main guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (FARC-EP) after decades of armed conflict. In the same year Canada pledged $57.4M in development funding to help Colombia recover in the post-peace deal era. Since 2016 the Peace and Stabilisation Operations Program (PSOPs) alone has invested $35.3M in the country. With the launch of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) in 2017, many of these initiatives unfolded in a new policy context and were characterised by commitments to make gender equality a priority. This study looks at the intersection of Canadian aid, transitional justice, and gender in Colombia through a feminist-institutionalist lens. It aims to assess the impact of Canadian-funded projects from these areas along a spectrum that varies from 'gendered transitional justice' to 'transformative transitional justice'. The thesis concludes that the impact of Canadian assistance is found in the in-between area of 'gendered transitional justice' and 'transformative transitional justice', characterized by some progress away from the status quo of 'gendered transitional justice', but without hitting the transformative mark. Through a feminist institutionalist lens, we argue that it is the complex socio-political landscape of Colombia overlaying the agency of Canada's implementing partners, their Southern counterparts and the agency of the donor, and the sum of these interactions that both enable and limit the full transformative capacity of the intervention and situate its impact somewhere in the middle.

The main aim of this paper is to explore preschol teachers' perspectives on the implementation of gender goals as set by the Swedish national curriculum for preschools. This qualitative research endeavours to investigate the way preschool teachers implement the curriculum and what their feelings are when implementing it. Finally, the research also seeks to explore the teachers' views based on their experience on ways to improve the curriculum. Six preschool teachers, who teach in international preschools in Sweden were interviewed;three female pedagogues and three male ones. A thematic analysis was conducted on the transcribed material of the interviews and three primary themes emerged: I) Implementation of the curriculum through everyday engagement with the students, II) mixed feelings when implementing gender-equality pedagogy and III) satisfaction about the gender goals set by the curriculum but beliefs that it can be improved. In conclusion, this paper by closely examining the preschool teachers' perspectives and opinions, seeks to aid the discussion on gender teaching to young children in preschools.