The estimated number of people living in extreme poverty is 1.3 billion and 70% of those are women. The aim of this study is to explain in what ways and why women are regarded as poorer than men. The definition of poverty has expanded and is now multidimensional. In order to answer the aim of this thesis the following dimensions will be included and work as a theory in which the analysis will be structured after. Through a gender perspective, will the role of woman emerge through a multidimensional definition of poverty. If the balance is a negative in these dimensions, the situation for women will worsen and become permanent. This thesis can conclude that poverty among women is explained by discrimination of sex- and power structures that exists in societies. This gender inequality makes it very difficult for women to break these structures and get out of the poverty trap. Aid organisations have for a long period focused their aid on women to generate development. As a result, women are now seen as a group of their own in order to improve conditions of the whole society. This thesis will, parallel to the aim of the thesis, describe aid organisations way of gender mainstreaming.

When discussing the gender imbalance of the labour market it is usually women in maledominated jobsthat end up in the center of attention, while less interest is centred upon men who choose a femaledominated occupation. In the name of gender equality it is however important that also these men arenoticed and that resources are provided for countermeasures that will influence more men to choose thesekinds of professions. In this study such a measure is in the limelight, a measure that aims to encouragemen to break traditional gender structures and to increase the gender equality on the labour market. Thefocus of attention in this study is upon the project ”Fler män till läraryrket” and its preparational year. Themajority of this study is based upon statements from a selection of students as well as the projectmanager. Especielly the ways in which the students and the manager talk about and look upon gender andgender equality, particularly in relation to the teaching profession, has been of utmost importance to thisstudy. There is no doubt that people in general support the thought of gender equality, the questionhowever is if it is possible to completely disregard the differential gender structures that mould andinfluence our identity and our minds from birth? Could it even be that these structures keep their firm gripinspite of new gender awareness and the strive for gender equality? This study is an investigation of how afew students look upon their future roles as male teachers in a female dominated occupation and how thetraditional gender structures quite often is reproduced in their statements inspite of the critical genderawareness that they have developed.

The aim of this research is to evaluate whether the social environment of Swedish high school students affects their views on the multicultural society. The research material was collected through the use of two focus groups containing high school students from two different schools, one group is used to a multicultural social environment while the other group is used to a less multicultural social environment. With the researcher acting as a moderator in the focus groups, the students discussed different questions regarding multiculturalism, gender equality and religion. The theory that this research is based on suggests that the social environment and the social capital affects the students views on the multicultural society. The results of the research were evaluated and connected to the theory. The evaluated results were then further analyzed and two conclusions were made, first, that the social environments and the social capital has an affect on the students views on multiculturalism and second, that the educational system of the schools also affects the students and provides them with the elementary values that the society is based upon.

I denna avhandling fokuseras akademins (o)föränderliga genusmönster för att öka kunskapen om förutsättningarna för långsiktig förändring av rådande genusmönster i akademin. Trots olika jämställdhetsinsatser vid högskolor och universitet är de nämligen fortfarande könssegregerade, vilket är speciellt tydligt på höga positioner. Endast 27 procent av professorerna i akademin är kvinnor (SCB, 2016) och vid Luleå tekniska universitet är motsvarande andel 19 procent (Luleå tekniska universitet, 2017). För att förstå bakgrunden till detta och undersöka vägar till förändring studeras i avhandlingen fem projekt vid Luleå tekniska universitet som genomförts under perioden 2005-2013. Utifrån tidigare forskning om akademins genusmönster analyseras och kategoriseras projektens jämställdhetsinsatser som individorienterade, strukturorienterade och processorienterade insatser. Genom intervjuer, fokusgrupper, observationer, olika interaktiva metoder och workshopar söks svar fyra frågeställningar: Vilka förutsättningar i form av metaforer och diskurser råder i projektens akademiska kontext? Hur kan en individorienterad, strukturorienterad respektive process-orienterad ansats användas för att förstå förutsättningarna för jämställdhetsinsatser i akademin? Hur påverkar kombinationen av genusteori och interaktiva metoder förutsättningarna för jämställdhetsinsatser i akademin? Hur påverkar persona som förändringsmetod förutsättningarna för jämställdhetsinsatser?   I avhandlingen kombineras genusteori med interaktiva metoder, dels för att skapa förståelse för hur genusmönster skapas och återskapas i strukturer, symboler, interaktioner och identiteter (Acker, 1990, 1992, 1999), dels för att minska motståndet mot förändringar genom att involvera aktörer som berörs av forskningen i förändringsprocessen. Trots en tydlig jämställdhetsambition vid Luleå tekniska universitet visar resultaten att den meritokratiska diskursen och diskursen om den jämställda akademin överskuggar jämställdhetsdiskursen, vilket bidrar till att upprätthålla rådande genusmönster. Metaforer som den avsmalnande pyramiden, läckande pipelinen eller svarta hålet kan enligt analysen både främja och hindra förutsättningarna för jämställdhetsinsatser i akademin. Universitetets jämställdhetsinsatser har över tid förändrats från individorienterade med fokus på att stärka enskilda kvinnor, till mer strukturorienterade med inriktning på att förändra missgynnande strukturer för kvinnor och andra missgynnade grupper. På senare tid har även insatser med en processorienterad ansats gjorts som fokuserar på att medvetandegöra och förändra könsskapande processer i akademin. Persona i kombination med andra interaktiva metoder, som värderingsövningar, forumteater och scenarios, visar sig i avhandlingen kunna fungera som förändringsmetod vid jämställdhetsinsatser för att synliggöra och kritiskt reflektera över bristande jämställdhet samt främja förändring.

The thesis deals with the abolitionist movement in the United States of America and approaches it as an internally disunited movement. It focuses on the conflicts between its most influential representatives, including William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass. Different motives of the anti-slavery leaders' involvement in the matter are analyzed and used to explain the arguments among these. Attention is given to the problem of racial oppression as one of the main forces having determined not only the development of the abolitionist movement but also the events following the 1865 Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, mostly the rise of the Black nationalism movement and of black racism. Even though many abolitionists saw slavery as based on racism and, therefore, endeavored to reach its abolition, in practice, many of them refused to acknowledge racial equality between white and African American people. This paradox is one of the central problems of American abolitionism examined in the thesis. The first three chapters discuss abolitionist ideas of William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and David Walker with focus on their distinct and opposing views. The fourth chapter deals with the emancipation of women as it was closely linked to the emancipation of slaves; the...

Denna studie syftar till att studera hur jämställdhet fylls med innehåll i regeringens nationella strategi för regional hållbar tillväxt och attraktionskraft perioden 2015–2020 och handlingsplaner från tre valda regioner som alla ingår i projektet ”regional jämställd tillväxt”, samt vilka effekter det får för möjligheten att politisera kön. Detta görs utifrån Carol Bacchis metodologi för policyanalys som heter ”What’s is the problem represented to be?” Även den tidigare Alliansregeringen har drivit liknande projekt, men studien avgränsas till den nuvarande regeringens strategi. Utifrån Bacchis sex steg för policyanalys, som bygger på filosofen Michel Foucaults teori om styrning och makt som kallas för ”governmentality”, konstrueras tre forskningsfrågor som alla har en angränsande följdfråga: Hur representeras problemet av regeringen och regionerna och på vilka premisser dessa representationer bygger på? Hur legitimeras problemrepresentationerna och vad som lämnas oproblematiserat? Vilka effekter kan problemrepresentationerna innebära för jämställdhetsdiskursen, individernas liv och hur de ser på sig själv och andra, samt hur problemrepresentationen produceras, sprids, försvaras och hur den kan ersättas? För att kunna reflektera kring detta sista steg tillförs ytterligare teori i form av Chantal Mouffes och Ernesto Laclaus ”diskursteori”. Studien visar på att problemet är brist på kunskap bland de regionala aktörerna och kvinnors bristande kapacitet att verka på marknaden. Jämställdhet problematiseras inte utifrån ett rättviseperspektiv, utan ses som ett medel för ökad regional tillväxt. En problemrepresentation som legitimeras av en problematisk demografisk utveckling och globaliseringen. För att ta till vara på all tillväxtpotential framställs människor som kreativa, vars entreprenörskap ska främjas. En problemrepresentation som sprids genom stora internationella institutioner och framställs som moraliskt rätt. Problemrepresentationen kan ersättas genom att konstruera ett politiskt klimat där motståndares åsikter ses som legitima och därmed möjliggöra politisering av kön och även fler sätt för människor att identifiera sig på. / The purpose of this thesis is to study how gender equality is filled with meaning in the governments national strategy for a regional sustainable economic growth and attractiveness during 2015-2020 and in the strategies from three selected regions, that are all included in the project “regional economic growth with a gender equality perspective”, as well as it has on the ability to politicize gender. This is done with help of Carol Bacchis methodology for analyzing policy called ”What’s the problem represented to be?”. The former government Alliance for Sweden have been working with a similar project, but this thesis is delimited to the strategy of the current government. With starting point in Bacchis six steps for analyzing policy, based on the philosopher Michel Foucaults theory about governing and power called “governmentality”, there are three research questions constructed, and each one is associated with a follow up question: What is the problem represented to be by the government and by the regions and on what premises are they build upon? How has this problem representation been legitimized and what is not problematized? What effects can this problem representation generate for the gender equality discourse, the way the subjects think about themselves and others, their lives and how are this problem representation being produced, disseminated and defended and how can it be replaced? Too be able to reflect on this last step, Chantal Mouffes and Ernesto Laclaus “discourse theory” is applied. This thesis shows that the problem is represented as a lack of knowledge about gender equality among the regional actors, and women’s capacity to act on the market. Gender equality is not being problematized as a matter of justice, rather as a mean for an increased regional growth. The problem representation is legitimized by referring to a problematic demographic development and globalization. To take advantage of the potentials for economic growth, humans are being portrayed as creative, and their entrepreneurship needs to be promoted. This representation of the problem is spread through major international institutions and is being portrayed as morally correct. This problem representation can be replaced by create a political climate where other opponents opinions are seen as legitimate, which makes it possible to politicize gender and also for humans to identify in more ways.

Magister Legum - LLM / South Africa

The study is a critical investigation of social justice concerns in higher education policy in emerging democracies such as South Africa. The study focuses on three initiatives at the University of Pretoria as exemplary projects that address social justice concerns in order to redress the situation in post-apartheid South Africa. These initiatives are the Institute of Women and Gender Studies, IGWS, which attempts to achieve gender equality, eliminate patriarchal tendencies and unleash women‘s potentialities within the University of Pretoria; The Centre for the Study of HIV/AIDS which seeks to eliminate any discriminatory tendencies against University of Pretoria members who are living with HIV/AIDS and contribute meaningfully in reducing the scourge of the pandemic; and The University of Pretoria Foundation Year Programme, UPFY, which attempts to increase the participation rates of the previously disadvantaged in areas of scarce skills such as mathematics and science. The study seeks to share new insights into the limits of grand policy frameworks that promise much by way of social justice but deliver very little in real terms. This policy gap trajectory between intent and practice begins and ends at the University of Pretoria as a case study that provides important lessons for cognate institutions and other social structures. The study is further likely to contribute insights into how higher education can implement programmes so as to purportedly address and redress social injustices and inequalities when in essence; these programmes achieve little more than a public relations objective. The intent of this case study is to illuminate attempts, through various programmes, by higher education to address social justice concerns such as inequality and discrimination, and reflects the inadequacy of such efforts that are not developed within an institution‘s capacity in order to affect the existing institutional culture. In reflecting on the persistent policy challenges and the marginalisation of social justice agenda, the study points to the dominance of the neo-liberal discourse on a global and local scale and its manifestation in higher education in the form of commodification and marketisation. As a result, the study proposes the revival of a radical social justice agenda so as to mainstream social justice concerns in higher education and promote its emancipatory possibilities. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

Neoliberal globalization can threaten the growth of a global civil society that sanctions power-sharing arrangements. Yet, scholarship that focuses unidirectionally on global processes may in effect eviscerate the transformative power of the local. To counter this tendency, this dissertation examines the interrelationships between contextualized and historically-specific experiences in South Africa and transnational processes through a case study of social entrepreneurship, an emerging global justice movement. Drawing on a 12-months institutional ethnography of Sonke Gender Justice, a transnational social entrepreneurship NGO working to achieve gender equality, prevent gender-based violence and reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa, this dissertation explores the gendered dimensions of identity construction under conditions of neoliberalism. I look at the ways in which a transnational discourse of masculinity unfolds and is confronted locally as an essential element of the neoliberal project. I argue that, in Africa, the developmentalist agenda of neoliberalism is integrally tied to the demonization of black masculinity, posed as a problem. This acts to elide the ways in which factors of oppression intersect in the manufacture of a patriarchal, sexist, racist and homophobic society, negating any effort to promote healthy gender relations. The dissertation concludes that global discourses and scholarship on African masculinity need to be informed by African women’s lived experiences, survival strategies, and aspirations for gender and racial democracy in order for the development of a truly transformative gendered democracy to occur. This can be accomplished by sound and detailed ethnographic work that engages with the messiness and fluidity of cultures, knowledges, and practices on the ground. This approach opens up spaces of possibilities and visibility for an array of local renegotiations, borrowings, and frank resistances. My conclusion acknowledges the potential for significant contributions to global civil society’s struggle for justice and for transformation when transnational solidarity projects are inserted into local formations. However, these goals can only be accomplished when there is acknowledgement and engagement of the practical ways in which local agents try to negotiate and reformulate transnational discourses and challenge neoliberal representations.

Tanzania has in the recent years kept a steady economic growth and the poverty rate has fallen significantly. At the same time, informal financial services have increased in popularity as a tool for poverty reduction. Previous research claims that gender equality will progress when economic development is taking place. But despite the economic development, the situation for Tanzanian women is still tough and the man is considered to be the head of the household. This paper aims to show why Tanzania is a deviant case regarding economic development and gender equality, and investigate how informal financial services impact women empowerment, by looking at membership in Village Community Banks. Feminist theories are used to explain why economic development and gender equality does not always have a linear relationship. It is concluded that membership in Village Community Banks have impacted the women on a personal level, enhancing self-confidence and belief. However, the gender equality within the household is not progressing due to a patriarchal social ordering, where the male is superior and the female inferior. It is not enough to focus on financial services, such as access to savings and credit, for a woman to be empowered enough to become equal to her husband.