Swedish preschool has undergone some changes over the last decades. The preschool curriculum, LpFö98/2010, underlines the teacher’s responsibilities to work against the reproduction of traditional gender patterns. The focus of this study is to identify preschool teachers’ perceptions of what is male and female and how these may affect the dynamics amongst colleagues. In order to do so we have conducted eight interviews with preschool teachers of both genders and analyzed the material with the help of gender theories from Hirdman and Connell. The analysis shows that traditional gender patterns frequently occurs and that both genders tend to preserve the differences between men and women. The call for male preschool teachers affects the dynamics within the institutions. Male colleagues often benefit due to their gender, even though the perceptions of masculinity, to a certain extent, presents a broader variety of roles.

The purpose of this study was to examine how two teaching materials in Swedish and Swedish as a second language, from the same publishing company, presented and referred to male and female authorship based on anaphoric expressions. The method used in this study was grounded on an article by Per Ledin which analyzes how social actors is being portrayed in two Swedish papers based on anaphoric expression. Besides this method, the study also chooses to include social actors as well as whether the authors were portraited based on background or accomplishment. By choosing these criteria, the aim was to be able to investigate how Hirdmans two logics: men as a norm and the distinction between the sexes, are implemented in the teaching material that are examined. The research questions used in this study were: How is female and male authorship referred to in the materials based on anaphoric expressions? In which way is male and female authorship being presented in the various textbooks? Is there a difference between how female and male authorship is presented and referenced to, based on if the textbook is in Swedish or Swedish as a second language? The results of this study show that there is a difference between the teaching materials even though they are published by the same company. The different textbooks show how the teaching materials maintain the man as the norm, as in previous research, but in varying degrees. The textbook in Swedish shows a clear masculine norm through the anaphoric pattern that female writing becomes more individualized. The female writers are also presented mainly by background, while male authors are presented based on achievements. When comparing Swedish course literature for second language one can see how the male norm is prevalent, notably female authorship are represented through their accomplishments and the textbook problematizes male authorship.