This thesis aims to describe the differences and similarities between a male dominated sector and a female dominated sector based on gender mainstreaming documentation as well as through interviews with people working within the sectors. The sectors that were chosen in this study were the fire department and the nursing and care administration of Växjö municipality. Both of the administrations’ genders mainstreaming documents were subjected to content analysis in order to describe differences and similarities between the administrations. The analysis found that there were differences in approaches between the administrations were the nursing and care administration had aims of achieving a specified amount of men working within the administration, which the fire department didn’t have. On the other hand the fire department trained workers in gender issues, which the nursing and care administration didn’t do.The second part of the thesis aimed to describe differences and similarities in ideas, opinions and notions regarding gender mainstreaming, the findings illustrate that while both administrations understand and want to achieve the aims specified in the gender mainstreaming documents, they expressed the opinion that they couldn’t.

Gender mainstreaming has been the official strategy for Swedish equality work since the mid-1990s. Municipal organizations have an important function in this work, with their roles as implementation bodies at local level. This paper aims to analyze a gender equality policy from one Swedish municipal. Furthermore we analyze the policies implications for the practical work within the organization. Using Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study examines a Swedish municipal gender equality policy and how it is practiced. Focus lies on how gender equality is defined, what is at center of gender equality work and how this work is organized. An interview with a manager has been conducted for the purpose of examining the consequences the policy has on gender equality in a practical sense within the organization. This paper has found that it is not just about practical behavior in the traditional sense, but also that language itself is a form of behavior. The results help understand how language is a form of doing gender.