The Finnish legislation on legal gender recognition includes a prerequisite of being infertile. This practice not only differs from the legislation of the other Nordic countries but has also been found to be a violation of articles from human rights conventions. The practice has been found to be incompatible with the picture of Finland as a progressive Nordic country and it indeed creates an inconsistency between the regime of Nordic countries. The aim of the thesis is to analyze this problem from a governmental perspective and to find factors that could explain the difference between these countries. Theories of governmentality and governing gender will be applied in the analysis with the help of discourse analysis. From the perspective of the regime of Nordic countries, it is possible that the legislation in Finland would be developed into the same direction in the following years.

Germany´s government voted recently on a new legislation on gender recognition, which should replace the Transexuellengesetz. The Selbstbestimmungsgesetz presents a significant shift from the medicalised approach to a self-identification process, which through a more simplified procedures replaces invasive medical examinations. Through a qualitative content analysis and the lens of Judith Butler´s “Gender Trouble”, this research analyses the recent developments to capture progressions and prevailing challenges. The findings demonstrate the significant shift of the new legislation which acknowledges the autonomy and agency of adult individuals to self-determine their gender identity, which also emphasises the evolving acceptance of diverse gender identities. However, the analysis presents limitations where the law lacks clarifications or enforcement mechanisms to ensure legal protection for gender non-conforming people. Especially, aspects regarding a clear non-discrimination law, the inclusion of the house rights, age limits for minors, and more clear recognition of gender identities beyond the binary system are presenting possibilities for mistreatment.

The purpose of this dissertation was to provide knowledge of how issues of social work policy and practice are being raised in the responses to the Scottish Government’s public consultation ‘Review of the Gender Recognition Act 2004’ from 2017. Further, the purpose was to understand how sex and gender were described in the responses, and how these descriptions may relate to concepts of power and discourse in regards to social work practice. The dissertation is based on the 32 opposing organisational responses to the public consultation. The material was processed through a qualitative content analysis, generating ten categories that this dissertation labels as (1) sex as a biological reality, (2) on the post-structuralist view of gender, (3) gender mainstreaming, (4) the magnitude of the decision and regret,(5) diagnosis criteria as a quality assurer for trans care, (6) trans people without gender affirming surgery, (7) the challenge for professionals, (8) biological males, single-sex spaces and the risk for exploitation, (9) cis women’s rights and (10) cis women’s vulnerability. The categories were later condensed into three themes labelled as (1) understanding gender identities and self-declaration, (2) the shift towards self-declaration and (3) the threat to cis women. The themes and categories were analysed through the theoretical framework of Judith Butler’s queer theory. The analysis was followed by a discussion that integrated the theoretical framework with previous research, aiming to enhance the applicability of the findings to the dissertation's purpose and the future of social work research. The findings of the dissertations show that the opposing organisation’s often described sex and gender using biological essentialist discourse, perceiving sex and gender as an innate biological feature that cannot be changed. Further, the findings show little mention of issues of social work in the organisation's responses to the public consultation. Drawing from previous research, the dissertation critiques this by arguing that civil society organisations should pay attention to discourse around legal gender recognition and its implications for the shaping of social work since they are key stakeholders for the development of social work policy and practice. / Syftet med denna uppsats var att bidra till kunskap om hur frågor kring socialt arbete lyfts fram i remissvaren till den skotska regeringens remiss ‘Review of the Gender Recognition Act 2004’ från 2017. Syftet var vidare att förstå hur begreppen kön och genus beskrivs i remissvaren, samt hur dessa beskrivningar relaterar till begreppen diskurs och makt i förhållande till socialt arbete. Uppsatsen baseras på 32 remissvar från de organisationer som motsatte sig den skotska regeringens syn på juridisk könstillhörighet. Materialet bearbetades genom en kvalitativ innehållsanalys vilket genererade tio kategorier som i denna uppsats benämns (1) kön som en biologisk verklighet, (2) om den poststrukturalistiska synen på genus, (3) genus-mainstreaming, (4) beslutets magnitud och ånger, (5) diagnoskriterier som kvalitetsgaranti för transvård, (6) transpersoner utan könsbekräftande kirurgi, (7) utmaningen för yrkesverksamma, (8) biologiska män, separatistiska utrymmen och risken för exploatering, (9) ciskvinnors rättigheter och (10) ciskvinnors sårbarhet. Kategorierna kondenserades sedan till tre teman som i denna uppsats benämns (1) förståelsen av könsidentiteter ochsjälvbestämmande, (2) övergången till självbestämmande och (3) fara för ciskvinnor. Temana och kategorierna analyserades med hjälp av Judith Butlers queerteori. Analysen följdes av en diskussion som integrerade det teoretiska ramverket med tidigare forskning, med avsikten att öka tillämpbarheten av resultaten för uppsatsens syfte och den framtida forskningen inom socialt arbete. Uppsatsens resultat visar att organisationerna ofta beskrev kön och genus med hjälp av en könsdeterministisk diskurs, som förstår kön och genus som inneboende biologiska egenskaper som inte kan förändras. Resultatet visar vidare att frågor kring socialt arbete lyfts fram i låg utsträckning i organisationernas remissvar. Uppsatsen kritiserar detta genom att argumentera för att civilsamhällesorganisationer bör uppmärksamma remissen simplikationer för utformningen av socialt arbete i relation till frågan om juridisk könstillhörighet eftersom civilsamhällesorganisationer är viktiga aktörer för utvecklingen av socialt arbete.