This thesis examines why, in spite of three decades of EO policy, workplace inequality persists between women and men. At the heart of this is the explicit question of whether the law is an effective vehicle for change. This thesis researches and analyses the four predominant areas in the EO policy process: EU approach to EO policy, national approach to EO policy, company approach to EO policy, and employee approach to and use of EO policy. This thesis argues that a liberal approach to the law (men's rules for women's rights) is not an effective means of attaining equality. In terms of both policy content and the process of policy making the status quo is upheld rather than challenged. In terms of policy content, the current trend for reconciliation of work and family, aimed predominantly at women, upholds the 'mother as carer' archetype. This has a marked effect even on women who are not mothers: childless women suffer from anticipatory discrimination yet do not benefit from child based policies. Importantly, this thesis shows that at a workplace with a more traditional EO policy awareness and use of EO policy, as well as attitude towards it, are all low. However, at a workplace with a more proactive EO policy, based on the inclusion of all groups of workers, these three areas are marked considerably higher. Despite their increased presence, women may continue to be marginaIised from policy making because they approach politics differently from men. The things women value, such as conciliation, inclusion, and the pooling of ideas, lose out to the confrontational 'power over' style of a political system designed for men. Research of UK MEP's demonstrates that women and men have different attitudes towards working women, towards EO policy, and towards the changes necessary to affect equality for women. Crucially, unless women's alternative approach is allowed to sit alongside the more traditional liberal approach to policy making, women will continue to be marginalised politically. However, women should not wait for change to happen, but orchestrate their own liberation. Women need to start setting the beat by banging their drums.

From an anti-oppressive and a gender perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine whether three English teachers at a comprehensive school in Stockholm make gender conscious selections when selecting novels for their English literature lessons. Through quantitative research, semi-structured interviews and e-mail interviews with these teachers I have attempted to find out if they include both male and female writers when selecting English novels for their students and also what factors affect their selections. I have analyzed the interviews and the quantitative research by using a qualitative and a quantitative content analysis. The theories that I have established my analysis upon are gender theories about the male norm in society, the feminist Simone de Beauvoir’s ideas about the woman as a second gender and the sociologist Raewyn Connell’s gender regimes. Furthermore, the Professor Kevin K. Kumashiro’s theories on anti-oppressive education have been very useful when interpreting my research. My results show that these teachers do not make gender conscious selections for their English literature lessons since they almost only choose novels written by men. They explain their choices to depend upon factors such as them wanting to individualize their literature lessons by selecting novels that their students will enjoy. They also elucidate the issue that the school only has a limited selection of novels to choose from, which narrows their choices. But I argue that since the teachers are able to purchase new novels to the school and also borrow class sets from the Public Library, they have the possibility to select novels by female writers as well. I interpret the fact that they almost only use novels written by men as a result of the male norm in society, which influences the teachers on a subconscious level. That the teachers select male writers prior to female writers results in the students achieving an inadequate education, given that they mostly learn about the male perspective upon the world, since the female angle is invisible. If these teachers would begin working from an anti-oppressive perspective and make gender conscious selections of novels for their English literature lessons, they must first be aware of how the male norm influences them.

This is a study of continuity and change in middle-class conceptions of ideal manhood. My theoretical cues are the notions of the male as an unproblematised and genderless norm, masculinity as homosocial, and George L. Mosse’s use of countertypes. Notions of passions, youth, and character were important throughout the century. If young men could learn to master the dangerous passions especially in the precarious period of youth, they would develop character. If men instead gave in to the passions, they would fall and become countertypes. Meanwhile, young men lived according to another notion, that young men should have their fling. The meaning of manhood also changed over time. In the decades around 1800, manhood meant to lead a life which would be beneficial to society as a whole. Another ideal, that of the man of the world, was founded on urbane manners as a tactic to further one’s career. By mid-century, the ideal of the self-made man came to the fore. The homosocial world of business was now seen as a good way to mould manly characters. In the last decades of the century, moralists criticized the sexual double standard and male sexuality. To remain chaste until marriage became a central mark of manhood. Autobiographers, however, reveal that to many men, Don Juan was a hero rather than a villain. The notion that men were genderless and that masculinity was not a subject of discussion cannot be sustained. Masculinity was indeed the subject of intense discussions. Meanwhile, neither moralists nor autobiographers shed critical light on married, adult men. The problem was how young men should best be guided into an adult position of legitimate power; that position of power in itself was not problematised. While most masculinities were homosocial, this was not exclusively so. Countertypes were more complex than what Mosse allows for. Men who had taken ideal manhood too far could be countertypes, and at times men endorsed ideals which meant unmanliness to moralists.

In this qualitative study ”Nice girls go to heaven but the rest of us go much further”, Johanna Olsson and Caroline Seveson examine how women in male-dominated management boards have experienced and handled female gender roles in order to reach management positions. The study has a gender perspective and semi-structured interviews were conducted with five women. Previous research shows that there is a role incongruity between female gender roles and management positions since these positions often are coded as male. To analyze the material, a theoretical framework was chosen based on previous research and the study’s empirical data. The framework consists of theories discussing structures that can affect women’s career progress and coping strategies that can be used by women to handle female gender roles in order to reach management positions. The analysis shows that female gender roles can affect women’s career progress. The role incongruity between female gender roles and male coded management positions does not seem to have affected the participants notably since they, in comparison to “nice girls”, match the male norm and male coded management positions. The participants have occasionally used a gender neutral strategy, conformist strategy and loyalty strategy in order to reach management positions and parts of the theoretical framework could be developed based on the result of the study.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka de yrkesverksammas perspektiv på det behandlingsarbete de utför med män som utövat våld i nära relation. Genom studien undersöktes även vilka incitament som yrkesverksamma ansåg vara verksamma respektive mindre verksamma för förövarnas hjälpsökande. För att besvara studiens frågeställningar utfördes en kvalitativ forskningsstudie med semistrukturerade intervjuer tillsammans med sju yrkesverksamma inom området. Tidigare forskning påvisar att de finns försvårande faktorer för förövare i sitt hjälpsökande såsom en stigmatiserande samhällssyn. Forskningen belyser även hur förövare upplever yrkesverksammas bemötande som avgörande i deras förändringsprocess. Genom en tematisk analys utvecklades tre teman, Yrkesverksammas perspektiv på samhällssynen på förövare, Yrkesverksammas perspektiv på motiverings- och behandlingsarbete samt Tvång och frivillighet inom ramen för arbetet med förövare. Dessa analyserades med hjälp av våra valda teorier social inlärningsteori, genus, maskulinitet samt makt mellan yrkesverksam och klient. Studiens resultat påvisar att yrkesverksamma upplever en stigmatiserande samhällssyn av förövare som verkar försvårande. Tidigare forskning som används i studien bekräftas delvis genom studiens resultat. Resultatet belyser de yrkesverksammas upplevelse av samhällets okunskap och oförmåga att skilja på person och dennas handlingar, vilket bidrar till denna stigmatisering. De menar att samhällets maskulinitetsnormer som inte legitimerar sårbara känslor hos män bidrar till att känslor som ilska legitimeras, med detta menas att våld kan användas som strategi av män för att hantera sårbarhet. Vidare framkom att de yrkesverksammas bemötande och relationsskapande med förövaren har en avgörande betydelse i behandlingsprocessen, en slutsats utifrån detta är yrkesverksamma bär ett stort ansvar. Vidare lämnas de i studien förslag på att en förändring av samhällets syn på mansrollen och förövare kan verka förebyggande i arbetet med mäns våld mot kvinnor i nära relation.  Nyckelord: Våld i nära relation, mäns våld mot kvinnor, behandlingsarbete, genus, makt, maskulinitet, mansnorm, mansideal, stigmatisering, Sverige. / The purpose of this study was to examine the professionals' perspectives on the treatment work they perform with men who have used violence in close relationships. The study also examined which incentives professionals considered to be effective and less effective for perpetrators seeking help. To answer the study's questions, a qualitative research study was conducted with semi-structured interviews together with seven professionals in the field. Previous research shows that there are aggravating factors for perpetrators in their search for help, such as a stigmatizing view of society. The research also sheds light on how perpetrators perceive the treatment of professionals as crucial in their process of change. Through a thematic analysis, three themes were developed, Professionals 'perspective on society's view of perpetrators, Professionals' perspective on motivation and treatment work and Coercion and voluntariness within the framework of work with perpetrators. These were analyzed with the help of our chosen theories social learning theory, gender, masculinity and power between professional and client. The results of the study show that professionals experience a stigmatizing view of society from perpetrators that seems aggravating. Previous research used in the study is confirmed in part by the results of the study. The result highlights the professionals' experience of society's ignorance and inability to distinguish between a person and his actions, which contributes to this stigma. They believe that society's norms of masculinity that do not legitimize vulnerable feelings in men help to legitimize feelings such as anger, by which is meant that violence can be used as a strategy by men to deal with vulnerability. Furthermore, it emerged that the professionals' treatment and relationship building with the perpetrator is of crucial importance in the treatment process, a conclusion based on this is that professionals carry a great deal of responsibility. Furthermore, the study suggests that a change in society's view of the male role and perpetrators can have a preventive effect in the work with men's violence against women in close relationships. Keywords: Violence in close relationships, men's violence against women, treatment work, gender, power, masculinity, male norm, male ideal, stigmatization, Sweden.