Alice Lyttkens (1897-1991) was a very popular author in Sweden during several decades in the middle of the twentieth century. She was most famous for her historical novels. During her first period as a novelist in the 1930s, however, she wrote contemporary fiction, reflecting the situation of contemporary Women. The traditional view of the two sexes as “complementary” permeated the interwar period. Complementary at this time was presupposed as an asymmetrical and hierarchical relation between the two sexes. The male was seen as superior to the female in being strong when she was weak etc. According to the Swedish researcher Kristina Fjelkestam’s dissertation Ungkarlsflickor, kamrathustrur och manhaftiga lesbianer this view was close at hand in representations of femininity. In this paper I discuss how the protagonists in Alice Lyttkens novels Flykten från vardagen (1933) and - kommer inte till middagen (1934) relate to this social norm, or ”doxa”. By making such an analysis I come to the conclusion that this ”doxa” is represented in both novels, but strongly challenged by the protagonists in their actions and life choices. The narrator also questions the predominated complementary view and demonstrates the protagonist’s thoughts and feelings throughout the novels. The author there by emphasizes a critical feminist attitude. The narrator is also critical of the superficial so-called modern characters, which apparently is under the influence of the ”doxa”.

This thesis aims to analyse the construction of female identity from the beginning of the feminist activism in Victorian era whose rationale was formed during the eighteenth century, to the contemporary times in terms of patriarchy and motherhood in Timberlake Wertenbaker&rsquo / s The Grace of Mary Traverse and The Break of Day. This study is conducted with the historical development of the feminist movement that has had different agendas at different periods of history being taken into account. Fighting for women&rsquo / s emancipation and equality, feminism has helped women attain certain rights / however certain roles imposed on women that have been designed to define fema le identity cannot be said to have been eliminated. Rather, as this study shows, the oppression women have faced has just changed direction / but its nature is still the same. To this end, Wertenbaker presents the situation of women in different contexts of time and circumstances in her plays. Women&rsquo / s quest for identity has been interrupted and diverted by various oppressive mechanisms and institutions which are patriarchy and motherhood as the major focus of analysis throughout this thesis in Wertenbaker&rsquo / s plays.

There are conflicts between waged labour and motherhood that make it difficult for women to seize independence as workers and at the same time be mothers. These conflicts manifest themselves in women’s everyday practices as well as in feminist theory and in the women’s movement. The purpose of the thesis is to study the construction of motherhood and labour, and how the meanings attributed to motherhood and labour uphold women’s subordination. It is a study of how motherhood and labour are used to naturalise the gender order and make it legitimate. This is done by analysing texts on childminders encompassing the period 1967 to 1999. In Sweden, childminders are often perceived as solving the conflict between waged work and motherhood in a specific way. Employed by the municipal authorities, childminders work at home, taking care of other people’s children as well as their own. However, solving one dilemma, they find themselves in another. Working with children in the confinement of the home is not seen as a “real job” as long as it is connected to motherhood. The struggle of the childminders to count as “real” workers is a tale of their separation from motherhood. In the study, perceptions of motherhood and labour are seen as expressions of gender relations, which means that motherhood and labour are seen as equally gendered and structured. In political theory, labour is seen as the key to property in the person, as well as representing labourers’ contribution to society. This understanding of work renders it crucial to theories of democracy, as it legitimises the worker’s political participation. The dissertation shows how this theoretical function of labour rests on   constructing motherhood as the other, and mothers as incapable and illegitimate political subjects. Three key distinctions between motherhood and labour are distinguished and analysed. The first deals with the perception of motherhood as “being” and labour as “doing”. The second focuses on the conception that labour is a goal-oriented, rational activity whilst motherhood is seen as biologically determined with its own intrinsic values. In this view, motherhood can therefore not be understood as an activity that aims to transform. The third distinction is the opposition between the irreplaceability of the mother and the replaceability of labour power. The thesis concludes that strategies defining mother-like activities as labour presume that these activities are distinguished from motherhood. Paradoxically, when women in general become working mothers, leaving children at day-care, the biological aspect of motherhood is stressed, upholding motherhood as an institution. The differences construed between motherhood and labour are often naturalised and ascribed to women’s biology and double hardships: that they need to be both mothers and workers. This formulation makes it possible to manoeuvre and control women. Labour and motherhood can be used against each other in ways that grant men control over women, and at the same time deprive women of their power to act. Patriarchal power seems to be necessary to maintain the present underpinnings of democratic theory.

This comparative research synthesis examines teenage motherhood in the UK and in Sweden. The UK has the highest rate of teenage motherhood in Western Europe and Sweden has the lowest. Firstly, the article examines the reasons as to why the rates differ to such an extent between these countries. Secondly, it compares the extent to which teenage mothers are socially excluded in the UK and in Sweden. Finally, it looks at how the available social support for teenage mothers differs between the UK and Sweden. The synthesis concludes that low expectations due to poverty is the main factor as to why teenage motherhood is more common in the UK than in Sweden, but that the level of social exclusion that teenage mothers face in both countries is similar. The support that teenage mothers in the UK obtain from society is customised towards them as a specific group, whilst teenage mothers in Sweden receive support that is formulated for vulnerable people in general.

Inom socialt arbete med barn och familj är föräldraskap och hur barn och föräldrar ser på just detta en viktig faktor. Därför är det väsentligt att medvetenheten om vad som innefattas i ett bra, fungerande föräldraskap fördjupas. Barns uppfattning om sin egen tillvaro efterfrågas sällan. Vid en översikt av den forskning som bedrivits om barn och deras livssituation kunde vi konstatera att empirin i dessa avhandlingar i väldigt liten utsträckning kom från barnen själva. Uppsatsens syfte var att fördjupa kunskaperna om vad bra föräldraskap är sett ur barns perspektiv. Våra frågeställningar var: Hur ser barns bild av ett gott föräldraskap ut? Finns det några skillnader mellan hur en bra mamma och en bra pappa ska vara? För att besvara dessa frågeställningar lät vi en grupp 6: e-klassare skriva uppsatser utifrån de underliggande frågeställningar som bland annat handlar om bra egenskaper hos en förälder, vad som är viktigt att kunna prata med en förälder om och vikten av gränssättning. Studien utgår dels från Bowlbys anknytningsteori, där bindning och en trygg bas är centrala begrepp. Vi anlade ett systemperspektiv i vår kvalitativa analys och tittade på föräldraskap både utifrån familjen som ett socialt system och familjen sett i ett samhällssystem. Analysen indelades i olika teman som både bygger på de frågeställningar barnen hade vid uppsatsskrivandet och de mönster vi kunde se i deras uppsatser. Resultatet av empirin visade att ett gott föräldraskap handlar om att ge sina barn omsorg, skydd och trygghet. Vi kunde även se en viss skillnad i hur den undersökta gruppen barn beskriver en bra mamma respektive en bra pappa. / In social work with children and families parenting is an important matter. Children’s and parent’s point of view in this matter are of great importance. What might be included in good parenting therefore needs to be examined. Children’s opinion about their daily life is seldom asked for. When overlooking the scientific research that has been made about children and their situation, it became clear that the empirical material in a very small amount comes from children themselves. The purpose of this study was to obtain deeper knowledge about what good parenting is from children’s perspective. Our questions were: What are children’s beliefs about good parenting? Are there any differences between a good mother and a good father? In order to answer these questions we gave a group of children in 6-th class the task to write an essay about good qualities in parents, what’s important to be able to talk to ones parents about and the importance of boundaries. The study emanates from Bowlby’s attachment theory which holds attachment and a secure base as central concepts. In our qualitative analysis we applied a systems perspective and looked at parenting as a social system from a family perspective as well as from a society perspective. The analysis was classified in themes that emanated from the questions the children used when writing their essays. The results showed that good parenting is about giving the children care, protection and security. We were also able to see certain differences in how this group of children described a good mother and a good father.

Sarah Kane’s first play Blasted (1995) has often been read in a normative and biographical way by critics, authors and previous researchers. This essay makes a supplementary close reading of Blasted from gender and genealogical perspectives and utilizes theoretical works by Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray and Michel Foucault. My study makes clear that the characters different positions in language and talk create and maintain a power imbalance between them. Efforts to change and develop one’s individual position in language and talk are being made throughout the play since it is the only way to bring about a change in the social power structure. A fact that in turn also subsequently punishes those efforts. By analyzing the tools of representation, Kane points out a direct link between a violent power imbalance in a couples relationship and the violence of a war zone. In Blasted, it is revealed how violence in a private situation is mirrored in a situation of public violence and how the public violence, in turn, crawls back to the private zone and there repeats itself. By forcing one of the main characters to regress back to the infancy of language and from there alter the ability to act within the framework of human interrelations, Kane demonstrates how a change in social structures can be made, and as is shown in this essay, this indicates that a knowledge of how the social structures are being maintained and how they in turn can be disarranged, is what is required to create an opportunity for change.

<p>Advancement in education has ensured that there is parity in terms of enrolment for both females and males at tertiary institutions. However, women students continue to face challenges to advancing in education. Given that South African society remains highly gendered and that universities are historically male-dominated sites that do not necessarily cater for the particular&nbsp / needs of women (or children), one area of challenge may relate to having to balance parenting roles with the demands of being a student. For example, at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), students with children are prohibited from access to the residences, leaving them with no option but to seek alternative accommodation, where they can remain with their babies or look for childcare support from their relatives. While there is a growing body of work on the experiences of school-going pregnant and parenting learners, there is little work in the South African&nbsp / context of the experiences of women who are both parents and students at tertiary institutions. Since the national education system clearly supports and encourages life-long learning, an investigation into the conditions and experiences of learning for parenting students is important. The focus on women students was motivated by existing findings that show how normative gender roles persist and that women continue to be viewed as the primary nurturers with respect to the care of children. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of&nbsp / motherhood among young female students at UWC. The study was situated within a feminist social constructionist framework and a feminist qualitative methodology was employed. Two or more interviews were conducted with a group of eight participants, selected by convenient sampling, and aged between 18 and 30 years, each with a child or children under the age of five&nbsp / years. Interviews were conducted at the participants&rsquo / choice of location and at a time that was convenient to them. All interviews were audio-recorded and the tapes were kept safely in the researcher&rsquo / s home. All standard ethical procedures for research with human subjects were followed. Data was transcribed verbatim and a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted. Key themes were elucidated and data presented thematically. The key challenges cited included time management, self motivation and the social demands of being a mother. These tend to have&nbsp / adverse repercussions on academic excellence. The analysis revealed that though the young women are allowed to return to universities after becoming mothers, they face many challenges&nbsp / in trying to balance motherhood and the demands of schooling. Furthermore, the findings highlight the tension and ambivalence experienced by participants as they negotiate the social and cultural expectations of motherhood and their personal reality, in meeting the demands of motherhood as student mothers. In their struggle to meet the social and cultural expectations of&nbsp / motherhood, they placed tremendous emotional and physical stress upon themselves which manifested as guilt, physical exhaustion, psychological stress, physical illness and the desire to&nbsp / &nbsp / leave studies notwithstanding the value they attached to it. Although the participants challenged these expectations in various ways, the underlying nuances when they recounted their&nbsp / experiences, remain embedded in these societal and cultural expectations. However, in voicing their experiences, it was clear that they were not always simply accepting the status quo but at&nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / times challenging it, and thereby deconstructing the myths of motherhood that are so salient in current social and cultural contexts. The study also found that student mothers at UWC, at least&nbsp / &nbsp / on the basis of this small sample - do not appear to receive sufficient support on campus (physically, materially and emotionally). The study&nbsp / concludes that this group of student mothers face serious challenges as mothers and&nbsp / students and, further, that these challenges are exacerbated by the continued social expectations of women to be &lsquo / perfect&rsquo / mothers which, together with the material gender inequalities in sharing parenting care, could impede effective academic studies. The study recommends that universities play a stronger role in alleviating the challenges for&nbsp / &nbsp / such students. In addition, it recommends that more research be conducted in the area, possibly longitudinal studies, as well as studies that may be more generalisable.</p>

In order to determine how female athletes and women’s sports are framed in sports magazines, a textual analysis was conducted on three popular sports magazines (ESPN Magazine, Sporting News, and Sports Illustrated). The researcher analyzed the texts within these three magazines and found four emergent themes commonly applied to women in sports: mental weakness, male reference, motherhood and sisterhood, and celebrity. The research found both consistencies and inconsistencies in the thematic framing utilized among the three publications. The textual analysis also revealed a tendency for the sports media to reference individual sports more than team sports. Knowing the exact frames utilized in these magazines, allows the researcher to suggest solutions that may alleviate the negative portrayals of female athletes and women's sports in sports magazines. The results from this study also provide a foundation for those who wish to further explore and raise awareness on this issue.

This study seeks to explore the predictors of female project managers’ salary in the construction industry, and to analyze their impacts on determining the salary. Experience, age, marital status, motherhood, having children at home, and the number of children at home were selected as the independent variables. Snowball sampling method was used to identify the potential participants, and surveys were sent to participants to collect data. 206 responses were collected and comprehensive descriptive and statistical analyses were performed on the responses. The study finds that experience and age have a positive relationship with female project managers’ salaries. Being married and having children at home have significant negative impacts on female project managers’ salaries. A regression model is also built to determine the prediction power of variables. Fifty-one percent of the variability in salary can be accounted for by the variables included in this model.

This thesis focuses on the effects of neoliberal economic and social policies in Bolivia and their role in the feminization of poor indigenous migration. The thesis argues that these neoliberal policies most deeply affect poor indigenous women in Bolivia forcing them to migrate in order to provide for their families. Through migration, women become transnational mothers ( mothers across national borders). Based on interviews conducted in both Bolivian and Argneinta with migrant women, the thesis uses the experiences of these women in order to examine both the short and long-term effects of this on "culture" and mother-child relationships as well as southern cone relationships and inequalities.