Jämställdhet är ett omdiskuterat och aktuellt ämne som påverkar flera verksamheters utfall. Den svenska revisionsbranschen genomgår en successiv förändring och flera kvinnliga revisorer börjar klättra i organisationshierarkin vilket minskar den manliga dominansen. Idag rekryteras nästintill lika många kvinnliga som manliga revisorer och könsfördelningen bland revisionsassistenter är jämn. Ledningspositionerna i organisationshierarkin är däremot mansdominerade vilket har skapat en vertikal könssegregering i revisionsbranschen. Syftet med studien är att förklara vilka aspekter som påverkar kvinnors och mäns karriärmöjligheter i den svenska revisionsbransch utifrån social role theory. Följande frågeställningar har därmed framställts:  i Vad påverkar könsfördelningen på de högre uppsatta positionerna?  ii Hur upplever kvinnliga och manliga revisorer sina förutsättningar för karriärutveckling?  Den teoretiska referensramen presenterar revisionsbranschens organisationsstruktur och vilka faktorer som påverkar revisorernas karriärmöjligheter. Studien utgår ifrån SRT för att förstå kvinnor och mäns olika könsroller i samhället. Studien undersöktes genom en kvalitativ ansats i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer. 14 respondenter intervjuades, sju kvinnliga och sju manliga revisorer för att erhålla en bredare förståelse utifrån båda könsperspektiven.  Studiens slutsats förklarar att det fortfarande förekommer negativa normer och beteenden i revisionsbranschen dock inte i samma utsträckning som förr. Förutsättningarna för att lyckas karriärmässigt är densamma för revisorerna, oavsett kön. Däremot är män och kvinnors livsprioriteringar olika vilket förklarar den vertikala könssegregeringen i revisionsbranschen. Kvinnor tenderar att prioritera familjeansvaret i större omfattning vilket resulterar i att män kan avancera mer effektivt på arbetsplatsen. / Gender equality is a discussed and topical topic that affects the outcome of several businesses. The Swedish auditing industry is undergoing a gradual change and several female auditors are starting to climb the organizational hierarchy, which reduces male dominance. Today, almost as many female as male auditors are recruited and the gender distribution among audit assistants is even. The management positions in the organizational hierarchy, on the other hand, are male dominated, which has generated a vertical gender segregation in the auditing industry. The purpose of the study is to explain which aspects affect women’s and men’s career opportunities in the Swedish auditing industry based on social role theory. The following research questions has been formulated:  i What affects the gender distribution in the higher positions?  ii How do female and male auditors experience their opportunities for career development?  The theoretical reference framework presents the organizational structure of the auditing industry as well as the factors that influence auditors’ career opportunities. The study is based on social role theory and serves as a foundational explanation for women’s and men’s various gender roles. This was investigated through a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews. 14 respondents, seven female and seven male auditors have been interviewed to obtain a broader understanding from both gender perspectives.  The study’s conclusion indicates that negative norms and behaviors still exist in the auditing industry, however, the norms have changed and no longer have the same effect on auditors’ career opportunities as before. The conditions for the auditors to develop career-wise are the same regardless of gender. On the other hand, men’s and women’s life priorities are different, which explains the vertical gender segregation in the auditing industry. Women tend to prioritize family responsibilities to a greater extent, which results in men being able to advance more efficiently in the industry.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Fathers have a valuable, nurturing role to play in the lives of their children. Although a father’s availability and time with his child is important, the quality of a father’s involvement with his child is however, the strong predictor of child well-being. Therefore, Fatherhood intervention programmes desire to address fundamental issues that prevent men from succeeding in their fathering role. An understanding and evidence of the influence of fatherhood interventions on the role of the father in the family, is thus required. The aim of the study was to explore the perceptions, experiences and challenges of families after the father’s exposure to a fatherhood intervention programme. A qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was utilized. Thematic analysis had been used to analyse the data and five themes emerged from the study. They were constructions of fatherhood, experiences and perceptions of the fatherhood intervention programme, father’s experiences of the father-child relationship after exposure to the programme, spouse/partner perceptions and experiences of their relationships with their spouse after exposure to the programme, and the facilitator’s experiences of engaging fathers. The overall outcomes were that families perceived and experienced the fathers to be more involved, responsible and sharing in parenthood after exposure to the fatherhood intervention programme. This led to an increase of father involvement with children - childcare activities, schoolwork and well-being of the children; their spouse/partner - an improvement in the quality of the relationship between the fathers and their spouses/partners and an increase involvement in the home.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Special Education, Counseling and Student Affairs / Christy D. Craft / The purpose of this study was to explore how one woman negotiated an educational and professional path that led to leadership within the advertising industry’s creative departments, where most of the leadership positions are held by men. This qualitative study was conducted using purposeful sampling, as the single participant represented a truly unique situation in that she held the title of Executive Creative Director at a top advertising agency by the age of 33. Through The 3% Movement, it was identified that less than 12% of advertising’s creative directors are women (2017), and it was this stark gender gap that served as the impetus for exploring this woman’s experiences. A case study design was used to explore her experiences throughout childhood, higher education, professional school, and finally as a professional, in order to understand her path in a deep and meaningful manner. The theoretical framework for this study was based on a feminist perspective using social role theory (Eagly, 1997). A participant-created childhood timeline, three in-depth interviews, two writing responses, and a photo and object elicitation session served as the primary sources of data. The data were analyzed and coded using in-vivo and descriptive coding, as well as pattern-finding, over two cycles of coding and analysis (Saldaña, 2016). The data were used to answer the study’s two overarching research questions, and the following three themes were identified: 1) the power of a woman’s influence; 2) developing passion for leadership and creativity; and 3) promoting a strong work-life balance. The findings indicate that women must have support systems in place in order to successfully manage life as mothers and creative directors. Recognizing one’s own leadership and creative skills, and constantly working to provide the best team environment, were also recognized as key to moving forward in leadership positions within advertising’s creative departments. Agencies must establish policies and procedures to support both men and women as they manage a work-life balance, and it is even more important for leaders to set a positive example for those working around them. Finally, educating everyone holding authority within creative departments about the gender gap can increase awareness and provide the knowledge needed to support women. The findings of this study have implications for a variety of entities impacting women and their creative careers, from faculty and those involved with co-curricular activities in both high school and in higher education, those pursuing post-graduate advertising portfolio school, and those creative directors and agencies that do not reflect the goals of The 3% Movement in reducing the gender gap. Recommendations for future research include additional case studies exploring women creative directors and their paths to leadership, analyses of agencies’ policies and procedures impacting women, promotional processes of advertising’s creative departments, and further cross-case analyses of both women creative directors and various agencies representing different stages of diversity within the creative departments.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Fred O. Bradley / Statistics published in 2003 indicate that over 67% of community college students are first-generation students, students from families where neither parent has graduated from college. First-generation students are disproportionately represented among those who terminate college prior to graduation. This study explores role theory as a model for understanding and addressing the problems of first-generation students. Survey questions linked to role commitment involving intentions to work, commute and participate in campus activities were administered to 257 first-time full-time students: 182 students were first-generation and 75 were non-first-generation. Analysis using the Mann-Whitney U Test indicated first-generation students had significantly less commitment to the role of student. Later, first-generation students were divided into "successful" and "unsuccessful" groups based on their two semester grade point average. The Mann-Whitney U Test failed to demonstrate a significant difference between "successful" and "unsuccessful" first-generation students. The ordinal score responses of first-generation students to the three survey questions were then used as categories and grade point averages of the students in those categories were compared using ANOVA procedures. The results were mixed but suggested further investigation was warranted. The study was concluded with interviews of ten "successful" first-generation students. The interview results were supportive of conclusions drawn from role theory underscoring the value of further studies with larger sample sizes and modifications in methodology suggested by this study.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / BACKGROUND: Global female workforce participation has increased rapidly over the past few decades, and the majority of marriages are now dual-earning. Marriages were therefore expected to shift from traditional to egalitarian, where household tasks are shared equally between spouses. However, decades later, the majority of marriages are still found to be in a transitional phase, where women are employed outside of the home, but maintain responsibility for the majority of domestic tasks and childcare. The transitional marriage holds a number of complications for spouses, as gender roles are no longer clearly defined and more difficult to negotiate. Married women are under particular strain as they now have to balance both the work and family roles. OBJECT: The aim of the present study is to gain a better understanding of how women in transitional marriages experience and make meaning of the roles that they fulfil. Minimal research has been devoted to this issue, and the literature largely focuses on marriages at the traditional or egalitarian ends of the gender role spectrum. METHOD: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight women in transitional marriages, with children living at home. The data were examined using thematic analysis. RESULTS: The results indicated that the majority of participants worked out of economic necessity as opposed to choice, and that half of the participants earned more than their spouses. Most participants still harboured traditional gender beliefs even though their external circumstances had changed. This discrepancy seemed to cause significant internal and marital conflict, yet the attainment of more egalitarian beliefs seemed difficult to attain owing to feelings of guilt and a perceived threat of identity loss. Consequently, the majority of participants had difficulty relinquishing control over several household tasks. Furthermore, demanding work hours, the lack of family-friendly policies at work, and cultural factors also played a role in the maintenance of traditional beliefs by participants CONCLUSIONS: Much research still needs to be conducted to gain a more thorough understanding of changing gender roles in society, as well as to inform new workforce legislation that could enhance the lives of families. Lastly, as most studies focus on the experiences of women regarding the division of labour (probably because of the significant adaptations that have occurred in women’s roles), it becomes necessary to gain an understanding of the experiences of men as well, particularly if research is going to be utilised for the benefit of the whole family. As became evident, unequal division of tasks is often maintained by women for several reasons, and is no longer necessarily the result of oppression by men, as much of the literature suggests.

Sexism är en form av diskriminering av en individ baserat på individens kön. Teorin om ambivalent sexism beskriver de två beståndsdelarna fientlig och välvillig sexism. Tidigare kvantitativa metoder och designer har begränsat individers möjligheter att utförligt beskriva attityder och uppfattningar av välvillig sexism. Syftet med denna studie var att belysa individers attityd och uppfattningar av välvillig sexistiskt tankesätt. Totalt 10 deltagare intervjuades om deras uppfattningar och inställning till 2 profiler varav en porträtterar välvillig sexism. Genom en kvalitativ tematisk analys med hermeneutisk ansats utformades 4 teman och 1 underteman. Resultatet visade att välvilligt sexistiskt tankesätt uppfattades som kontrollerande, emotionellt instabilt, dysfunktionellt och med gömda avsikter. Studiens resultat stödjer inte tidigare forskning när det kommer till positiva attityder och förhållningsätt till välvillig sexism. Däremot kompletterar resultatet tidigare kvantitativ forskning med nya data om individers negativa syn på välvillig sexism. Framtida studier inom ämnet skulle kunna utformas med mer fokus på enskilda grupper med andra sexuella läggningar.

Bakgrund: Män har genom historien dominerat på arbetsmarknadens chefspositioner och därmed utformat chefskapets innehåll. Chefskapet är sammankopplat med agentic attribut som anses "manliga". Hur kvinnor hanterar sitt chefskap har mest studerats vid mansdominerade arbetsplatser där kvinnan är avvikare. Det finns en kunskapslucka i forskningen när det gäller kvinnors sätt att hantera chefskapet vid en kvinnodominerad arbetsplats där kvinnan är normen. Syfte: Syftet var att studera hur kvinnliga chefer vid kvinnodominerade arbetsplatser uttalar sig om manliga och kvinnliga egenskaper i sitt chefskap. Metod: Studien har en kvalitativ ansats där sex semistrukturerade intervjuer gjorts med kvinnliga chefer inom den offentliga sektorn. Intervjuerna har spelats in och transkriberats och analyserats med tematisk analysmetod som tolkats med social role theoy, role congruity theory . De två teorierna används för att belysa skillnader som vi menar beror på sociala konstruktioner av kön och könsordning som också används i analysen. Resultat: Intervjupersonerna upplevde att de blev respekterade som chefer och uttryckte ingen konflikt i rollen, att vara kvinna och samtidigt chef. De utgjorde normen inom offentlig sektor där de flesta omkring dem var kvinnor. Flertalet av cheferna ansåg inte att de behövde använda några särskilda strategier för att bli tagna på allvar eller få sin röst hörd. Kvinnorna ansåg inte att de hade specifika förväntningar att uppfylla för att de var kvinnor. Samtliga chefer beskrev sitt chefskap utifrån både communal och agentic egenskaper. De beskrev fler communal egenskaper som viktiga i sitt chefskap, vilket är långt ifrån det stereotypa agentic dominerade chefskapet. Det framkom att de ser chefskapet som en balansgång mellan communal och agentic egenskaper men communal egenskaper betonades mest. Resultatet visade även på en del upplevda skillnader mellan manliga och kvinnliga chefers förutsättningar. Kvinnorna har ibland ansetts som sämre chefer vid tillsättning av tjänster och en av de chefer som har fler män kring sig har vid några tillfällen upplevt att männen vill ta steget framför och överta ledarskapet. Flera kvinnor beskrev att de upplevde att män hade det lättare när det gällde att bli accepterade i chefsrollen och lättare blev accepterade i sin auktoritet / Men has dominated the labour markets management positions through the history and formed the qualities of leadership. The leadership is linked to agentic attributes that are considered "male". How women deal with a manager role has mostly been studied in male- dominated environments where women are deviants. There is a knowledge gap in the research regarding women’s ways of handling managerial positions in a female- dominated environment where the women is the norm. The aim of this study was to see how women managers in female- dominated places of work comment on male and female qualities in the manager role. The study has a qualitative approach where six semi- structured interviews with female managers in the public sector. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. The material is processed and analyzed by thematic analysis method which has been interpreted by social role theory and role congruity theory. The two theories are used to illuminate the differences that we believe is due to the social constructions of gender and the gender order witch also is used in the analysis. The respondents felt that they were respected as managers and expressed no conflict in the role, to be a woman and at the same time manager. They constituted the norm in social services where most around them were women. The majority of the managers did not feel that they needed to use some specific strategies to be taken seriously or get their voice heard. The women felt that they did not have specific expectations because they were women; they felt that their own expectations influenced them the most. All managers describe their leadership from both communal and agentic characteristics. They describe more communal characteristics as important in the manager role, which is far from the stereotypical agentic dominated manager role. It appears that they see management to be a balance between communal and agentic qualities but that communal characteristics emphasized most. The results reveal, however, some perceived differences between male and female managers conditions. The women have sometimes been regarded as inferior managers in recruitment and one of the managers who have more men around here, sometimes felt that men wanted to step in front and take over the leadership. One manager mentions strategies to get men to handle her straight communication. Several women described that they felt that men have it easier when it comes to being accepted into the managerial role and easier accepted in its authority. It also appears that some women find that they were expected to solve more problematic situations just because they were women

At the largest university in Tanzania, University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), the gender distribution is unequal. At the University’s Department of Mathematics (DoM), the number of women ranges between 20-30 %. As a PhD degree can pose an important bridge into higher academic positions, the purpose of this study is to discern the current prerequisites for women to complete a doctoral degree at UDSM, compared to their male colleagues. The thesis is based on a field study carried out at DoM, in the spring of 2018. As such, both the formal and the perceived conditions could be examined. During the field study, both focus groups and individual interviews were held. By means of Grounded Theory, a mainly inductive method, the empirical framework obtained from the field research has guided the study and recurrent observations from the local context analysis have shaped the results. As the methodological outset for the study also draws on abductive reasoning, it results in that the analysis is concurrently theoretically guided and based on obtained data. The conclusions from the field research show that the conditions for female and male PhD students at UDSM are not equal. There are policies, quotas and other initiatives introduced in an attempt to level the playfield, however, other policies and social norms that create challenges for women in their strive for an academic career are still in motion. Among other things, as women are expected to be the primary caretaker and there are no support systems in place, the decision to start a family affects women’s studies more than men’s.

Forskning inom ämnet kontrollerande beteende visade att män uppfattades mer kontrollerande än kvinnor, och att detta hade sin grund i flera historiska och sociala faktorer. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka könets betydelse för uppfattningen av kontrollerande beteende i nära relation. 126 personer (43 män och 83 kvinnor) i åldrarna 19–66, fick läsa en fiktiv vinjett inspirerad av Graham-Kevan och Archers CBR-S skala, med en manlig, kvinnlig eller ej könsbestämd kontrollerande person, för att sedan skatta sin uppfattning om personen och relationen. Resultatet visade att män uppfattades som mer kontrollerande och obehagliga än kvinnor när båda betedde sig på samma sätt. Det visade också att en kvinna som kontrollerar en relation uppfattades som mindre kontrollerande av män än av kvinnor. Slutsatsen var att manliga och kvinnliga normer även hade inverkan på uppfattningen av kontrollerande beteende. Bakgrunden till studien var att belysa ursprunget till ett av vår tids största samhällsproblem, våld mot kvinnor.

Background: In recent decades about as many women as men have been recruited to the auditing industry. On the other hand, it seems difficult for women to reach higher positions and they are underrepresented in certain ways. Due to the importance of the social dynamics, one could argue that a need to investigate which roles women receive in the firms and why from a visionary perspective.  Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to explore the development of the construction of women’s roles in auditing firm's financial reports.  Method:  The method that we used in this thesis is both qualitative and quantitative methods as we found it to be most appropriate for the study. Also, an abductive research approach that uses a string of previous theories within visual accounting to form a theoretical framework of roles assigned to women in auditing is used. Moreover, this was later used to code and analyze the images found in annual reports in order to be able to answer our research question, and purpose of the study. Findings: Because of institutional events that hinders women from advancing in their career as well as male-dominated hierarchy the major finding of this thesis demonstrates that women are undervalued in several roles. The consistent high role development in subordinate versus the lack of presence in leadership role as the major finding. Moreover, the symbolic role development reinforces expression of inclusivity that women carry in the organization, while other role development were volatile.