This essay aims to identify if Swedish family law workers construct parents differently based on gender in custody investigations, and if so, whether it influences the workers assessments or not. Previous studies have shown that the gender of parents play a role in how they are viewed by social services. Assessments made by the family law are fundamental for the courts’ judgement of parental ability. The possible consequences of the identified constructions of gender in the custody investigations is a social work based on simplifications and the reproduction of gender norms. The study used a qualitative approach based on a critical discourse analysis to analyze 18 custody investigations. Our conclusions show that family law workers indeed construct gender of parents differently within custody investigations. They are constructed differently within, among other things, identified attributes of the mother and father, care, violence and cooperation difficulties. The mothers were often constructed as emotionally driven. Fathers on the other hand were often constructed as authoritarian. Parental care and faulty parental care were also constructed differently between mothers and fathers. Lastly, different constructions regarding risk factors and perceptions of victims of intimate partner violence were identified. Many constructions played a part in how the parent was assessed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-130926 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Hulthén, Agnes, Hultenius, Klara |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för socialt arbete (SA) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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