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To be or not to be (emotional): the “Iron Ladies” of Gotland : An exploratory case study on gender and identity construction in women politicians

The purpose of this study is to understand which challenges women politicians on Gotland face and how they perceive themselves in their political work. We aim to highlight existing gender norms and how these translate into challenges within an island setting. This research further highlights the identity work women politicians at a local level engage in. The theoretical frameworks used include feminist political theory, feminist institutionalism, identity, and political identity. The empirical data was gathered through 13 semi-structured interviews with local women politicians on Gotland. Taking on a feminist approach, our study underscores and engages with the complexity of the stories, emotions, and experiences of our participants. Our findings underline several challenges women politicians face, including Part of a quota?, Motherhood and Double standards. Our findings also stress that the notion of femininity, such as motherhood and emotionality, need to be the base for restructuring and reframing current political systems to allow for true gender equality. Additionally, our findings reveal three identity facets, (1) The Holistic Caretaker, (2) The Freedom Fighter, and (3) The Game Player, which women politicians take on depending on the political context and while aiming to navigate through the political landscape. Lastly, we have identified the paradox Women vs Women. Our study sheds light on the intertwined and complex nature of gender related challenges in local politics and reveals the paradoxical nature of women’s attempt to move up the political staircase, while simultaneously trying to challenge pre-existing systemic structures.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-532921
Date January 2024
CreatorsChorus, Daria, Sidiropoulou, Ioanna
PublisherUppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

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