The European Union's work on equal opportunities for women and men can be described historically in three eras; equal treatment, positive action and, most recently, the gender perspective. In accordance with the latter, gender mainstreaming is the latest method in dealing with these issues. Its aim is the implementation of the gender perspective in all policy processes and to challenge the male norm that permeates all decision making. EU:s work on equal opportunities, though, persists not only of gender mainstreaming but has a double approach also including special actions.This thesis bases its argumentation on discourse analysis of communications from the Commission regarding employment and social affairs. It argues that the two components of the double approach; gender mainstreaming and special actions, are incompatible and even becomes contra productive put together.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how teachers work and reflects on gender education in preschools. We also want to take part of how teacher?s thoughts are reflected in the physical indoor environment and how the environment is designed by reviewing the rooms furnishing and the selected materials. We will do this by visiting a number of preschools located in Stockholm and New York. We have chosen three questions to get the answers on our purpose.How teachers reflect around gender pedagogy are, and how the thoughts are expressed in the practical work.How the teachers communicate with their co-workers about gender pedagogy.How the teachers own thoughts and reflections on gender pedagogy have been expressed in the physical indoor environment where the children stay during the day. We have used interviews and observations as a method to gather the information that we needed to answer our questions of the thesis.

This paper presents a study of the attitudes and values related to gender young people have. Five people, four women and one male, all about eighteen years old, were interviewed about their attitudes and values related to gender.Although the study is relatively small, the results are compatible with other published studies and indicate that young people, without consideration to their sex, has a very traditional view on gender. The study also indicates that the attitudes seem to be established very early in life. Probably the most important factor to determine the attitudes and values of the child is the parent's opinions. The result show that the interviewed persons did not think their attitudes and values towards gender where influenced by media, TV etc...

The aim of the study was to see how men and women taken into custody care byLVM were described in the sentences through a gender perspective. The aim wasalso to lay more focus on young substance abusers and see in which extent youngsubstance abusers are judged to institutional care through custody care by LVM.Through a documentary study of 77 LVM sentences in Småland in Sweden, theintention of the study was to see whether women and men are judged and treatedequally or if gender makes a difference and in which way the judgement is different?The questions are in witch extent men and women are judged to institutional carethrough custody care by LVM and how the social indication LVM 4 § 3 b) are usedin the sentences when it is younger men and women that are substance abusers. Thestudy also covered a survey about how women and men are described in the sentencethrough a gender perspective and more focus is laid on younger substance abusersunder 30 years old. The methodological approaches that were used in the study areboth qualitative and quantitative with focus on the qualitative method.

Sweden is known to be one of the world?s most equal countries. Nevertheless, out  of  Sweden?s 262 listed companies, only seven  of  them  has  a  female  president, which  is  equal  to  3,4  percent. To  counteract  these  numbers  there  are  several  possibilities.  One  arrangement  that  is  highly  controversial     is  affirmative  actions.  But  there  are  other  options,  for  instance  more  and  more female  networks  are  starting  to  rise  and  many  of  them  also  offers  a  mentoring  program  where  the  mentee  gets  the  opportunity  to  learn  from  someone  with  more  experience.The  purpose  of  this  study  is  to  examine  what  difference  the  female  network  Q80,  with  focus  on  its  mentoring  program,  is  doing  for  the  mentee.  As  an  underlying  purpose  the  study  is  also  examining  what  visions  and  attitudes  the  management  and  the  mentors  is  communicating  within  Q80.  The  focus  is  mainly  on  the  visions  of  Q80,  menas  mentors  and  business  exceeding mentorship.  A  survey  has  been  carried  out  among  mentees  from  three  different  seats of mentoring  programs  where  they  have  answered  19  different  questions  regarding  their  time  as  a  mentee.  Furthermore  interviews  have  taken  place  with the management  of Q80  and  two  mentors.  The  results  are  analyzed  based  on  theories  about  gender,  women  in   management,  leadership,  mentoring  program  and  organizational structure.  The  result  shows  that  Q80i  as  a  source  of  inspiration  and  a  support  for  the  category  of  "career  women"  with  its  core  mission  to  strengthen  the  participation of  individuals  on  a  personal  level  more than  to  work  to  even  out  the  gap  in  the  Swedish  labor market.

In this paper respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) was examined in relation to two kinds of threatening pictures, biological and nonbiological. Based on the results of prior research the hypothesis was claimed to note a difference between the two types of pictures regarding RSA and Gender differences regarding cardiac activity due to the emotional stimulus. ECG and respiration were collected from 36 adults, 17 women and 19 men. There were no significant relationship between the different types of threatening pictorial stimuli, and no significant effects of gender were found. The results support some of the prior research on the topic but are in conflict with other.

The study aims to evaluate how teachers in my research have reasoned regarding gender and gender equality, notions on ethnicity, and specific conceptions or constructions on ?swedish-ness? and ?immigrants?. The vital point in this study will be to examine the relationship be-tween gender equality, ethnocentrism and racism. The question formulation that I have ap-plied are: On what grounds teachers conceive the concepts of gender and gender equality? How do teachers experience their work with gender equality in remedial classes? Do the teachers that work in remedial classes experience any obstacles in the pursuit of gender equal-ity in their daily work? I have used the method of qualitative interviews with five teachers in remedial classes from five different schools.

Through discourse analysis of twelve Library and Information Science theses, covering the period between 1975 and 2007, this thesis examines representations of homosexuality and homosexual identities. By using queer theory as a point of reference aspects such as essence/construct, equality/difference, notions of gender and views on the historical and contemporary situation of homosexuals are brought to the fore in the analysis. It is shown how the material unequivocally posits the contemporary situation of homosexuals favourably in comparison to a past signified by prejudices and oppression. This can be seen as an implicit essentialism in the texts, though ambivalences open up the possibility that it in some cases may be only strategically used while explicitly adhering to constructionist views. In linking concepts of a homosexual difference to prejudices, frequently involving notions of inverted gender performances or sexual ?extremes?, the discourse of progression posits normalcy and assimilation as positive values.

The purpose of this essay is to find out how gender upholds in a classroom, both by students as well as the teacher. The procedure has been to observe the relationship between students and also the teachers. The observations is analysed according to theories of gender and a discussion about why gender is maintained follows. The conclusion of the result is that gender is being preserved in different ways, but also the contrary ? students and the teacher oppose it.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how gender in Islam and Hinduism are described in textbooks for high school. The study was conducted using a qualitative content analysis and also using a feminist gender theory and postcolonial feminist theory. All textbooks are written or revised after 2011 when The Swedish National Agency for Educations? new curriculum came into force. Previous research in this area shows that it is most common that gender is treated in isolated parts within the chapters, but that there are textbooks that allows the gender perspective permeate the entire text.

Aim:The aim of this study is to examine similarities and differences in eating habits in students ages 16-19 in high school.Questions:How do eating habits differ between adolescent athletes and non-athletes?What significance does living conditions and religious background have on the eating habits of adolescents? Method: This study is of a quantitative approach using survey questions.The method used was questionnaires. Three schools participated in the study. The school provided programs with and without athletic orientation. My purpose was to give out 200 surveys but in the end the total of handed out surveys landed on 141.

This essay focuses on men?s construction of feminism and gender and views on equality between the sexes. The purpose of the essay is met through interviews with eight men on their thoughts and constructions of these issues. The answers from the interviewed men were analysed with a radical feminist and gender perspective approach. The sources used in the analysis of the material, in the aspect of gender, were from the work of Judith Butler, Robert W.

Thirty years of gender equality politicsFrom women?s work to gender mainstreamingThis Bachelor thesis examines how the Swedish state has practiced gender equality as a political project during 1972 until 1999 through the budget bills, using a ?What?s the problem represented to be?? approach aiming to uncover which discourses policies are based on. The method also studies what assumptions underlie policy problems, what is left as unproblematic within the policies and what effects are produced by specific problem representations. A central question for the thesis is what has remained and changed within Swedish gender equality politics. The history of the Swedish welfare state is presented as a background on how gender equality policy has affected the everyday life of women and men.

The aim of this study is to examine the opinions of eight 12-year old boys and girls about two comics; Sabrina ? tonårshäxan (Sabrina ? teenage witch) and Spiderman. Do children see Gender differences in the two comics? Do boys and girls identify with the heroes in the comics and does this affect the children's own gender socialisation. We interviewed four boys and four girls from different parts of Sweden.

In 2009 transgendered persons were included in the Swedish law against discrimination. Prior to the inclusion a commission made an investigation of the necessity of such change in the law and how it could be designed. This essay focuses on the discourses regarding gender that appear in the law and the report written by the commission. Using theories by Judith Butler and discourse analysis inspired by Norman Fairclough it identifies two main discourses regarding gender: a two gender discourse and a queer discourse. The two discourses meet in the studied material in an antagonistic way, a conflict that is solved by separating the two and making one part of the law focus on gender and one on transgender.