Beyond the binary borders of sex -A LITTERATURE STUDY ABOUT TRANSGENDER THEORY AND ITS POSSIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO A SOCIAL WORK CONTEXT. GERGANA TOSEVA KARIN SELIN A thesis in Social work studies (15 credits) at Malmö University, Hälsa och Samhälle 2012. The discussion about sex and gender is always prominent in a social work context. Our purpose and questions are hence based on the discussion on transgender theory and the way of thinking about the non-binary, and how it relates to the nearby theories. The method of the essay consists of a semi systematic literature overview with the focus on discussing transgender theory in relation to other theories and perspectives, such as modernism, post modernism, feminism and queer theory. We answer the following questions: 1. Is it possible to go beyond or exceed the binary of sex and if so, how do we see it in the material we examined? 2. In what way are the existing theories of sex / gender in the binary? 3. Can one featuring a female embodied subject be of assistance to transgender people's search for an embodied subject? We consider it possible to move beyond the binary by using ?fuzzy logic?(Nagoshi & Brzuzy 2010, Tauchert 2002) which is a way of staying in the binary but expanding the term and work in the grey areas instead.

This essay examines the Alberte triology, by the Norwegian writer Cora Sandel, from a gender/feminist perspective. Taking Yvonne Hirdman's theory about the gender system as a starting point I will show how the living conditions and the different roles of men and women are represented in the novel and how they are changing during the centuries before and after the First World War.I am particularly interested in Alberte, the main character, what attitude she takes to her position in the gender system and in what way she differs from the traditional female model. Is she a New Woman, a different ?species?, who doesn't fit into the rigid gender system? Does the New Woman have a male counterpart, and is he to be found in the novel? Does the novel give a positive vision of a future where men and women can meet as equals?.

The aim of this study was to explore how six men who run a micro-enterprisewith a maximum of 10 employees handle the balance between work and otherlife. Qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews was conducted and thesample consisted of six men with micro-enterprises of varying ages. The themesused in the interviews were boundless work, roles, boundaries strategies anddemand / control - social support. The results showed that micro- entrepreneursdo not experience any major imbalance between work and other life. The studyrevealed that the division of roles in the home of the elderly respondents was ofthe classical gender character that woman took great responsibility in the home.Among the younger respondents the unpaid work at home was equal divided.Social support was perceived highly by all respondents, and they alsoexperienced a high level of control over the requirements of the job.

This master?s thesis looks at discourses that use the pronoun ?hen?. The media debate in Sweden over this pronoun in 2012 started in connection with the publishing of a children?s picture book: Kivi och monsterhund, by Jesper Lundqvist and Bettina Jansson. The essay investigates how eight librarians, who take an interest in and work with gender issues, talk about the pronoun hen and about this picture book and other books that have characters which are not named as a sex/gender.The essay takes a discursive perspective on reality and on the construction of knowledge and carries out a discourse analysis of the librarians? talk in the qualitative interviews that were made for this study.

AbstractAuthors: Mikaela Magnusson & Malin StenströmTitle: Jolly women and ugly men - a study of the way men and women are portrayed in the magazines Filter and FokusLevel: BA Thesis in JournalismLocation: Linnaeus UniversityLanguage: SwedishNumber of pages: 78 Everyday we're exposed to gender roles. It can take the form of our immediate family, our classmates, the books we read, the teve series we watch or the magazines we read. Everyday the world around us shape the way we think of men and women and how they're supposed to be. As a part of either (or neither) of those genders we are all shaped into the mold that society has set for us. The media is one of the largest contributors to this socialization and therefore we felt it necessary to study two, critically acclaimed, media outlets and shed some light on their portrayals of gender. We chose to study Filter and Fokus, two social magazines with close to a corresponding amount male as female readers and a reputation of being modern and free of prejudice.

Purpose: Corporate communication strategies have a central role in disseminating and creating meaning to the organizations? visions, strategies and goals. But many employees do not know the organization?s overall strategies and goals, nor how well the organization achieves these. The aim of this study was to investigate and describe perceptions about internal communication, primarily focusing on communication about strategies and goals.

The purpose of this essay is to examine and compare how womanliness and manliness reveal themselves in different children?s books, mainly focusing on the concept of gender, in both text and images aspects. The questions I have chosen to interrogate are the following:How is the male and female role represented in children's books from a gender perspective, in both images and texts? What gender is generally the main character in children's books? What clothes are the characters wearing in children's books? What kind of occupations do the characters practice in children's books? What kind of qualities or attributes do the characters possess in children's books?When it comes to the selection of the method, I have chosen the use a qualitative method, where I use both a text and image analysis. The essay is based on Hirdman's and Hardning's gender theories and alsow on Nikolajeva's theorie about male and female.

The aim of this study was to shed light on how journalists describe the child?s world and what gender labels are used in their descriptions. We wanted to get a better understanding of what happens when gender is constructed.In order to study how gender is constructed, we chose to examine how the children?s magazine Kamratposten describes children?s spare time. We chose Kamratposten because it turns to both girls and boys.

The main purpose of this essay is to study the Swedish labor law concerning employees who are, aspire to be, or are expected to become parents, both men and women. Thereby accomplishing a gender perspective on the issue at hand. The study also take in to account the laws issued by the European Union, and their impact on the Swedish law system, so as to gain an international perspective. The laws regarding parental leave, both Swedish and European, involve protection for workers from being treated in a less favorable way than someone in a comparable situation, as employers are forbidden to disfavor any employee or job-seeker in basically all situations in the work place or in a recruiting context, if the disfavor is in any way related to the parental leave. The only situation where an employer is allowed to disfavor an employee regarding his or her parental leave, is if the disfavoring is a necessary consequent of the employee?s absence.

The aim of this essay is to analyze six picture books from a gender perspective. Research and investigations shows that children's literature has a big influence on how young children understand norms and values related to gender identity. It is written in the Swedish curriculum for the non-compulsory school system that the pre-school should counteract traditional gender roles.In this essay, six picture books with stories that take place in a pre-school or a pre-school class are being analyzed. Two of them, according to their market strategy, challenges established gender norms. I have investigated if there are any differences between how the educator as a character and the pre-school are portrayed where a girl contra a boy has the leading role.

The thesis discusses new social movements and how they act on the conditions of the late capitalistic society. The purpose is to examine a new social movement trough its own members. What is their view of the movement?s aims and visions? How do they look upon the strategies to achieve these goals? The study is based on eight qualitative interviews with members of Attac Sweden. The results show that the members are highly aware of the movements avowed aims and strategies.

The aim of this masters thesis is to investigate how childrens librarians deal with gender issues in their work when acquiring and mediating books to children, and how reviews in Bibliotekstjänsts Sambindning can be of help in this aspect. The thesis focuses on children between 6 and 12 years of age and their reading of fiction. Four interviews with childrens librarians and an examination of reviews in Sambindningen have been carried out. The reviews were examined both by finding out with what frequency gender issues are dealt with and by studying 20 childrens books from a gender perspective, comparing my judgement with the one they got in the reviews. The examination of Sambindningen showed that the reviews therein only sporadically bring up gender issues.

The aging population is a challenge for Europe and there must be cooperation between EU member states to join the challenge to meet. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyze the EU's ability to influence older people's health, based on experiences from a selection of European officials and on a review of the EU's common strategies. The authors studied and problematize the implementation of the strategies that the EU has negotiated for the work against the elderly poor health, with a view of member countries have different conditions. Using qualitative methods, we have collected and processed statements from targeted interviews and publications by a range of European policies. The material was then analyzed from implementation theory and organizational theory, and based on results of previous research. The result shows that the EU is developing common strategies and coordination methods to the aforementioned challenge to meet. The results also show that the differences existing between Member States causes implementation difficulties of the common strategies. The study states ultimately decide that there should be common strategies to facilitate the work of Member States when it comes to countering the elderly poor health.

This thesis explores how the Swedish magazine Morgonbris depicted women's new roles in the workforce during World War I and whether these depictions challenged or upheld contemporary gender structures. The study addresses two main questions, how Morgonbris portrayed women's new roles in the workforce and how this portrayal challenged or upheld contemporary gender structures. And also how the magazine integrated the ideal of respectability to engage and mobilize female workers, analyzed through Ronny Ambj?rnsson's descriptions of respectability ideals. Using Hirdman's gender system theory, which examines the maintenance of gender power structures through separation and hierarchy, and Ambj?rnsson's work on respectability ideals, the study employs a qualitative content analysis of articles from Morgonbris during the war years. By identifying and analyzing expressions of class and respectability ideals, the research uncovers strategies used to engage and mobilize female workers. The results show that Morgonbris portrayed women's entry into traditionally male-dominated labor sectors as a significant shift that challenged established gender roles.

The purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine how the gender system is described in chick lit. The analysis is based upon seven chick lit novels. The primary theoretical point of departure is Yvonne Hirdman?s theory about the gender system, the hierarchical order and the separation of the sexes.