The purpose of this study is, based on theories of gender and hegemonic masculinity, to studyhow masculinity and femininity is constructed and reproduced in one of the most popularSwedish podcast: Filip & Fredriks podcast. The main theory in this study is that gender issocially created and sustained by humans through language and interaction with others.The study's research questions is: How are gender roles/gender portrayed in Filip & Fredrik'spodcast? What characteristics are attributed to men and women in Filip & Fredrik's podcast?How does Filip & Fredrik's podcast represents conditions and power relations between menand women?Through an linguistic textual analysis, which is an application of discourse analysis, I seek toget beneath the surface meanings of texts and examine more implicit social meanings andideologies regarding gender. It includes an analysis of metaphors, word choices and syntax.The analysis shows underlying values and ideologies that indicates gender structures in abroader societal context. Choice of words and metaphores in Filip & Fredriks's podcastexpresses symbolism where men and male-typical attributes are highly valued, whilst womanand female-typical attributes is being devalued and representative of the opposite.Masculinities and femininities are also constructed and represented in various ways throughsentence constructions that guides the listeners in certain directions.

Sweden?s most trusted news distributor, Sveriges Radio (Swedish Public Service radio broadcaster), has high ambitions with the journalism it broadcasts ? especially when it comes to gender equality and diversity. This thesis examines how gender is constructed in Dagens Eko (Today?s Echo) to find if and how power structures are expressed language-wise. Queer theory is used to look at how gender is constructed and how one can look at, and question, gender and gender hierarchies.

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.

This essay shows how the concept of virtue can deepen our understanding considering processes of empowerment. A virtue is understood as a trait of character, manifested in habitual action, that it is good for person a to have. Virtues are interpreted as socially constructed. Empowerment is presented as a process toward self-confidence and self-determination where recourses and freedom propels the development toward power for the individual, the household and the community. Why does the concept of virtue deepen our understanding? It is argued that our theoretical perceptive of empowerment needs to better encompass values, norms and practise.

This study has the purpose to reveal whether gender stereotypes are manifested or challenged in the children comic Bamse - världens starkaste björn based on six different stories widespread over 40 years. The results will be studied in the light of the contemporary gender development in society and emanate from theories about power, discourse, representation, queer and gender. An eclectic analysis based on semiotics and critical discourse analysis will be the method to reveal the underlying gender perspective in Bamse. The conclusion of the study shows an ambiguous perspective in the comic where both men and women occasionally are represented in a manifested as well as a challenged stereotypical role. In some of the stories the gender is erased and all characters are represented based on their individual attributes instead, meanwhile in some stories men are represented as active heroes while women are portrayed as passive nurturer.

The purpose of this study was to examine how school personnel describe and interpret the phenomenon bullying among girls, and also what their interpretations are based upon. More specifically its aim was to find out what characterizes and causes girl-to-girl bullying, according to school welfare officers and teachers. We wanted to find out how school personnel look upon aggression among girls and social expectations on girls behavior. The analysis was based on two kinds of perspectives: one focusing on gender and one focusing on power in relationships. Research shows that girl-to-girl bullying is hard to observe and that this problem has been invisible in earlier studies.

The estimated number of people living in extreme poverty is 1.3 billion and 70% of those are women. The aim of this study is to explain in what ways and why women are regarded as poorer than men.The definition of poverty has expanded and is now multidimensional. In order to answer the aim of this thesis the following dimensions will be included and work as a theory in which the analysis will be structured after. Through a gender perspective, will the role of woman emerge through a multidimensional definition of poverty. If the balance is a negative in these dimensions, the situation for women will worsen and become permanent.

By the same time as the recent enlargement of the European Union, where Poland became a member, it was officially stated that the gender mainstreaming-policy was to be integrated into every area of EU. NGO:s working as entrepreneurs for the gender mainstreaming norm in Poland supported the accession largely because they believed it would help spreading the norm also on a national level. Qualitatively analyzing the Polish case and the difficulties gender mainstreaming as a norm candidate meets with I contrast expectations with what could actually be EU:s role in this matter.Arguing that EU is a context with room for spreading norms by both bargaining and socialization, this paper takes a social constructivist approach. Gender mainstreaming as a norm is difficult for EU to apply on their members, and thus was not widely discussed during accession negotiations. In the same time.

The purpose with this essay is to look at how categories of "us" and "them" are created, reproduced and categorised. The areas of politics and media are in focus, though they are powerful and influential actors in generating discourses.The method is qualitative analyses of current research and analyses of discourses, contexts and resources from an intersectional perspective. Intersectionality presents a theoretical tool for complex understandings of power as it takes its point of departure in an understanding of power as multidimensional and one where gender, ethnicity and class are constitutive and bearing principals. Intersectional analyses aim to understand how these dimensions are created and changed in relation to each other and how they interact with specific gender orders in specific contexts.The analyse shows that "immigrants" are in a subordinate position compared to "Swedish" when it comes to resources, contexts and discourses. The analyse indicates the relation of power between "us" and "them", where "us" have the power and with that preferential right of interpretation in discourses, contexts and resources.

This study has a qualitative approach and deals with difficult issues that arise in connection to male violence against women in close relations. The purpose of this study is to bring clarity to why women stay in violent relationships. I have been studying two leading theories, one called the Normalization Process of Violence represented by Eva Lundgren (sociology and theology). The other leading theory is the Neutralization of Violence represented by Margareta Hydén (fil dr and leg psycho therapeut).I have also studied the fight between these two theories for the leading position in the research on male violence against women. Eva Lundgren presents her theory through a structural perspective.

Violence is put in a specific context when the police are the perpetrator of violence rendering violence possibly legitimate through sovereignty. The possibility of legitimization of police violence raises important questions of how such violence is legitimized and how resistance is conceived of and defined. I have interviewed seven people in Sweden from different backgrounds, all of whom share the experience of having been subjugated to police violence, including threats, harassments and physical violence.This paper analyzes the performativity of police violence through the relations between police violence, power, sovereignty, subjectstatus and resistance, in order to understand how police violence is being legitimized and to understand its consequenses with respect to those subjugated to it. I?ve also analyzed if this violence is being politicized and, in that case, how politicization is made possible.

The aim of this study was to describe and analyse the constructions andinterplay of gender, ethnicity and sexuality between female and male careworkersand residents in a nursing home. To explore this from a qualitativeeveryday life?s approach, material was collected through participating observations,interviews, and informal conversation with careworkers and residents.The result points out that historical patterns of gender and caring relatedto this context still matter and affect both careworkers and residents. Forexample, female careworkers talked about the concept of caring as a genuinefemale experience, while male careworkers, who were in a minority, insteadtalked about caring in more gender-neutral words. The result also indicatesthat a larger number of male careworkers not necessarily leads to a highergrade of gender equality.

The education curriculum states that one of the tasks for schools and preschools are to promote gender equality by discouraging traditional gender roles. Gender equality is therefore a part of the fundamental values of the education system. In order to be able to work with the issue of gender equality, the employees need help and further education. Therefore some schools and preeschools contact a teacher specialized in gender equality work.In this essay I have chosen to do a field study of such a teacher at work during different workshops with nurses and teachers. The aim is to examine how she discusses gender ideas and what discussions arises from the meetings with the attendents.

The aim with this thesis is to investigate teachers view on gender equality and what this may be due to. Teachers are supposed to follow the curriculum where it is written that gender equality should be encouraged. After interviewing teachers it has come to light that depending of the teacher?s personal interest and the school?s management of the question, there is a difference between how teachers are working with gender equality. That is why we want to know why gender equality should be encouraged and how teachers should reach the aim from the curriculum about gender equality.

Our society has faced monumental changes and therefore our working life has changed as well. We are now in the twentieth first century and still our labor market is gender-segregated. Today networking is an important part of working life and one cannot emphasize enough the importance of having good connections in your network. Networking is now seen as an important tool when it comes to your career. In the past networking has been the men?s arena and it has almost been seen as a male institution.