The purpose of this study is to examine how adolescents can participate and have influence in the society, by making obstacles and opportunities that are considered central for their possibilities to power visible. National and international research indicates that adolescents opportunities to participation and influence are limited by the structures of society. A qualitative method was chosen, in which group interviews were made with 14 youths in development areas in Örebro. Theories are presented which constitute tools for analysis of the obtained results and has been chosen based on power- and participation perspective. An analytical model has been used to illuminate what kind of participation adolescents have in different parts of the society, where the concepts from the theoretical perspectives, power and participation are inserted.

The purpose of the essay is to discuss from the theory about the established and the Outsiders if the Culture Centre Blå Stället can serve as a meeting point between the majority of the people and the minority of the people in Gothenburg. The idea of Blå Stället is that it shall work as a house available for everyone and as a cultural meeting point between people in and outside Angered. I argue if Blå Stället really is a place where people from Gothenburg as a whole go or if there are some hindrances for their visions. My study is comprised of interviews with three of the staff at Blå Stället. With the theory about the established and the outsiders I want to show that the division in the city between ?them? and ?us? has to do with differences of power.

Sarah Kane?s first play Blasted (1995) has often been read in a normative and biographical way by critics, authors and previous researchers. This essay makes a supplementary close reading of Blasted from gender and genealogical perspectives and utilizes theoretical works by Judith Butler, Luce Irigaray and Michel Foucault. My study makes clear that the characters different positions in language and talk create and maintain a power imbalance between them. Efforts to change and develop one?s individual position in language and talk are being made throughout the play since it is the only way to bring about a change in the social power structure.

This thesis is an attempt to understand how the traditional female gender identity is constructed and what kind of structures that are maintaining it. I also study how this identity is reflected in young women's conception of themselves and in their views upon whether they should sign in to the military service or not.The theoretical framework that I use mainly consists of theories about gender construction, male dominance and the woman's role in the nation-state.The purpose of using this theoretical approach is to illustrate that the traditional female gender identity consists of characteristics that are in opposition to the male ones. The woman should be weaker, less aggressive and more caretaking than men- in sum she is defined as the Other. The structures that constructs this identity is the male dominance, also known as the gender system and the patriarchy.This traditional female gender identity and citizenship role that historically has been allotted to women in the nation-state is still today very vivant in Sweden and is reflected in the fact that the military service is optional for women. Certain parts of this identity is also reflected in the young women that I interview, in their sense of probably not fitting in to the military service, because of their sex and the characteristics discussed above, that are associated with it..

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the adult world is produced in the books of Martin Widmark about LasseMajas detektivbyrå from a gender perspective.I wanted to answer questions concerning the appearance, personal characteristics, occupations and activities, and the relationship between children and adults to do my analysis.I decided to make a qualitative content analysis to answer my questions.I used the gender theories that describe how stereotypes excel. I related these gender theories to the books that I have studied.I also used previous research on gender roles in other children's books to compare their results with mine.After reading, analyzing and comparing the books I have come to the conclusion that gender roles in books about LasseMajas detektivbyrå is very gender stereotyped..

The purpose of this study is to investigate how the legal protection against sexual harassment at work functions, and where to draw the line. The study is limited to focus on the sexual harassment directed at women from men, because it usually occurs that way even though only a few report the incidents. The results are discussed from a gender perspective on how the distribution of power is between men and women as a way to explain sexual harassment.Sexual harassment is currently protected by the discrimination law and the EU principle of equal treatment for men and women. For a behavior to be considered as sexual harassment it has to be unwanted by the receiving party and the person practicing the harassments must be aware that the behavior is perceived as offensive. The behavior shall be of a sexual nature and contribute to a disadvantage for the victim in the form of a violation of that persons integrity.It is the victim that determines whether the behavior is perceived as sexual harassment or not, what one person believes is a friendly behavior may be perceived as offensive by another.

This paper is a discourse analytic policy study with the intention to investigate the swedish government's policy action plan against prostitution and trafficking for sexual purposes. The document is called Handlingsplan mot prostitution och människohandel för sexuella ändamål. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether there is a feminist gender understanding taking place in the action plan. This is made by both see how the problem of prostitution is produced partly by examining whether there is a gender-based power analysis in action. The research questions of this study are:What is considered being the problem with prostitution and trafficking fosexual purposes?Is there a feminist gender understandning in the government's prostitution politics?To answer these questions I use Carol Bacchis method Whats the problem represented to be? And the material being used is the government's actionplan.

The purpose of this study is to examine discussions on the Swedish internet forum ?Flashback? regarding female body hair and the cultural norms that surround it. The discussion is centered around a broadcasted event in which a woman?s hairy armpit was incidentally shown, with a lot of viral hate as a result. Our purpose with this study is to get a deeper insight into viral hate towards women who challenge gender norms.

This qualitative study aims to highlight if there are any gender difference in social workers reasoning about a particular case. To achieve a deeper understanding we had to explain and understand our respondent?s answers, primarily from a gender perspective, but also from a power perspective. Our questions were: how does social worker reasoning about a particular case? How can we understand the social workers answer from a gender- and power perspective? The method consisted of a construct case and of semi-structured interviews.

AbstractTitle: Dragshow on the seven seasNumber of pages: 51 (56 including enclosures)Author: Therése PlastrougiTutor: Ylva EkströmCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Fall 2007University: Division of Media and Communication, Department of Information Science, Uppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: My main purpose with this paper is 1) to study how film as a media can subvert traditional gender constructions and 2) study the character of Elizabeth Swann in the trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean through four dimensions; Gender performance, Class, Desire and Power.Material/Method: My main material is the trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean. I have studied Elizabeth?s character based on semiotic and narratological methods.Main results: Film as a media possesses the full potential to change traditional gender roles, but the full subversion is denied due to the heterosexual matrix. Elizabeth?s character almost completes her subversive journey throughout the trilogy, but since she too is a victim of the heterosexual matrix, a full subversion is not possible.Key words: gender performance, class, desire, power, sex/gender, subversion, narratologic, semiotic, queer, feminism, pirates of the caribbean, intersectionality, parody.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how employees in the financial sector perceive the leadership behaviors of middle managers, and if these perceptions differ depending on the manager's gender and if so, in what way. The study is based on a social constructivist perspective and theories of gendered organizational structures. It is based on 15 semi-structured interviews with employees who have either female or male middle managers from different companies in the Swedish financial sector. The results show that gender often acts as a framework for how leadership is evaluated and understood. Female middle managers are frequently associated with relationship-oriented qualities.

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 purpose of this Master?s thesis is to examine the relationship between fiction and resistance from a postcolonial and feminist perspective. More specifically, the study is an examination of this relationship in ten novels by the Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta. The resistance is studied by examining the way it is depicted in the texts, as well as whether the texts can be seen as a form of opposition. Both the resistance and its context are studied.

Gender equality and gender equality work is relevant for today's working life, and previously male-dominated occupations may be increasingly under pressure to become more equal. This paper aims to explore and understand how the firefighters at a station are experiencing gender and gender equality in rescue services.Using theories of how sex is done, how a power perspective and a structural approach can show men's and women's different conditions in an organization, and theories that are more specific to gender and change management the firefighters talk about gender and gender equality are analyzed. Essay results were collected through interviews with seven firefighters and then analyzed and interpreted with the help of theories.The analysis shows that there is a perception among the firefighters that men and women are biologically different and that required physical strength legitimizes the exclusion of women. Inequality is seen as something natural and by pursuing an active gender equality women are given unwarranted benefits. When physical strength becomes a legitimate reason for exclusion, the responsibility for gender inequality is put on women and that women don?t have what it takes.There is also a resistance against gender equality analyzed in the paper, and it's stated opposition seems to be directed against the management's way of recruiting women.

Through a critical discourse analysis this study explores the gender norms that students on Kvinnofolkh?gskolan produce, reproduce and experience. Kvinnofolkh?gskolan is built on the understanding that the world discriminates against women politically, culturally, economically and socially, and thus intends to give women, non-binaries and trans people an education with a feminist alignment. Despite studies being made on gender segregated schools as identity forming, I argue that there is a lack of studies that show how gender discourse and theory is produced in contexts where men are excluded.