This master?s thesis investigates how six Swedish public libraries integrate equality aspects in their user oriented activity. The theoretical starting point for the study is that Sweden is a part of a gender system characterized by gender separation and male superiority, as described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman and theories that argue that femininity and masculinity are social constructions. Another starting point is that the library sphere cannot be separated from the gender inequality in society. Since the library is part of a gender system that value individuals who are seen as males and separates men and women, some of the library users may be neglected.

The aim of this Masters´ thesis is to examine parenthood, gender and equality. The analysis is based on the novel Bitterfittan. The primary theoretical points of departure are Judith Butler?s theory about doing gender and Yvonne Hirdman?s theory about the gender system, the hierarchical order and the separation of the sexes. I use Lisbeth Bekkengen?s thesis in which the nuclear family is seen as an institution which is upheld by two structures; that is the social relationships man-woman and parent-child, and also by two discourses; on the one hand a notion that fathers and mothers are principally different and on the other hand the child focus.

This thesis investigates gender equality at a few Swedish elementary school libraries, and how school librarians at these libraries work with gender equality issues. It is a semi-structured interview study conducted with staff at seven elementary school libraries. Several policy documents state that the school should be a gender-equal environment, but previous research shows that there is still a lack of gender equality, and that staff often treat boys and girls differently. It also shows that boys and girls are often portrayed in a gender-stereotypical way in children?s literature.

A B S T R A C TP U R P O S E / A I M : The main objective of this essay is to investigate the difference of visual representation between girls and boys in two mail order catalogues - Ellos and La Redoute. I want to examine how girls and boys interact in the pictures of the catalogues and what kind of activities are going on. Do these activities differentiate between the girls and the boys? Does the representation differ if the children are in a group or by themselves? A second objective is to compare these representations between the two catalogues.M A T E R I A L / M E T H O D : Two mail order catalogues are used, Ellos (Swedish) and La Redoute (originally French). The material consists of 345 pictures of children.

Syftet med den här studien är att ta reda på hur genuspresentation ser ut i animerad barnfilm. Utifrån en hermeneutisk utgångspunkt har jag gjort en innehållsanalys av sex stycken filmer. Inspirationen till studien har jag fått genom studier inom genus och genusrepresentation, samt utifrån ett vardagsperspektiv när jag själv har sett filmer. Mer konkret går frågeställningarna ut på att studera hur manliga och kvinnliga karaktärer representeras samt hur maktrelationer gestaltas i filmerna i ett genusperspektiv. Valet av filmer baseras på de mest sedda animerade filmerna mellan 2005 och 2007 enligt Svenska Filminstitutet.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine how gender is described in some of the most popular children?s picture books in year 2007 and 2008. The theory used is based on Berger?s and Luckmann?s theory about Social construction, Bjerrum Nielsen?s and Rudberg?s theory about Gender socialization, Gens? theory How girls becomes women and boys becomes men and Hirdman?s theory about Gender contracts. The method used is an analysis of ideal types.

The aim with this Essay is to examine the two most read magazines in Sweden covering the areas of exercising, fitness, bodybuilding, diets and ?wellness? ?Fitness and Body. Fitness?s target group is predominantly woman, while Body is almost exclusively read by men. The analysis is first done quantitatively, by systematically categorising the contents of the magazines.

The purpose of this study is to examine sex/gender relations amongst staff in public libraries who have taken part in projects related to information technology. This is done through e-mail surveys and telephone interviews with staff who have participated in the development of the two library websites Mina bibliotek and Biblioteket.se regarding their experiences. The theoretical basis for the analysis is two gender theoretical perspectives with reference to technology. The first perspective is represented by Yvonne Hirdman?s theory concerning the gender system, in which women and men are kept apart and in which there is always a hierarchy where men are higher up, and Hanna Westberg-Wohlgemuth?s theory concerning sex marking of job-tasks.

This Master's Thesis studies the attitude that library employees have regarding a sex and gender-neutral treatmentof their clients. The analysis is based upon replies to a questionnaire which was submitted though channels directedat library employees, like BIBLIST and BiblFeed. The respondent?s replies contained a number of welldevelopedcomments making the resultant analysis both quantitative and qualitative in nature.In performing the analysis a theoretical framework combining Hirdman?s gender system with symbolic interactionismhas been used together with literature about gender roles.The questionnaire showed that gender neutrality is a complex concept that can be interpreted in many differentways and is therefore easily misunderstood. It is obvious that sex is an important category when respondents aredealing with their clients, but also that sex and gender are problematic concepts which respondents find difficultto know exactly how to relate to.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka hur samhällets konstruktion av genus påverkar enkvinna i hennes roll som musiker. På vilket sätt upplevs och hanteras genusrelateradebegränsningar och vad blir konsekvenserna?Jag har i studien använt mig av observationer och intervjuer med två olika band, ett beståendeav tjejer och ett med killar. De har alla delat med sig av erfarenheter och tankar kring problemde upplever i en musikalisk diskurs. Resultatet visar att det finns ett flertal likheter mellanbanden, inte minst när det kommer till att använda musik som ett identitetsskapande verktyg.Tydligt är att problemen tjejerna upplever, alla är förknippade med deras könstillhörighet,medan killarna snarare upplever åldern vara det största problemet inom musikbranschen.Resultatet visar också att studiens kvinnliga informanter blir negativt särbehandlade och mötsav fördomar.

Queen Kristina of Sweden (1626-1689) was in many ways an interesting, fascinating but also a very complicated woman, who has been studied widely by historians and other scholars throughout the years. However, there are few people who have considered the queens attitude towards the male norm which characterize Sweden, and most of Europe, during the seventeenth century.My purpose with this essay is therefore to apply the historian and gender expert Yvonne Hirdman´s theory about the gender system and the hierarchical order, where the male is the norm and representative of what is considered to be normal in the society, on literature regarding Queen Kristina of Sweden. The historical method of this essay will be historiography, as a result of the fact that my study is based on other historians and scholars research. Moreover, my intention is to include Kristina´s entire life in Sweden, from her birth as far as to her abdication from the Swedish throne and study this through the gender perspective introduced above. With this mentioned my essay therefore is named Against All Odds.

Every day readers of magazines receive advice on how their life is expected to be. Magazines write about what to wear, who you should be dating and where you should work. People are social beings and are affected on what they read, hear and see. In that way media is one of the main channels which defines people and draws examples on for example how a "normal" woman should be.This essay dealt with several questions: how women are described in Swedish women magazine Cosmopolitan and men ?s magazine Slitz and how they are differ from each other.

Denna studie syftar till att visa hur hälsa representeras i hälsotidningen MåBra. Utgivningsåret för tidningen  i studien är 2008. Studien bygger på en semiotisk analys av de bilder som finns på tidningens omslag. Den bygger också på en kvalitativ diskursanalys av ett avgränsat material. De teorier som studien utgår från är genusteorin, som definieras av Hirdman och Jarlbro, och olika teorier om vad hälsa är, främst från ett hälsopedagogiskt synsätt.

Abortion remains a contentious issue, which greatly raises ethical problems. This thesis examines the leading arguments in the Swedish abortion debate around the ? in terms of legislation ? critical years of 1938 and 1974. With Foucault's genealogical method, Butler's theories of gender as a social construction in relation to power and doxa, the study examines what the development of the argumentation says about the views on morality, the woman's body, life, individual and state? How has the arguments pro and against abortion changed over time and what does this say about the norms that guide and orientate the arguments? The most obvious change in argumentation is seen in the shift from an absolute moral and conservative position into an increasingly relativistic and liberal position, and this study will argue that this shift has its prerequisites in the changing status of the citizen and state.

Kamratposten is a swedish magazine aimed at youth aged 8-14. They write about almost everything that concerns youth, all the way from dealing with loneliness to animals and celebrities. This study concentrates at how they write about love. With a qualitiative narrative analysis of the 12 articles that concerns love from the 2013 issues of Kamratposten, I have tried to answer the questions: - What narratives about love are being constructed in Kamratposten 2013?- How do they construct males, females and gender in their articles about love?What I found was that the hetero normativity, or the heterosexual matrix as Judith Butler calls it, was very strong in the articles.