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.

This essay is part of a project between Södertörn University College and Stockholm Academic Forum. The focus of the project is gender equality in small- and medium sized companies. I have worked with a construction company called Activa . The majority of the employees at the company were male and I was interested in the consequences of gender construction in such an environment. I think that the basic condition for equality work is an understanding of gender and The Male Norm.

Analysis of the piece Pygmalion in set at the Gothenburg City Theatrefrom a gender perspective with the purpose to investigate which genders that arepresented and how the piece relates to the heterosexual norm. The method consists inthe analysis and discussion of how the pieces portrays females and males (with focuson feminine and masculine coded expression and presentation of desire) and whatconsequences it brings. This based on various method books of norm-breaking designwork for Aesthetic staff, and a theory based on Judith Butler's research. Primarymaterial consists in a piece analysis of Pygmalion, from a spectator's perspective.Main Results: The designing is consciously working with a set of norm-breakinggender expression, particularly female genders. The set translates socially criticalviews against patriarchal hierarchies.

From an anti-oppressive and a gender perspective, the aim of this paper is to examine whether three English teachers at a comprehensive school in Stockholm make gender conscious selections when selecting novels for their English literature lessons. Through quantitative research, semi-structured interviews and e-mail interviews with these teachers I have attempted to find out if they include both male and female writers when selecting English novels for their students and also what factors affect their selections. I have analyzed the interviews and the quantitative research by using a qualitative and a quantitative content analysis. The theories that I have established my analysis upon are gender theories about The Male Norm in society, the feminist Simone de Beauvoir?s ideas about the woman as a second gender and the sociologist Raewyn Connell?s gender regimes.

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 study is to compare how the male journalists of the Slitz magazine and the female journalists of Veckorevyn represent the female sex. Slitz is dominated by sensual, sexy pictures of women. The texts describe the women on the basis of the journalists opinions. The women themselves do not get the same opportunities as the journalists to tell the readers who they are. Slitz magazine objectify women, they seem to be aware of it and do not hide their purpose.

The purpose with this essay is to get a deeper insight into why there is a lack of male educators in Swedish preschools. I also want to know which role the male educators have in comparison to the female educators. This essay builds on four questions, which covers:The cause of the lack of males in Swedish preschoolsIf there are any gender bound expectations on male educators in the Swedish preschoolsWhat the woman educators perceive about the roles of the male educators in the Swedish preschoolsHow the male educator experience his own work in a workplace dominated by womenThe method I have used is a qualitative interview study in which I have interviewed four male educators and two woman educators from three different preschools. The result of this study shows that male educators gave different reasons to why there is a lack of male educators in Swedish childcare. According to the male educators the reason for this situation is that there is a worry to be seen as a feminine person, get singled out as a pedophile and that the childcare sector has low status.

The aim of this Master?s thesis is to examine the image of the man in Swedish crime fiction. Gender theory based uponRobert W. Connell theoretical framework which discusses masculinities in plural is used. The method used is idea analysis and my supply for analyse is constructed on thebasis of Connell?s four ideal types regarding masculinity.The material in the investigation comprises of five novels published in Sweden 2007.The investigation reveals the complexity in forming masculinities; traditional male values remain mostly intact, but at the same time men must deal with emotions andrelations with women in a world where The Male Norm often is questioned.

This study looks to establish which implications the norm, use and view on the written Swedish language in society and school might have in regards to the teaching of Swedish in the Upper Secondary School, specifically year one. It poses questions as to which views on norm and use can be found in textbooks, in syllabi and in the everyday work of teachers. Through research and analysis of the last three syllabi of the Swedish subject and three corresponding textbooks, along with interviews with two teachers of Swedish, it is shown that from the 1970s onward, there has been a shift from a language norm that incorporates everybody and makes everybody responsible to a language norm that in essence is second to the individual progress of students and successful written communication. It is argued that one does not necessarily exclude the other and that, given a successful education, students may use their knowledge of lingual norm to excel in written language activities..

This paper was aimed to investigate how a sexual education website, UMO.se, with an explicit norm-critical approach to their work achieved its goal to be norm-critical and inclusive in terms of gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. The investigation was focused on a section of the website, "Ask UMO" where the website visitors could submit questions, which were answered by a midwife, a nurse, a counselor, a psychologist, a nutritionist or a doctor. The questions focused on examining how well the "Ask UMO" lived up to UMOs target norm criticism and if there was any differences between the different professions in how norm-critical and inclusive they were. This was examined by a discourse analysis inspired by Foucault and based on Judith Butler's theory of the heterosexual matrix. The study found that "Ask UMO" in 350 of the sections 425 questions reached UMOs goal to be the norm-critical and inclusive.

The aim of this Masters thesis is to conduct an analysis of the Swedish classification system the SAB-system from a feminist and queer theoretical perspective. The theoretical framework of the study is feminist and queer theory as well as theories from Library and Information Science, mainly classification theory. The study takes its departure from the idea of classification systems as social constructs, reflecting their time, place and society. Paul Ricoeurs critical hermeneutics is used as methodological guidance. This gives room for a critical perspective in the interpretation.

The aim of this study was to see if there existed any differences between male and female superiors. The theoretical framework was based on transformational, transactional and laissez-faire leaderships styles. The sample was employees in three companys (n=24). Three hypothesis were formulated: (1) female superiors are more transformational than male, (2) male superiors are more transactional than female and (3) male superiors are more laissez-faire than felmale. The method of measurement was a modified version of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire.

The aim of this essay is to answer the question of how, and in what ways Martina Bigert?s and Maria Thulin?s picture Allt om min buske (literally, All about my bush) is queer. Inspired by Judith Butler?s idea of the heterosexual matrix, and Michel Foucault?s discourse I attempt to investigate how sex and sexuality are described in relation to heteronormativity, and if Allt om min buske is either norm-breaking or norm-creating in a wider perspective. This study concludes that antinormativity and queerness are evident within the framework of the picture.

Using a feministic perspective and a critical approach, my purpose is to discuss bibliographic classification, a central aspect of Library and Information Science. More specifically, my aim is to demonstrate the norms and the dominating thoughts regarding the organization and representation of knowledge, subjects, and social categories in classification systems. I review previous research involving critical approaches to classification. These show that classification systems are a reflection of the context in which they are created, with the result that universal assumptions can be questioned. Some studies also present problems inherent in hierarchical structures.

With this thesis I wanted to find out how a teacher-team in Stockholm reason about and whether they have specific expectations of male teachers in the early school years. Interviews with five teachers from pre-school to grade 3 and in after-school have shown that specific expectations of male teachers is something obvious. Are male teachers expected to enter into the role of male role models to contribute with masculinity and a male perspective? However, the informants are not able to define how a male role model is or should act. Men and women are often defined as two separate, and often as opposite, groups.