Under Kafferasten : En studie av genus på ett kontor på försäkringskassan

Abstract The main purpose off this essay is to understand what different ways women and men use to communicate and make themselves acknowledged by their co-workers. This is done by interviews with people at an ordinary office and trough observations at the workplace. A qualitative method was entrenched and seven respondents, four women and three men, age 43-55 was interviewed. The theoretical frame contains theories from Goffman’s dramaturgic perspective such as roles, facade etc. The theories concerning gender come from Hirdman’s different analyses on how the relations between men and women take form. The data collected shows that men and women use their body language, voice and accessories in different ways to make themselves acknowledge at the office. The study also shows that both sexes have very specific ideas about how it’s proper to dress and act at work for the other sex. Discussions about gender showed that both men and women are fairly suspicious when it comes to issues like allocating according to sex. Key words: gender, roles, interaction