Gender mainstreaming - sorting out what?

This paper discusses the strategy of gender mainstreaming which is adopted by the European Union and the Swedish Government in order to increase gender equality in the entire society. Gender mainstreaming and its goal - gender equality - are not easily understood. In this paper I will discuss different interpretations of the concept gender mainstreaming within the area of education. Since the intention with gender mainstreaming is that a gender perspective should permeate all levels in society, this indicates that the area of Information Technology should be embraced by the strategy as well. Building information structures involve classification and categorization. Thus, I will also discuss what implications gender mainstreaming hold for the future Information Technology society for all. The research draws on empirical research conducted during 2003-2004 and is based on documentary analyses and semi-structured interviews with policy makers and teachers. The material has been analysed by discourse analysis.Godkänd; 2004; 20080619 (mar_run