Huvudräkning eller strukturförändring? : integrering av jämställdhet i utvecklingspartnerskap inom Equal

This licentiate thesis deals with how meanings of gender equality are constructed in development partnerships in Sweden, and how these constructions affect gender relations in working life. The study's focus is on four partnerships funded by Equal: a political programme which was conducted in the European Union between 2000-2007, in order to counteract discrimination on the labour market and in working life. In the partnerships of the study, several organizations cooperated to develop projects within education and in working life. According to the Swedish policy programme for Equal, all partnerships should work actively to give men and women equal access to education and labour and to change unequal power relations (i.e. gender mainstreaming) More specific research questions are: How do actors within the studied partnerships describe problems of differentiation and polarization on the Swedish labour market, and how do they analyse these questions from a gender perspective? Which strategies are formulated by the partnerships to increase gender equality, and what understanding of gender relations do they depart from? To what extent do the strategies question or reproduce gender structures on the labour market? The empirical base consists of documents from the studied partnerships, interviews with coordinators and project leaders, and observations made during meetings and workshops which where arranged by the partnerships. The empirical material was collected from October 2006 to February 2008 and is analysed from a critical point of view, inspired by discourse analysis and methods for deconstruction of policy proposals. The analysis shows that in the studied partnerships ‘gender equality' was reduced to quantitative aspects, i.e. to have equal numbers of men and women in projects and working groups, while qualitative aspects about power, norms and values were marginalised. Gender equality was also constructed as a question of helping women to cope and navigate more effective on the labour market, while obscuring the structures which leads to unequal working conditions. Some actors acknowledged there being unequal power relations between men and women, and ambitions to change this were expressed in documents and in interviews. But as awareness and knowledge about the gender order varied between different actors in the same partnerships, common strategies were difficult to develop. Some of the difficulties can also be explained by unequal power relations among actors within the partnerships, and resistance to challenge the gender order. As a result, this may contribute to reproduce rather than change power relations and the unequal working conditions of men and women in working life.Godkänd; 2008; 20080428 (ysko)