"Skolläraren klappade den lilla flickan på huvudet" : En analys av språket och genuskonstruktioner i sex läroböcker inom svenska som andraspråk under två tidsperioder

In this essay, the focus is on descriptions of women and men, by the use of nouns, adjectives and verbs in six textbooks for the subject of Swedish as a second language. The purpose is to examine if and how gender is created in such descriptions. The method used is language analysis, where the focus is on finding noun suffixes in work titles which separate women from men;as well as finding neutral noun titles, generic references, verb processes as well as adjectives used to describe both genders. In a comparison between the two periods, the results indicate that the variation of adjectives used differs between women and men. Specifically, women’s feelings,behaviors and traits are described to a greater extent. Furthermore, gender neutral suffixes appear to a greater extent in the latter period. Finally, the result suggests that women are involved in fewer physical and verbal processes than men in the first period. However, there is an opposite situation in the second period. Also, in both periods, women are involved in a greater number of stereotypical activities situated in a domestic environment, while men participate in stereotypical activities related to the work environment. Therefore, verb processes, as well as nouns and adjectives, create symbolic gender in two periods by the lack of equal recognition of women and men