Gender equality on paper : Gender mainstreaming discourses in municipal organizations and their implications for practical work

Gender mainstreaming has been the official strategy for Swedish equality work since the mid-1990s. Municipal organizations have an important function in this work, with their roles as implementation bodies at local level. This paper aims to analyze a gender equality policy from one Swedish municipal. Furthermore we analyze the policies implications for the practical work within the organization. Using Norman Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis (CDA), this study examines a Swedish municipal gender equality policy and how it is practiced. Focus lies on how gender equality is defined, what is at center of gender equality work and how this work is organized. An interview with a manager has been conducted for the purpose of examining the consequences the policy has on gender equality in a practical sense within the organization. This paper has found that it is not just about practical behavior in the traditional sense, but also that language itself is a form of behavior. The results help understand how language is a form of doing gender