Browsing by Subject "jämställdhet"

The goal of this thesis is to study gender equality within the Finnish technology industry. Recently the imbalance between the sexes in the workplace has become a part of the general discourse. This has led to both organizations and governmental institutions taking actions to promote gender equality in the workplace. Previous research has shown that socialization into traditional gender roles affects future career choices and steers individuals into occupations where the majority of employees have the same gender identity as themselves. Furthermore, studies have shown that stereotypical perceptions about the technology industry as masculine are hindering women from seeking a career in technology. This study aims to analyze how technology companies approach gender equality within their organization and the industry in general. The research questions of this thesis are: How do technology companies relate to gender equality? Have companies taken action to promote a more gender equal staff structure? And, how do these companies write about their female employees online? Organizational studies with a social constructivist feminist approach have shown that the ideal employee is still today identified through masculine norms. Thus, women have had to create strategies for how they are doing gender in their daily work, by taking on some traditionally feminine or masculine processes and leaving others out. This thesis is based on a qualitative research approach. The research material consisted of Finnish technology companies' blog texts published on their own websites. The material consisted of 18 blog posts written by 14 companies. The material was analyzed through theme analysis. Social constructivist feminist organization theory laid the theoretical framework for this thesis. The results of this research show an active discussion on gender equality in the Finnish technology industry. The approach to the issue of having too few women in the technology industry differed greatly between the different companies. Only a few companies expressed in their blog texts an understanding that inequality originates from social constructs in society. Most companies place the responsibility of gender equality on women as individuals. There were clearly a desire to include more women in technology, but the benefits of diversity in itself were only identified by few of the researched companies. Most companies unconsciously reproduced the prevailing normative masculine power structures of the industry in their attempts to promote gender equality. The results of the research indicated a willingness in the Finnish technology industry to promote gender equality, but a lack of understanding the structural nature of the problem and the tools required to handle this challenge.

Purpose. The law on equality between women and men forms the basis of the schools' gender equality work. The law also aims to prevent discrimination on the grounds of gender identity or expression. Previous research has shown that to conduct successful gender equality work it is not sufficient that teachers have a personal interest in gender equality since this often leads to temporary and random efforts and great confusion about how gen-der equality work should be done. The purpose of the study is to describe, analyze and interpret how gender is expressed in schools' gender equality plans, as both the Act on Gender Equality and the curriculum foundations can be considered to require a diverse gender perspective in all school activities. Methods. The survey was conducted as a critical discourse analysis by analyzing the gender equality plans of seven Finnish Swedish primary schools. As an analysis model, Fairclough's three-dimensional analysis model was used. Results and conclusions. The survey culminated in three gender discourses: the gender inequality discourse, the two-gender discourse and the discourse of fear. The texts showed a clear division between girls and boys and a lack of gender diversity. A fear of making mistakes in the work on gender equality also emerged. The survey shows that gender equality work focuses on girls and boys and that those who do not identify themselves as girls or boys remain invisible.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the concepts equality, gender equality and diversity are discussed in equality plans within university education in Finland. My research questions follow the purpose; what kind of discourses, regarding the three concepts, are found in the documents. My research is based on critical theory and critical discourse analysis. Previous research shows that legislation often plays a central role in equality plans. Research also shows that the concepts might sometimes be used for marketing purposes by organisations and institutions. Using Fairclough's (1992) critical discourse analysis, I analysed four Finnish universities' equality plans in Swedish. The research was a case study, and the sample was based on that the plans must be available in Swedish. The plans were reviewed as a whole, and in total they consisted of 96 pages. The equality plans were publicly published on the websites of the universities during 2018 – 2021. I focused on how the analysed concepts took shape in larger contexts within the documents. With the help of various linguistic analysing tools, I read through the plans several times, took notes, and highlighted relevant sections in the documents. Finally, I categorized the highlighted sections. The legislative discourse in the equality plans was evident. However, an interpretive discourse and signs of market discourse also appeared in the documents. The results showed that equality, gender equality and diversity were viewed as overarching goals for the universities. Gender differences were emphasized within specific problem areas, while equal treatment was used when discussing the organisation as a whole. In terms of diversity, internationalization was often pronounced. Discourses regarding Othering were also found in the documents. As a conclusion, it can be stated that the universities comply to equality and gender equality values that are based on equal treatment and equal opportunity. However, they simultaneously compete on a competitive market which lead to contradictions in the way they expressed themselves. Since the language in the equality plans reflects the universities’ values and operations, it is important that the wording is consistent and comprehensible, not only for the sake of the reader but mainly for the organization to have a distinct and clear vision of what it is pursuing.