Browsing by Author "Mansner-Lönnqvist, Anna"

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.