Collective agreement as investment in women in the Swedish Armed Forces : A critical discourse analysis

• How organizations engage with gender equality is crucial to them being perceived as fair and attractive employers. As recruitment and training of personnel is a core function of the military organization, it is relevant to investigate this from a gender critical perspective. The aim was to critically examine how a military organization operates in respect of equality of pay between women and men by means of a collective agreement, as an example of how the organization tries to address gender inequality. A qualitative analysis using Bacchi's 'What is the problem represented to be' (2009) analysis of policy documents was conducted. The analysis focuses on how the actual issue is problematized and what is left unproblematised, and the key findings are that efforts to achieve gender equality within the Swedish Armed Forces are counterproductive and result in perpetuating deficiencies in the organization's work with wider gender-equality issues. Despite external pressures, there is a structural reluctance and inability within the Swedish Armed Forces to seriously engage with addressing the organization's gender-equality issues. As resistance to gender-equality work is usually implicit, this study's strongest contribution to the field is that such resistance can be identified as being explicit and therefore more easily challenged.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Arbetslivsstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Work Sciences (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Genusstudier (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Gender Studies (hsv//eng)

Keyword

gender equality

equal pay

WPR

military

Ledarskap och ledning

Leadership and Command & Control

Gender equality

equal pay

WPR

Military

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)