”Av kvinnor, för kvinnor. Fy fan!” En kvalitativ studie av hur sex svenska folkbibliotek integrerar jämställdhetsaspekter i sin användarorienterade verksamhet.

Abstract

This master’s thesis investigates how six Swedish public libraries integrate equality aspects in their user oriented activity. The theoretical starting point for the study is that Sweden is a part of a gender system characterized by gender separation and male superiority, as described by the Swedish historian Yvonne Hirdman and theories that argue that femininity and masculinity are social constructions. Another starting point is that the library sphere cannot be separated from the gender inequality in society. Since the library is part of a gender system that value individuals who are seen as males and separates men and women, some of the library users may be neglected. Research shows that there are significant differences between men’s and women’s usage of public libraries, which could be an indication that women and men do not have the same access to the library’s services. Qualitative interviews were performed with six librarians in order to gather data. The conclusions drawn from this study were that the investigated libraries did not work on a conscious level with equality in their user oriented activity. One of the main reasons for this was that the informants did not consider the differences between the sexes’ usage of the library as an equality issue. They also lacked clear directives from the steering documents and their view on gender was based on a biological ideology, which sees differences between the sexes as natural.