Extended working life in Sweden is discussed using the old age pension reform of 2001 and debates and policies following this reform as a starting point. Extended working life is also discussed in relation to flexible work, unpaid caregiving, employers’ attitudes toward older workers and working environment. The implications of different outcomes of an extended working life for men and women and possible health effects are considered. Several issues with gender as well as health implications have to be further analyzed and evaluated to ensure not only financial sustainability of the pension system but also equal opportunities for men as well as for women both in an extended working life and in life after retirement.

Denna skrift avrapporterar en delundersökning inom forskningsprojektet GeRd – ”Den genuskodade räddningstjänsten”. GeRd är ett mångvetenskapligt forskningsprojekt som bedrivs vid Karlstads universitet. Projektet syftar till att identifiera förutsättningarna för jämställdhet och mångfald inom svenska räddningstjänster, och vidare till att identifiera förändringsmöjligheter. Forskarna ser det också som avgörande att bidra med kunskap som bygger på praktisk erfarenhet och som fortlöpande förs ut i verksamheterna.

Resultaten i denna rapport baseras huvudsakligen på en omfattande enkät som distribuerades till olika personalkategorier i 25 stycken slumpvis utvalda räddningstjänster i Sverige våren 2011. Rapporten ger därmed en kvantitativ bild av skilda förhållanden inom räddningstjänsterna i relation till jämställdhet och mångfald, något som tidigare saknats. Den besvarades av 1176 anställda inom räddningstjänsterna. Av dessa var 38 procent heltidsanställda brandmän, 24 procent var räddningspersonal i beredskap, 30 procent fanns i operativ arbetsledning och 5 procent i annan ej operativ tjänst. 94 procent av de som besvarat enkäten var män och 6 procent kvinnor.Rapportens 13 kapitel påvisar tydliga skillnader, både mellan olika räddningstjänster och mellan olika personalkategorier inom dem, beträffande inställningen till det förändringsarbete som pågår i organisationerna. Samtidigt finns övergripande mönster och tendenser i materialet. Resultaten diskuteras i relation till aktuell forskning och teoribildning.

The aim of this article is to study how problem definitions of gender equality affect the possible outcomes of gender equality initiatives. The Swedish Municipal Rescue Services were chosen as the empirical example because they offer a workplace where women are greatly under-represented despite years of gender equality efforts. The article analyses how reasoning around gender equality shapes and constructs problem formulations around gender and equality. This article contributes to the debate on the conditions of gender equality founded on gender equality definitions, and how this relates to the potential for change. The gender equality efforts within the Rescue Services are problematized based on Bacchi’s policy analysis model. We do so by analysing the applications attracted by a call for a gender equality initiative within the Municipal Rescue Services—A Fire Station for Everyone. The article argues that, to some extent, the problem definitions in this case undermine gender equality initiatives as they place women—whom they wish to recruit to the Rescue Services to make it more gender equal in a numerical sense—in a paradoxical position as both problem and solution. Nor do they problematize power issues. It is stated that the given problem descriptions do not leave a lot of room for change, but that the method used to analyse the problem descriptions can be an important tool for understanding why gender equality initiatives may struggle to achieve their intended objectives.

Ageism has gained growing attention in Sweden the last decade. Age is even discussed to be included in the discrimination legislation. Still, the concept has not been of much sociological interest. This article is an overview of the concept ageism and how it has been discussed in social gerontology. In the article it is argued that the overall focus has been on overtly expressions such as stereotypes and discriminating behavior while underlying structures and processes of power and power relations have not got enough attention. As a result the concept of ageism has become limited as an analytical tool. Thus, in order to develop the potential of the concept it seems crucial to explicate and theorise power relations. To accomplish this goal, i.e. to focus on how age based power relations are negotiated, challenged and reproduced in processes and institutionalised practise it is suggested that ageism might have to be complemented with other concepts, such as age coding.

Research on gender aims to contribute towards a better society with the help of scientific tools. Change is therefore a key concept in gender studies. With a wide range of theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches and empirical materials from Sweden, Norway and Iceland, this book investigates how gender relations are shaped, reproduced, and challanged. Collectively, the papers in this volume point to where we are heading in terms of gender relations. Where are the seeds to change, and how does power make possible or impede on change?

The demographic transition entails a greater need for more workers working longer. Therefore there is a need for knowledge on the mechanisms of exclusion that affect older workers in the workplace. Research has revealed that older workers are discriminated against in recruitment and downsizing processes, among other areas, and that older workers manipulate signs of being of a high age to reduce their vulnerability to ageism. Revealing this age based inequality in the workplace is important, but to achieve equal age relations knowledge of the processes that create age based inequality and exclusion of the elderly is also necessary. This paper takes its part of departure in theoretical claims that argue that inequality is created in everyday practices for interacting and is expressed through categories and the notion that people are different due, for example, to age. Through analyzing focus group interviews and through observations of individuals’ interactions and how workplaces are organized, I illustrate how age categories are translated into organizing principles in workplaces. The results reveal how age codings, i.e. practices of distinction that are based on and maintain notions of a phenomenon as appropriate for demarcated ages, are institutionalized and the consequences this has for different age groups. The results also illustrate how age hierarchies vary with context and in line with how responsibilities in the workplace are coded.

The article sheds light on older women's body images and problematizes assumptions that women's aging is more painful and shameful than men's aging since men are not expected to live up to youthful beauty norms, the so-called double standard of aging hypothesis. Based on 12 qualitative interviews with women from the age of 75 from the Swedish capital area, I argue that older women have access to a double perspective of beauty, which means that they can relate to both youthful and age-related beauty norms. The results also illustrate that women's body image is created in a context where previous body images are central and that this time perspective can contribute toward a positive body image. Further, the results show how age codings of appearance-related qualities create a narrow framework for older women's body images and point to the benefits of shifting the analytical focus toward a material-semiotic body where corporeality and discourse are seen as interwoven.

Embodied individuals are constantly "on stage" and constructing asymmetric age relations. The age markers that are used to ascribe age to persons are central in these processes. Much research has taken as its point of departure a static understanding of elderly bodies as problematic and lacking in value. However, based on qualitativeinterviews, I will show that age markers are more dynamic, composed of physical signs and attributes and of age-coded characteristics. These results emphasize that it could be fruitful to include context and space in analyses of the processes in which age based inequalities are constructed.

Gender mainstreaming has been defined as a strategy which aims to bring about gender equality. The concept emphasizes that we must bear in mind the different consequences that legislation and action plans can have for women and men. Since the concept was first proposed in 1985, the vocabulary has been broadly adopted internationally. However, there are various levels of implementation and progress. In both the political and academic debates the differences are substantial, for example with respect to the formulation of goals and how other bases for inequality are addressed. In this paper, I discuss the strategy from an intersectional perspective by way of analysing how gender equality and age based equality interact. By referring to qualitative data I shed light on how different applications of gender mainstreaming can both maintain and challenge asymmetrical age relations. In so doing, theoretical tensions and research frameworks will be reconsidered.