Gender Glossary

In social science, class is used to categorize people based on economic and social criteria. The concept has been the most relevant in Marxist theory, where social classes have different roles in the production of goods and services. Feminist and anti-racist critiques of traditional Marxist theory argue that a narrow focus on economic inequality and capitalist production model result to exclusion of the groups who do not fit the stereotypical notion of the white masculine workers. Class relations cannot be understood in isolation from other power structures, such as gender, ethnicity, functionality and sexuality. A working class background has different implications for women and men, since women have traditionally engaged in unpaid housework and men have been considered as breadwinners to justify a gendered division.    

Dichotomy, from the Greek word dikhotomos, describes something that is divided into two opposite categories. Gender Binary, the idea that men and women are two mutually exclusive and opposite sexes, is an example. This perception of gender excludes individuals who identify themselves as non-binary, neither woman nor man. A dichotomous world also creates hierarchies between both the sexes.

This can be illustrated by means of the gender system theory, according to which each society creates and maintains a system in which women and men are assigned different roles and positions. The gender system is based on two principles: separation of the sexes and establishing hierarchy. A gender-segregated labour market, women's underrepresentation in the job sector, and undermining women's work are examples of gender system. Ecofeminist and postcolonial researchers argue that dichotomies legitimise domination and oppression in different levels.

The equal value of all individuals, and in political contexts equality in terms of influence and social conditions as well. Equality may be motivated from various starting points, such as religion and notions of natural rights, liberalism, socialism and democracy.

A movement and outlook, comprising several different elements, with the shared objective of changing power structures associated with gender. What unites all feminism is the wish to remove or reform discrimination based on gender and/or gender classification.

'Functionality' describes historical, social, cultural, and material aspects of our bodies and their functions. Just like the concept of gender, functionality describes something that is made rather than what a person has or is. The extent to which one's body is considered ‘functional’ largely depends on how society is designed and what norms exist regarding what a body should be able to do.Functional variation highlights that all people have functional differences: some are blind, some others are deaf, some have problems sitting still, and some are depressed.

However, there is a difference between typical, or norm-creating, functional variations on the one hand and atypical, or norm-violating, functional variations on the other. In order to understand and analyse the differences between the two, how it structures/arranges people’s lives and creates differences in power, a power perspective is of central importance. Who benefit and who do not by designing society in a certain way – a way in which some functionality types are cibsudered as the norm and others are made deviant? Ableism refers to the specific form of discrimination and oppression that people with atypical functional variations face.  

A concept used to understand and distinguish the notions, ideas and actions that collectively shape the social construction of the sexes. The term “gender” was introduced in humanities and social science research in the 1980s. The emphasis is on the relationship between the sexes and varying views on and perceptions of what “male” and “female” mean.

Gender binary, (bi=2), refers to the idea that humankind are divided into only two sexes. The second last digit of Swedish personal identity number is a practical example of gender binary, in which odd number indicates that the person’s legal gender is male and even number stands for female. The view of gender as something binary defines trans persons as deviant, according to the gender binary norms. Gender binary is a prerequisite for the heteronorm, which is the assumption that heterosexuality – that women desire only men, and vice versa – is natural and applies to all people.  

Gender equality refers to equal rights, opportunities and treatment of women and men, girls and boys in all spheres of life. It asserts that people’s rights; responsibilities; social status; and access to, and control over, resources do not depend on whether they are born male or female. This does not mean, however, that women and men are the same or must become the same. Gender equality implies that both women and men are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes or prejudices about gender roles or the characteristics of women and men.

Gender mainstreaming (sometimes abbreviated as GM) is a strategy for achieving a gender-equal society that is sustainable in the long term. In brief, it means that a gender equality perspective is integrated into every sphere of activity and at every stage of decision-making, planning and policy implementation.

Research, often interdisciplinary, focusing on the notion of gender. The term “gender research” has been used since the mid-1990s in the context of research policy and has, over time, superseded expressions like “women’s studies” and “gender-equality research".

The term hegemony stems from the Greek words ‘to lead’ and ‘leader’. In feminist theories, hegemony has been used to analyse masculinity as a form of power hierarchy. Hegemonic masculinity refers to men's domination of women, and the normative traits are found in different groups of men in various degrees. In addition, hegemonic masculinity changes over time, and different types of masculinity are preferred in different cultures and socioeconomic groups. Although hegemony can be seen as a more discrete exercise of power than violence, there is often an element of violence involved.

In a heteronormative society, people need to display heterosexual attitudes and behaviour in order to comply with the norm for human sexuality. All people are assumed to have heterosexual preferences by default and all other sexual orientations are considered deviant. Central to the hetero-norm is what is sometimes called the heterosexual matrix. The matrix is a theoretical framework that explains the foundation of the hetero-norm; i.e. the notion that there are only two genders, woman and man, these two are made each other´s opposites and are expected to desire each other.

In simple terms, homosociality means that a certain social context is limited to, or is strongly dominated by, same-sex individuals. The concept was developed in the field of gender research to explain how men identify with, are drawn to and understand their social position in relation to other men. Women are excluded from these social contexts, partly to keep them from interfering with the often fairly intimate culture and partly because, based on established power structures, they do not possess the economic, social and political resources that would otherwise make it worthwhile to include them. Jokes about decisions being made in the sauna or on the golf course refer to homosocial contexts in real life, where men by tradition meet in informal environments to which women are not invited or explicitly welcome.

Intersectionality relates to the observation that power structures based on categories such as gender, race, sexuality, functionality and class interact with each other in various ways and create inequalities, discrimination and oppression. One single power structure cannot be understood in isolation from other power structures.

Intersex people are people with a congenital condition where their chromosomes, sex glands, or anatomy have not developed in a typical manner. The biological sex of an intersex person cannot be  defined as either male or female at birth but exhibits inconsistency with the norm in one or several ways. In most countries, including Sweden, intersex infants are routinely provided with surgery to comply with gender binary and be categorized as a man or a woman. The surgery can involve removal or modification of a child’s genitals and sex glands, and occurs even when the procedure is not medically justified. The medical practice in this area is legally unregulated and only rests on the formulation in the Swedish Patient Safety Act that all medical treatments and procedures must be based on ‘science and proven experience’.

However, there is insignificant scientific support regarding the benefit and safety of these procedures. Colombia, Malta, and Chile are the only countries that have outlawed cosmetically or socially motivated surgery on children with intersex variations. The new ethical guidelines for healthcare in Finland also discourages doctors from performing sex-corrective surgery on infants unless it is medically justified. Often, the sex a person acquired through medical intervention does not match with the person's gender identity. In such cases in Sweden, the person is sent to undergo sex-corrective treatment, despite the fact that the situation is a matter of correcting a 'medical mistreatement'.  

In Sweden, the most common acronym used when referring to people who do not fit into the hetero- and binary gender norm is HBTQ (LGBTQ is a frequently used corresponding term in English). This acronym can be both criticised, expanded and/or reduced, however. H stands for homosexual and B for bisexual, and hence both these letters concern sexual orientation, or who a person tends to fall in love with or be attracted to. T stands for trans, which concerns how people define and express their gender, and Q stands for queer, which can both concern sexual orientation, gender identity, relationships and sexual practice and be an expression of a critical stance in relation to prevailing norms.

Linear gender refers to the view that a person’s body, personal identity number, gender identity, pronoun, name, gender expression, and reproductive organs are masculine or feminine and remain consistent throughout life. Those who comply to the notion of linear gender could also be called a cis person. A cis person enjoys a wide range of privileges, such as not having to deal with questions about their genitals, the peace of using public toilets and swimming pools without worrying about derogatory remarks and violence, and the ability to pick up something from the mail office or the chemist without their gender identity being questioned. Linear gender implies that those who do not conform to the norm are problematic.

A research speciality inspired by feminist theory and thinking, devoted to empirical and theoretical studies of men’s psychological, social and cultural life situation, lifestyles, attitudes and modes of action. Masculinity researchers are interested in such topics as men’s participation or non-participation in efforts to achieve gender equality. Both historical and contemporary aspects of maleness are studied. In masculinity research, there is often an emphasis on the parallel existence of various different types of maleness.

A norm signifies the ‘normal’, often implicitly acceptable behaviour in a social group. It may concern the way people look or dress, or how they are supposed to act in general. Norm compliance gives a person advantages ranging from simply living a smoother everyday life to significant privileges and power. Similarly, norms imply disadvantages for non-compliers. This leads to discriminatory structures. Norm criticism is an umbrella term for methods and theories utilised to transfer the attention from those who do not comply with the norm to the actual taken-for-granted norm.

'Othering' refers to the process of defining a certain group as 'we' and put them in contrast with another group as ‘the other’. Creation of ‘the other’ and 'we' hold equal values in this process. The construction of ‘the other’ often takes place in everyday situations and is expressed through preconceived opinions and norms concerning other people. For example, pictures, language and stereotypes are used in a way to show that minority groups are fundamentally different from the majority and thus should be treated differently in a hierarchical system.

The understanding of 'othering' also helps to analyse the discussion on gender-segregated physical education in schools. In the autumn 2016, the Swedish Schools' Inspectorate had allowed a Muslim private school to arrange gender segregated physical education. This yielded a great deal of interest and the issue was vastly debated in media. Comments such as ‘that is not what we do in an open and tolerant country like Sweden’ and ‘Sweden is one of the most gender-equal countries in the world, and it should stay that way’ were frequently heard. 

The controversy followed despite the fact that girls and boys continue to be separated in a wide range of areas in ‘our open and tolerant Sweden’. Examples include colour coding of male and female infants at the maternity ward, separate changing rooms and public toilets, separate sections in clothing and toy stores, and separation of male and females in sports. But in the context of the Muslim school, leading politicians presented it as completely different than anything else in ‘the Swedish school’. The case illustrates how the 'othering' of Muslims leads to construction of no-Muslims as ‘we’ who does not approve gender-segregated physical education in school.  

Patriarchy can be understood in several ways, the most common of which is as a system where the economic, legal and political power lies with men, often older men. As this understanding only has room for two genders, it is sometimes described as cis patriarchy, a patriarchy where the men with power are cis men. Although Sweden is not considered as a concretly patriarchal country presently, the long history of patriarchy has impacted and continues to impact the structure of society to a degree high enough to justify patriarchal structures. It is important to note that patriarchy is too one-dimensional as it neglects factors such as socioeconomic characteristics (class), ethnic/cultural background and functionality.

Using the labour market as an example, we see that pay differentials exist not only between men and women but also between people whose parents have different backgrounds in terms of geographical origin and education. Although women and men have the same formal opportunities to participate in the labour market and parental leave, women continue to perform a majority of the unpaid household and family work. Feminist theory has shown that patriarchal structures remain strong in today’s society due to a vast array of norms, values, and social mechanisms.

Patriarchy is a deeply rooted social structure that is reinforces heteronormative notions and that can be manifested in a variety of ways. Knowledge about patriarchy and patriarchal structures is used in to describe, analyse and understand how gender inequality is created and maintained in modern society, and as an idea of how it should be. As a consequence of the patriarchal notion that men are rational, reasonable and political beings, while women are assigned the opposite traits, men are considered to be best suited to have the economic, political and legal power.  

Performativity was first used in linguistics in relation to what an utterance or expression does rather than what it means. Performativity is based on an understanding of language as causing an action or a state that affects people’s emotions, identities or materiel conditions. Examples include expressions such as ‘I hereby name you…’ or ‘I declare you husband and wife’. A change occurs when the words are uttered. The purpose of the theory of performativity is to help us understand and explain the notion of linear gender and heteronormativity.

This refers to the idea that a person’s biological, legal, and social gender should be ‘in line’ with each other (i.e. a cis person) and that two opposite linear genders are assumed to be sexually attracted to each other. Performativity also points to the power of confirmation from and sanctions imposed by the surrounding society when it comes to forcing people to comply with gender binary. People who are understood to be men but wear skirts, or children who are understood to be girls but shorten their hair, often have to deal with other people’s confusion, comments and inquiring questions – ‘they are doing their gender wrong’.  

The postcolonial school of thought is based on the understanding that the colonialism did not end with Europe's decolonization in 1700s-1900s. The effects of the colonialism keep influencing how the world and unequal power relations are constructed today. The questions asked by postcolonial theory are which role the colonial past plays in today’s world and how it is recreated both locally and globally in contemporary societies.

The notions of a modern, civilised and rational ‘West’ are closely interlinked with the construction of an irrational, pre-modern and mystical ‘East’. This view legitimises super- and subordination, where the Western culture and model of society are placed at the very front of the colonial hierarchical development model. The notion of the global North and South relates to this East/West distinction, where the North is portrayed as modern, rich, civilised and developed compared with the undeveloped, outdated and uncivilised South. Sweden participated not only in the trans-Atlantic slave trade and colonisation, since the colonisation of Lapland, home to the Sami, follows the same pattern.

In the latter case, it is the Swedish state that is portrayed as civilised and modern while the Sami people are conveyed as the opposite. This colonisation can be understood as continuing today, and postcolonial theories can offer an understanding of how and why this is possible. Feminist theories and postcolonial theory have influenced each other in many ways. Although feminist theory and postcolonial theory are two different fields, they join forces in what can be described as a search for alternative knowledge where critical perspectives on knowledge production, universalism, power and dominant worldviews meet. A postcolonial feminism has emerged, describing how sexism, racism and homophobia can be connected to a questioning of global forms of domination, where the colonial past plays a central role.  

The concept of power is of central importance in gender research in understanding how societies and social relations are constructed. Power is expressed in different ways and functions in different levels of society, such as interpersonal interaction and societal organisation in both local and global level. A structural perspective on power and inequality asserts that systematic inequalities affect individuals and makes it more difficult for some people to get a job, a home or food. Sexism, racism and ableism are examples of structures that divide people into groups with different access to power.

It is important to point out that these structures not affect all people equally and is affected by the different biological and social characteristics. Also, a person is never affected by only one structure, for example gender, but by several different structures. Power and resistance are tightly interlinked. In fact, resistance is a type of demanding power. Refusing to comply with a binary gender norm, struggling for one’s right to speak one’s native tongue, and trying to use public transportation system designed for people with a certain type of functionality are some examples of resistance against the power structures that make it difficult, or even impossible, for some people to enjoy their rights.

The queer concept  questions gender binaries and challenges the existence of only two opposite sexes, women and men, with a desire for each other. In Sweden, the common acronym for individuals, who do not comply to gender binary, is HBTQ (Homo, Bi, Trans, and Queer). The English equivalent is LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) and the acronym keeps evolving. Queer theory is an umbrella term for various theoretical perspectives that have been developed since the 1980s in order to analyse sexuality as historically determined relations, identities, structures and values. These perspectives are based on the view that phenomena such as heterosexuality, woman, and man should be considered as social constructions, and sexual identity as a personal trait.

Racialisation occurs when different people, with different experiences, opinions and backgrounds are lumped into groups according to preconceptions based on for example external features (such as skin colour), culture and religion. When racialisation is analysed, race and ethnicity are understood as social constructions where so-called racialisation processes generate different racial identities and groups. These processes occur in both state institutions and everyday life.

Situated knowledge criticizes the idea that researchers are the neutral observers of reality. The expression was coined in an analysis of how the establishment of modern science since 1500s contributed to creation of a new form of hierarchy: the scientist. A scientist was assumed to be free from any sort of biases, created by social and biological ties. There is a relationship between knowledge production and power structures such as gender, class, ethnicity, functionality and sexuality. The knowledge of one’s social position, formed by the prevailing power structures, is a prerequisite for knowledge about society and human beings. Situated knowledge draws attention to the fact that our possibility to gain knowledge about reality is limited due the power structures. Researchers can never be completely neutral. However, their objectivity can be strengthened by acknowledging their limitations in the research process.  

The term trans can be used as an abbreviation of trans person and then serves as an umbrella term. Trans persons violate society’s norms and expectations regarding gender, gender expression and gender identity. A person’s gender identity or gender expression does not correspond to the legal gender the person was assigned at birth.

A research speciality inspired by feminist theory and thinking, devoted to empirical and theoretical studies of men’s psychological, social and cultural life situation, lifestyles, attitudes and modes of action. Masculinity researchers are interested in such topics as men’s participation or non-participation in efforts to achieve gender equality. Both historical and contemporary aspects of maleness are studied. In masculinity research, there is often an emphasis on the parallel existence of various different types of maleness.