Equal Work-Places in a World of Inequality: A Study of the Factors that Promote Gender Equality and Ethnic Equality at Swedish Work-Places

Abstract

Studies of Swedish working life shows inequality: women and migrants earn often less in the same jobs. Women and migrants face more obstacles in their careers. The project aims to compare the factors that influence the situation of different groups at two workplaces, one equal, and the second less equal. Methods used are questionnaires, interviews, participant observation in the workplace, and discourse analysis: 1) How are formal qualifications valued for wage setting and promotion at the workplaces? 2) What knowledge is valued as workplace-specific skills at each workplace? 3) What is the effect of possession of social capital, ie network, on wage and career development at the workplaces? 4) Are there differences in opportunities for people of the different groups? 5) Can the measurement of knowledge explained in terms of local discourses and social practices related to the construction of masculinity and femininity, Swedish or non-Swedish? The project contribution is expected to produce extended knowledge of the conditions for capital accumulation, and a broader understanding of how social practices at workplaces may generate equality.

Keywords

Employment/Recruitment, Ethnicity, Gender, Captal forms, Equality

Publications

Behtoui, A., Boréus, K., Neergaard, A., Yazdanpanah, S. (2017a). ”Speaking up, leaving or keeping silent: Racialized employees in the Swedish elderly care sector”, Work, Employment and Society, 31(6): 954-971.

Behtoui, A., Boréus, K., Neergaard, A., Yazdanpanah, S. (2016). “Motstånd – valet mellan protest, sorti och tystnad för invandrade och infödda anställda i äldrevården”. I Holmqvist, Margaretha (red.) Makt och inflytande i arbetslivet. Stockholm: Premiss förlag. [Populärvetenskapligt antologikapitel]