Concepts and some in-depth exploration

Active measures

The term "active measures" comes from the Discrimination Act.

Active measures are preventive and promotive efforts within an organization to counteract discrimination, as well as to promote equal rights and opportunities regardless of:

Gender
Transgender identity or expression
Ethnic affiliation
Religion or other belief
Disability
Sexual orientation
Age

Extended explanation

The requirement for active measures exists only within working life and education.

Active Measures at University - Counteracting Discrimination and Promoting Equal Rights and Opportunities

Active measures should prevent students and applicants from being discriminated against, or otherwise experiencing limited opportunities, at university on a general and structural level. The work with active measures is not about addressing problems that have already arisen in individual cases, but about preventing students and applicants from being discriminated against or otherwise experiencing limited opportunities.

As a university, we should work with active measures in five areas:

1. Admission and Recruitment

As a university, we must investigate and, if necessary, implement measures so that our programs attract applicants regardless of gender, gender identity or expression, ethnic affiliation, religion or other belief, disability, sexual orientation, and age.

How do we describe our programs in our marketing, informational material, and in contacts with potential applicants?
How does the admission process work in practice and how do we treat applicants during the recruitment process?

The selection and eligibility conditions must not only meet the requirement of being non-discriminatory but should be designed so that they do not pose a risk of discrimination.

2. Examinations and Assessments

As a university, we must investigate whether there are risks that assessments of students' academic performance are - consciously or unconsciously - influenced by factors related to any grounds of discrimination. We also need to ensure that syllabi and rules and routines for assessments do not risk impairing opportunities for any group regardless of grounds of discrimination.

Is training of staff needed for this?

3. Study Environment

The term study environment refers to both the physical and the psychosocial environment.

The physical study environment includes, for example, premises, aids, and equipment.

Is the physical study environment accessible to everyone? How do we ensure that?

The psychosocial study environment includes issues of treatment, address, and different forms of interaction. It involves investigating the risks of harassment or sexual harassment, and developing guidelines and routines to prevent harassment, sexual harassment, and reprisals.

Is there a jargon among students and teachers where racist, sexist, or otherwise derogatory comments or jokes are made? What concrete measures do we need to implement?

4. Studies and Parenthood

As a university, we should facilitate students balancing studies with parenthood. This includes, for example, how we organize teaching.

When is the teaching scheduled?
Can certain elements be carried out remotely?
Are there any specific needs regarding the premises?

5. Teaching Methods and Organization

Teaching methods and the organization of education concern, among other things, how we conduct teaching: lectures, seminars, distance education, online courses, and similar. It can also involve reviewing when and where the teaching takes place.

Is there a risk that the form and organization of teaching could negatively impact any student group? Is there a connection to one or more grounds of discrimination?

Active Measures in the Workplace

Employers should implement active measures to:

Prevent discrimination in the workplace
Promote equal rights and opportunities on a general and structural level

You can read more about the employer's responsibility for active measures on the Equality Ombudsman (DO) website or

Employers’ responsibility for taking active measures - an overview .

Antiracism is about reacting to and proactively counteracting racist actions, organizations, and structures.

Antiracism involves recognizing and understanding the historical and contemporary consequences of racism, including how it affects different groups in various ways based on race and ethnicity. Antiracism promotes the idea that individuals and societies should take a proactive stance against racism. This may include advocating for political changes, participating in protests, or supporting marginalized groups. Education is a critical component of antiracist work. This includes learning about systemic racism, understanding privilege, and examining one’s own biases. Antiracism also acknowledges that experiences of racism are often intertwined with other forms of discrimination, such as sexism, classism, and homophobia. An intersectional approach considers how these identities and social issues intersect.

Assimilation is a process through which individuals or groups from different cultural backgrounds come to adopt the cultural norms of another group, often the dominant society. This involves the gradual adaptation of language, customs, values, and behaviors, potentially leading to a reduction in cultural diversity.

Cisgender describes a person whose gender identity is the same as their sex assigned at birth. The prefix “cis” means “on the same side as.”

The law defines disability as follows: "Permanent, physical, mental or intellectual limitations of functional ability which, as a result of an injury or illness, existed at birth, have occurred thereafter or are expected to occur." (Discrimination Act, 2008: 567)

The law aims to make public places more accessible and to counteract discrimination.

What is discrimination?

"A simplified description of Discrimination Act's definition of discrimination is when a person is treated disfavourably or when a person's dignity is violated. The disfavourable treatment or the violation of the person's dignity must have a connection to one of the seven grounds of discrimination. Discrimination can be direct or indirect. Inadequate accessibility, harassment, sexual harassment and instructions to discriminate are also forms of discrimination."

Source: Equality Ombudsman (DO)

Diversity refers to the variety of similarities and differences among people, including but not limited to: gender, gender identity, ethnicity, race, native or indigenous origin, age, generation, sexual orientation, culture, religion, belief system, marital status, parental status, socio-economic difference, appearance, language and accent, disability, mental health, education, geography, nationality, work style, work experience, job role and function, thinking style, and personality type.

Within the university, diversity is often linked to the various grounds for discrimination; age, ethnicity, religion and other beliefs, gender identity or gender expression, gender, sexual orientation and disability.

In practice, diversity work is about recognizing and appreciating differences without reinforcing stereotypes.

Equal conditions mean equal opportunities, rights and obligations for everyone regardless of gender, transgender identity, ethnicity, social, cultural or religious background, disability, sexual orientation or age. This means that everyone has the same conditions for power and influence, finances, education, health, physical integrity and an even distribution of the unpaid care work.

Equal conditions are part of sustainable development where democracy, human rights and justice must permeate all activities.

Equal conditional work is part of the university's quality work and aims to promote and ensure diversity, gender equality and accessibility.

Equality is about the equal value of all individuals in terms of gender, race, religion, social affiliation, etc. In political contexts, it is also about influence and social conditions. Equality can be justified from different points of view, such as religion, ideas of liberalism, socialism and democracy.

Source: Jämställ.nu

Everyday racism is the continuous integration of racism in everyday situations, which is built into the structures and norms and which is reinforced through repeated actions. It is often invisible, historically conditioned and is found everywhere in society as an underlying power factor.

White, black or brown - Manual on active measures related to skin colour. (2021). Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län White black or brown - Manual skin colours - webb.pdf (pdf 1022 kB)

Skin colour's significance – in your workplace. (2021). Länsstyrelsen i Stockholms län Skin colours significance in your workplace--Vidga Normen-2021.pdf (pdf 1.7 MB)

Feminism is an overarching theory and a political movement consisting of several different orientations. Common to the orientations is the goal to change power structures linked to gender. Different feminist directions, feminisms, explain the causes of mens and womens unequal conditions in different ways. The feminist political movement also works in different ways to ensure that women and men have the same opportunities, rights and obligations in society. Some feminists believe that the disadvantage of women can disappear through political changes and new laws. Others believe that it is not enough without having to change society as a whole.

Gender in brief

An analytical concept developed in gender research
Gender research is a broad, interdisciplinary field that describes, interprets and problematizes meanings of gender
Defined as socially and culturally constructed, ie. meanings of gender are created in relation to time and space
Power perspective is central to understanding how gender is constructed
Often involves an intersectional perspective where more power dimensions than gender are taken into account, such as ethnicity and sexuality

The Gender Equality Authority's definition

The term gender does not mean the biological gender, but the aspects of gender that are socially and culturally constructed, that is, the ideas, ideas and actions that shape our social gender. The term gender is a socially constructed classification system that divides people into two categories, women and men, and which associate these categories with different sets of behavioral, cultural, psychological and social characteristics and patterns of action. The concept of gender was introduced in humanities and social science research in the 1980s, emphasizing the relationship between the sexes and varying perceptions of what is perceived as masculine and feminine.

Source: Jämställ.nu

Gender equality is a political concept that emphasizes equality between genders. Gender equality means that women and men have the same rights, obligations and opportunities in all areas of life.

Jämställ.nu about Gender Equality

In Sweden, there are currently two legal genders - women and men - and it is these that gender equality policy is usually based on. However, it is important to keep in mind that there are people who do not identify themselves within the binary norm, and also that neither the group of women nor the group of men is uniform.

To achieve equality, women and men can be treated equally, or differently. For example, women and men can have equal pay for equal work or women and men can be treated with different drugs and methods in healthcare in order for it to be equal.

Gender equality work can have different focuses. It can be a matter of quantitatively achieving an equal distribution of women and men, or of taking measures to change the balance of power between the sexes.

Working with gender equality from a quantitative perspective means striving for an equal gender distribution between men and women in the workplace, in education, in positions of power and at different job levels in social institutions and in different organizations. An even gender distribution is considered to prevail when the proportion of women and men in a group is 40/60 per cent or more even.

In the qualitative gender equality work, the conditions of women and men are in focus. It is about paying attention to attitudes, norms, values and ideals that affect women's and men's ability to influence in school, in the workplace, in politics and in other areas of society. Qualitative gender equality work addresses the structures that do not necessarily change with an even distribution of women and men.

But it is not always possible to clearly distinguish quantitative work from qualitative. Before the quantitative gender equality work starts, a decision must be made as to what is to be measured and why, a work that is often qualitative. A quantitative measurement can also be followed up by a qualitative analysis. It can be a matter of qualitatively analyzing the quantitative findings to find the underlying causes of the inequality.

That neither women nor men are uniform groups can be noticed with the help of an intersectional perspective. An intersectional analysis highlights that, for example, different women have different experiences and conditions, and thus also the need for different interventions. An intersectional analysis also highlights that different power structures can interact. For example, a highly educated white man has a completely different position of power than a low-educated man with dark skin.

The starting point for gender equality work should therefore always be gender, but not just gender.

Source: Jämställ.nu . (Jämställ.nu is a national resource for gender equality. Here you will find facts about gender equality, practical examples and concrete tools for gender equality work.)

The Gender Equality Authority on Gender Equality

"To work for increased equality is to work for all people to be able to shape their lives as individuals, without perceptions of gender limiting us. The goal of Swedish gender equality policy is that women and men should have the same power to shape society and their own lives.

More than gender distribution

Gender equality is not only about equal gender distribution but also about paying attention to attitudes, norms, values and ideals that affect the living conditions of women and men in the various areas of society. Therefore, the work for gender equality is often conducted with two different focuses, where one helps us to create a clear picture of different situations and conditions with the help of measurable factors, while the other problematizes and examines the norms and values behind the reported figures.

Neither women nor men form uniform groups. A person's opportunities in life are also affected by which socio-economic group you belong to, where in the country you live, as well as by ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, functional ability and other things that fall within the framework of the grounds for discrimination. In the work with gender equality, it is therefore important to reflect on how all these categories interact with each other. Only then will it be possible to understand how inequality creates different conditions for groups or individuals. "

Source: The Gender Equality Authority

Statistics Sweden on gender equality

Gender equality means that women and men have the same power to shape society and their own lives. It presupposes the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all areas of life.

Gender equality - equality

The word gender equality is used in Sweden when it comes to the relationship between women and men. Equality, on the other hand, is a broader concept. It refers to fair relations between all individuals and groups in society and assumes that all people have equal value regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, social affiliation and more.

Gender equality has both a quantitative and a qualitative aspect

Quantitative equality means an equal distribution between women and men in all areas of society, e.g. in various educations, professions, leisure activities and positions of power. If there are more than 60 percent women in a group, it is dominated by women. If there are more than 60 percent men in a group, it is male-dominated. Qualitative gender equality means that both women's and men's knowledge, experiences and values are utilized and may enrich and influence development in all areas of society.

Source: Women and men in Sweden. Facts and figures 2020, Statistics Sweden

Data and statistics are analyzed on the basis of gender and power. Then the results and analysis are compared with set gender equality goals.

Source: Jämställ.nu

How a person expresses their gender. This is done, for example, through clothing, body language, hairstyle, make-up, social behavior and voice.

The gender a person feels like and defines himself as. No one but the person themself can decide this and everyone has the right to decide for themselves what gender identity they have.

Gender mainstreaming is a political strategy for achieving a gender equality society. The strategy means that a gender equality perspective must be incorporated in all decision-making, at all levels and in all stages of the process, by the actors who normally participate in decision-making.

Source: Jämställ.nu

Gender research is often interdisciplinary, with the concept of gender in focus. The term has also been used in research policy contexts since the mid-1990s and has over time replaced terms such as women's and gender equality research.

Gender research is based on the power relationship between the sexes and examines women's and men's lives and living conditions and the social and cultural manifestations of sex in both then and now. It also criticizes and reinterprets research that has made masculinity the norm and is thus of both a complementary and changing nature. In the research field, the processes through which knowledge is created are also studied, and from a science-critical perspective, the context in which the researcher is.

Source: Jämställ.nu

There are seven protected grounds of discrimination covered by the law prohibiting discrimination:

sex
transgender identity or expression
ethnicity
religion or other belief
disability
sexual orientation
age

The different grounds of discrimination as they are defined in the Discrimination Act and its preparatory work (government bill 2007/08:95) and in some cases there are also comments by DO on the law's definition:

Source: Equality Ombudsman (DO)

Sex

The term sex means that someone is male or female. The prohibition of discrimination on the ground of also includes persons who have undergone, or who are planning to undergo sex reassignement.

Transgender identity or expression

Transgender identity or expression describes persons who do not define themselves as a woman or a man, or express by their manner of dressing or in some other way that they belong to another sex. The term includes both a person's mental or self-perceived gender image and how a person expresses what may be called their social gender through, for example, clothing, body language, make-up or hair style.

The Discrimination Act's prohibition of discrimination applies to persons with a transgender identity or expression. DO often instead uses the concepts of gender identity or gender expression.

Ethnicity

The term ethnicity refers to an individual's national or ethnic origin, skin colour or other similar characteristic. National origin means that people have the same national affinity, such as Finns, Poles or Swedes. Ethnic origin means that people have a relatively uniform culture.

Religion or other belief

Religion refers to religious beliefs, such as Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity or Islam. Other beliefs include convictions which are based on or connected to a religious belief, such as Buddhism, atheism and agnosticism.

Political convictions and ethical or philosophical values that are not related to religion are not covered by the Discrimination Act.

Disability

The term disability refers to lasting physical, mental, or intellectual limitations of a person's functional capacity that as a consequence of injury or illness existed at birth, as arisen since or can be expected to arise. Temporary limitations of a person's functional capacity are not a disability in the sense referred to in the Discrimination Act.

Disability entails a reduction of a person's physical, mental or intellectual capacity. This is therefore something that a person has, not something that a person is. A disability may be more or less apparent in different situations, such as allergies, dyslexia, hearing impairment, visual impairment and so on.

Sexual orientation

The law defines sexual orientation as homosexual, heterosexual and bisexual orientation.

Age

Age means the length of life reached. All people, regardless of age, are protected by the Discrimination Act.

Harassment is a behavior that violates someone's dignity and that is related to one of the grounds of discrimination. For example, ridiculous or derogatory generalizations about people within a particular religion.

The social norm or group of norms that says that the normal, natural, expected or desirable thing in a society is that sexual acts, desires and family formations are something that occurs between women and men. Thus, sexual acts, desires, etc. between people of the same sex are considered abnormal, unnatural, or unwanted.

Inclusion means that people should be allowed to participate on the same terms and that everyone's votes should be weighed equally heavily regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, etc. The opposite of inclusion is exclusion, ie excluding.

Tip

Short film about "Cultivating a culture of inclusion"

" Be willing to let go of your biases and learn " Tips for cultivating an open, inclusive work culture for all.

An intersectional perspective can help to make visible how different power structures interact.

The word intersectionality is used to denote how different power structures and grounds of discrimination affect and sometimes reinforce each other, a single power order can not be understood independently of others. However, performing an intersectional analysis does not nmean that all systems of power are lifted, one can instead choose the categories that are relevant to the current analysis.

When we work with gender equality, it is important to keep intersectionality in mind in both theory and practice, as it shows that neither the group of women nor the group of men are uniform and that there are also people who do not define themselves within these genders. Groups like all men or all women, for example, do not have the same life experiences or living conditions. Therefore, in a gender equality work, it is central to see that different power structures can interact.

The starting point for gender equality work should therefore be "always gender, but not just gender" - that is, not to analyze gender separately from other categories.

Source: Jämställt.nu

Tips!

Kimberlé Crenshaw. The urgency of intersectionality. TEDWomen 2016

"Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice."

Kimberlé Crenshaw - On Intersectionality - keynote - WOW 2016, 14 mars 2016, Southbank Centre

"Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw, - the academic who coined the term ‘intersectionality’ and co-founder of the African American Policy Forum - gives a keynote on the unique challenges facing women and girls of colour when it comes to the struggle for gender equality, racial justice and wellbeing."

Kimberlé Crenshaw: What is Intersectionality? 22 juni 2018, National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS)

"Kimberlé Crenshaw, a 2017 NAIS People of Color Conference speaker, civil rights advocate, and professor at UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, talks about intersectional theory, the study of how overlapping or intersecting social identities—and particularly minority identities—relate to systems and structures of discrimination."

Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw Defines Intersectionality. 14 sep. 2018

At KTH, the acronym JML is used for work to promote gender equality (jämställdhet), diversity (mångfald) and equal conditions (lika villkor).

The terms Diversity and Inclusion, D&I, are often used as research fields for this work.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer

Lesbian and gay (homosexual) means that you have the ability to fall in love with and / or be attracted to someone of the same sex. Bisexuality means that you have the ability to fall in love with or be attracted to people regardless of gender. Homosexuality and bisexuality are sexual orientations, unlike trans and queer which are more about identity, ie who you are and feel like.

Masculinity research is a research field inspired by feminist theory and thinking and which deals with empirical and theoretical studies of men's psychological, social and cultural living conditions, lifestyles, attitudes and ways of acting.

Masculinity researchers are interested in, among other things, men's participation or non-participation in the work for gender equality. Historical as well as contemporary masculinity is studied. In masculinity research, it is often emphasized that several different types of masculinity exist in parallel.

A person who identifies between, beyond or with both of the legal gender categories woman and man. For example: "I am non-binary and want to be referred to as they instead of he or she."

Norms are notions, ideas and unwritten rules that govern our behavior, our values and our relationships with other people and society as a whole.

Norms refer to the "normal "or accepted behavior in, for example, a social group; convention, practice. A norm system indicates the normal pattern that individuals' actions should conform to. Norms can be divided into legal, economic, moral, aesthetic, technical, etc. They are generally intimately connected with social values, and they are means of realizing states that are highly valued by the social group that affirms them. Formal laws express some of society's normative system, others are communicated through traditions, customs and usages.

Source: Jämställ.nu

Norms are values of oneself that one may have reflected more or less around that one actually has. In all social relations in society, there are norms that form the limits of how we are expected and allowed to be. Standards are changeable and look different depending on time and place. Norms are often also a matter of power. Following or passing within the norm provides economic, political and social benefits, while norm-breakers are given less space.

Some norms are good because they make it easier for us to relate to each other in social contexts and not harm each other. For example, it is the norm not to go into each other on the street, which is a good norm. Other norms are worse and can lead to injustices if they mean that we value people and perspectives differently. One such norm is the heteronorm, which presupposes that all people are either girl/woman or boy/man and that everyone is also heterosexual. This means that everyone who does not fit into the heteronorm is seen as deviant or different.

Norms are often invisible and only visible when a person breaks the norm. Violation of norms can result in punishment in the form of, for example, silence or violence.

Norm criticism

Norm criticism is a tool for discovering and making visible norms and privileges, so that we become aware of how power and norm belong together. Norm criticism means not focusing on those who are perceived as deviants in a context, but focusing on the norms and power structures that make these people be perceived as deviants. A norm-critical, or norm-conscious, approach makes us aware of which norms we relate to and in this way it becomes possible to actively choose which norms we really want or do not want, in our teaching and in society at large.

Norm criticism is a tool for accessing the very basis for why inequality arises. It is about asking critical questions about the norms on which an activity, for example teaching, rests, around which are included and excluded in teaching, which ones it is adapted to. The purpose of examining norms is to understand what enables discrimination and to become aware of one's own ideas in order to be able to give all individuals the same conditions. In moral philosophy and political philosophy, general norms are studied mainly for morally correct action or for a proper organization of societies. In addition, many believe that norms are neither true nor false.

Source: Jämställ.nu

Norm creativity

Norm creativity is a method for translating analysis into practice, to make a change to create what we want instead of limiting norms. For example: “At my seminars, it is the norm that at the beginning of the seminar we together decide, or repeat our previously jointly determined, rules of conduct for the seminar. It can be that we should respect each other, that everyone should be allowed to speak and talk to the point, etc.

Offensive treatment refers to acts that are directed at individuals in an offensive manner and may lead to them being excluded from the Community. For example, to systematically ignore a person by not speaking or listening to him.

Power structure refers to the hierarchical order in which different groups in society are given power. Gendered structures of power refers to that there is an order in society according to which women have less power than men. There are also power structures governed by class , sexuality, ethnicity, age, etc.

Racism is the limiting structures that are built into society and which on an everyday basis, based primarily on names, bodies and appearance, have effects on people's chances of success in life. This is because the historical structures have created norms and ideas about certain characteristics and linked them to certain types of cultures, origins and appearances. This leads to people being divided into groups that are attributed specific characteristics and that give the groups different and unequal conditions.

Sex as defined in the Discrimination Act means that a person is either a woman or a man. The prohibition against sex discrimination also covers persons who plan to correct or have corrected their sex.

Social, biological and legal sex (gender)

Social sex is the sex a person feels like and defines himself as. No one but the person themself can decide this and everyone has the right to decide for themselves what gender identity they have. How a person expresses their sex, can be done, for example, through clothing, body language, hairstyle, make-up, social behavior and voice.

Biological sex is usually defined on the basis of genitals and hormone levels.

Legal sex is the sex that is registered in the population register, passport or identification. In Sweden it is man or woman.

An act of a sexual nature that violates someone's dignity, can be verbal or physical and is about touches, jokes, suggestions, glances, pictures or movies that are sexually alluding and degrading. For example, touching or commenting on a person's body in a way that perceived as unpleasant.

"When we talk about people in terms of skin colour, we refer more generally to people’s appearance and their supposed origins. In other words, we can either interpret skin colour literally, where it loses its social meaning and thus becomes uninteresting from a discrimination point of view, or we give it a social constructivist meaning that is more in line with what English speakers refer to when they talk about 'race.'" White, Black or Brown: A Handbook on Active Measures Related to Skin Color. (2019)

According to the Discrimination Act, the grounds for discrimination in terms of ethnicity are to be understood as “national or ethnic origin, colour or other similar circumstance”. The term skin color is thus used in Swedish legislation, but no further explanation is given.

In-depth material

Read for example: Jablonski NG. Skin color and race. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2021 Jun;175(2):437-447. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24200. Epub 2020 Dec 29. PMID: 33372701; PMCID: PMC8247429 .

"Expand the Norm"

"Expand the Norm" is a project aimed at helping organizations create workplace equality and counteract discrimination through active measures. The project was run by the County Administrative Board of Stockholm, funded by the European Social Fund, and concluded in 2021. The project has produced several handbooks, educational films with reflection exercises, podcasts, seminars, etc., aiming to enhance competence in working with active measures related to skin colour. Unfortunately much of the material is only in Swedish but there are two publications translated into English. This material is aimed at combating workplace discrimination related to skin color and contains both theory and method but is also suitable for enhancing general knowledge about discrimination due to skin colour and as support in striving for an equal study environment. The material is published by the County Administrative Board of Stockholm in 2021 as part of the project and can be found on the project's website: www.vidganormen.se.

White, black or brown - Manual on active measures related to skin colour

This is a handbook that shows how to work to promote inclusion, in terms of skin color, in the workplace. The handbook is a help both for organizations that are prepared to live up to the law by working inclusively around skin color and for everyone who is curious and just wants to learn more. The handbook has been developed within the project Vidga normen, which is financed by the European Social Fund.

Skin colours significance in your workplace

This publication provides guidance to employers, trade union representatives or employees in the work against skin color-based discrimination in the workplace. The text provides an introduction to the subject of highlighting common resistance that can be met along the way in the work against skin color-based discrimination in the workplace. You will also get tips on how to take the conversation further and avoid getting caught up in the resistance.

Simplified representation of eg. women or men, where the groups of women and men are portrayed as different and with different characteristics - for example men as strong and active, and women as caring and passive.

Source: Jämställ.nu

The danger of a single story. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, TED Global 2009

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

Transgender is an umbrella term for individuals whose gender identity and/or gender expression deviates from the gender norm. Transgender people are people who feel that the biological sex does not correspond to what is experienced and may therefore want to correct their gender.

The whiteness norm is based on the premise that white skin color is the norm in society. For example, it is clear in the media/advertising that it is mainly white bodies that are represented and idealized.