Genusstrukturer och lokala välfärdsmodeller : Fyra kommuner möter omvandlingen av den offentliga sektorn

Sammanfattning: The overall purpose of this thesis is to analyse recent changes in the preconditions for theproduction of public services and their impact upon, specifically, women's jobopportunities in local labour markets. The effects of these changes on the largest segmentof women's labour market, i. e. that of the municipal public sector, have been analysed forthe first half of the 1990's in four municipalities in Sweden: Botkyrka, Gnosjö, Kalmar andPajala. Special emphasis has been put on local variations regarding the development ofemployment opportunities in the sector and the degree of reorganization within it. One ofthe hypotheses in the thesis is that, as a consequence of deregulation and decentralizationof public services in the 1990's, it no longer is possible to speak of one single welfare modelbut instead of different local welfare models. Secondly, an attempt to explain theconnection between the welfare state and women's labour market is made usingHirdman's concept "gender contracts". The decentralization of public services implies thatit is absolutely necessary to adopt a local perspective in studies of the form and contents ofgender contracts, because negotiations with respect to the division of labour increasinglyare enacted between women, men and the local government. A third aim, therefore, is totry to explain the effects of ongoing restructuring in terms of the connection between localwelfare models and local gander contracts. Regarding the "bargaining position" of womenvis-à-vis the local government, the four case studies show that the local conditions forwomen are rather disparate. In Botkyrka, the new organizational ideas were introduced ina very determined way, whereas Kalmar chose a cautious approach, with less far-reachingorganizational changes. In Pajala, much of the new ideology was adopted, although localconditions severely restricted its implementation, and in Gnosjö a basic policy was not tosubject core local sector activities to competition. The study shows, very clearly, that thestrategies adopted by local governments to meet changing conditions and economicproblems strongly affect women's labour market.