Företagande män och osynliggjorda kvinnor : Diskursen om Gnosjö ur ett könsperspektiv

Sammanfattning: Gnosjö is a place in Sweden which is commonly associated with successful entrepreneurship and a large number of self-employed. The representations of this place are widely spread and well established. The aim of the dissertation is to examine the discourse of Gnosjö from a gender perspective. The thesis demonstrates that the discourse about Gnosjö generally creates an image of success which subordinates women and places men in a superior position. This implies that the Gnosjö discourse is masculinist. However, a critical image of Gnosjö is also created, mainly by authors using a gender perspective.The method used in the thesis is discourse analysis. The material which is analysed consists of around 300 newspaper articles as well as around 50 scientific and popular studies on Gnosjö. Material from the county board of Jönköping and six interviews carried out in the municipality of Vaggeryd are also analysed.Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship are the most obvious and well established denominations of Gnosjö. The entrepreneurs of Gnosjö are represented as men in the discourse which, it is argued, is related to the fact that the term entrepreneur has masculine connotations. The discourse also creates a certain entrepreneurial masculinity, with an emphasis on practical knowledge, hard work and the notion of being self-made.The discourse produces Gnosjö as a role model of economic and regional development, in which emphasis is put on male entrepreneurs as actors in networks. The focus on individual male entrepreneurs also makes Gnosjö useful as a symbol in a neo-liberal argumentation for better conditions for small-scale enterprises in Sweden. The discourse of Gnosjö with its focus on entrepreneurs as men is thus created in different texts, brought forward in different contexts.