Samarbete på könsblandade arbetsplatser : En könsteoretisk analys av arbetsdelning mellan kvinnor och män i två yrken: akutsjuksköterskor och ordningspoliser

Sammanfattning: In this thesis I adress the problem of intra-occuptional sex segregation in the labour market, especially in male-dominated professions and workplaces. By intra-occupational sex segregation, or internal sex segregation, I mean the division of work tasks that develops in occupations in which we find both women and men with the same education and initially the same positions in the organisation.I argue that internal sex segregation can best be explained in terms of the creation and affirmation of gender identity and not in terms of any differences in the formally equal qualifications of women and men. My reasoning is based on a structural-agency discussion that includes gender structures on two analytical levels. To develop and illustrate this kind of explanation, I undertook two empirical studies involving interviews with and observations of female and male nurses on an emergancy ward and female and male patrol officers in a police force.I assume, on the basis of a structural theory of love power and from Nordic empirical research, that male patrol officers use predominantly male practices to affirm gender identity and that female nurses use predominantly female practices for the same reason. These are supported or thwarted within specific contexts in the workplace. Identity processes within different contexts produce specific organisational gender structures. In the police organisation the gender structure shows a rather one-sided support for male practices. On the emergancy ward there is balanced support for both female and male practices. These structures play a decisive role in the development of co-operation between women and men in the workplaces.There are two types of gender minority processes going on here, one involving men in a occupation dominated by women, and one involving women in a male-dominated occupation. Gender identity affirmation in a typically female profession does not constitute an obstacle to male nurses being considered competent nurses. By contrast, the stereotyping of female and male practices among patrol officers creates barriers that prevent female patrol officers from being regarded as real patrol officers. These barriers bolster the internal sex segregation amongst female and male patrol officers.