DEN INTERNA JÄMSTÄLLDHETSKOMMUNIKATIONENS FRAMGÅNGSFAKTORER OCH UTMANINGAR

Executive summary
Gender integration is the Swedish government’s main strategy for achieving gender equality, which means that a gender perspective must be considered in all political decisions that affect people’s conditions, so that all women and men, girls and boys can live equal lives. I believe that it should be profitable to apply this strategy also within an organization; that a gender equality perspective must be considered in all decisions that affect employees. For it to be feasible, communication and communicative leaders are needed. Gender equality is a contributing factor to all individuals being allowed to develop themselves and make the educational and professional choices they want based on their interests and abilities, rather than based on normative notions of what women and men should do and master based on their gender. Through gender equality, the range of talents and abilities increases, and everyone develop according to potential.

The status of communication within an organization is affected by the management’s and managers’ view of and understanding of communication issues. It needs to be clear from the top management and throughout the organization why inclusion is important and that it is a priority that benefits the entire organization. Gender equality should be integrated into
management at all levels, integrated into strategies and implemented through clear measures and through an inclusive culture to achieve impact.

The purpose of the study is to identify and create an understanding of the success factors and challenges managers experience in communicating gender equality internally. The empirical data is taken from four semi-structured interviews with managers within an organization with
approximately 3,000 employees. I have used a strategic selection where I have deliberately hand-picked individuals to get a variation in representation in terms of factors such as gender, experience of leadership and the teams orientation. The focus of the survey has been to seek answers to what conditions and support managers need to successfully integrate gender
equality in the business, how they communicate internal, the group’s importance for the process and in what way opposition is expressed.

There is a wide range regarding how often gender equality is communicated by each manager. In some teams it happens rarely and mainly in connection with clear organizational processes, in other teams it happens so often and is seamlessly integrated into the business, that it is difficult to track down in what format it takes place. The individuals in the team and the climate of conversation are of great importance for the process. Recurring conversations about gender equality are required to remove the anxiety surrounding the subject. The support and prerequisites that managers need to successfully communicate gender equality and succeed in integrating the gender equality perspective into the core business are knowledge, courage and a clear stance from the organization. How the manager interprets and implements the communication has a great impact on the scope and context in which employees receive information internally. I think it becomes even more vulnerable when it comes to value and cultural communication as it is filtered through the manager and becomes dependent on his or
her perception of the importance of this in relation to other issues. A relatively common opposition in the organization is that employees want to focus on concrete tasks related to work instead of talking about gender equality and other value-related issues. If the manager has insight into how opposition can manifest itself in various forms, it is easier to respond to
it. As a result of a successful gender integration and an ongoing dialogue, the organization can gain new perspectives, ideas and collaborations, which benefits the core business.