Genusnormer på Kvinnofolkhögskolan: En fallstudie av deltagarnas upplevelse och skapande av kunskap och identitet i ett separatistiskt rum

Abstract

Through a critical discourse analysis this study explores the gender norms that students on Kvinnofolkhögskolan produce, reproduce and experience. Kvinnofolkhögskolan is built on the understanding that the world discriminates against women politically, culturally, economically and socially, and thus intends to give women, non-binaries and trans people an education with a feminist alignment. Despite studies being made on gender segregated schools as identity forming, I argue that there is a lack of studies that show how gender discourse and theory is produced in contexts where men are excluded. With in-depth interviews and by drawing on Foucault's rules of power this study aims to show that the students create objects in terms of groups, such as feminist ideologies, and that the students produce knowledge by defining concepts such as “woman” and “femininity”. The study concludes that gender norms, discourse and hierarchy are always socially constructed, regardless if men take part in the making of them.