The aim of this thesis is to examine employees views on gender equality at a human resource company in Stockholm. Our results are obtained though interviews and observations. Our informants are, to the extent that it is possible, of different ages, job descriptions and statuses within the company.

We have focused on employees’ perceptions of the company in regard to its work on topics that effect gender/discrimination in the work place. Through out this thesis we argue that employees at the human resource company use a discourse which is dedicated to topics of equality, however the employees do not practice these values in any noticeable way. Rather they show an ambivalence as to how these questions should be managed. Thus a discrepancy between discourse and practice is constructed within the company. By applying Robert Connell’s theory on hegemonic masculinity in combination with Lisbeth Bekkengen’s analysis of “child orientated masculinity” to our research we argue that a normative masculinity is created at the company, which not only constructs a marginalized masculinity in its wake, but also prohibits gender equality from becoming common practice. Another factor that complicates work on gender equality is that informants choose not to see gender asymmetries as structural, rather they are lifted out of their context and viewed as individual.

Keyword: Human Resources, gender, equality, discourse, masculinity, practice, ethnicity