| Summary: | The issue of underrepresentation of women in male-dominated or so called non-traditional occupations is common in both military organisations and society in general. An example of this is the low number of female pilots in the Swedish Armed Forces. Previous studies have shown that the issue of underrepresentation of women, amongst other things, lies within women’s willingness to apply. Similar studies focusing on recruitment material suggest that military organisations employ different forms of masculinity in their recruiting strategies. However, what previous studies have not explored is the connection between masculine recruitment material and the will to apply. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to study this connection through a discourse analysis of the Swedish Armed Forces’ recruitment material for pilots from a gender perspective. The analysis reveals that the material implicitly conveys a masculine discourse with focus on challenges, missions and progress, almost exclusively within a flying context. This discourse in relation to feminine traits and values may therefore be a reason why many women do not apply to become pilots.
|
|---|
