Glastak och dess betydelse för jämställda organisationer. En studie om jämställdhetssituationen inom den svenska affärsjuridiska advokatbranschen

Abstract

Equality implies that all individuals should have the same rights, opportunities, and obligations regardless of gender. A phenomenon that describes the equality issues that can arise when women attempt to make their way up in hierarchies within organisations is the term glass ceiling. The term describes the impenetrable obstacle that women face when trying to reach the top hierarchical strata. An industry where the statistics indicate that there may be a complex of problems related to the term glass ceiling is the Swedish business law industry. In the industry women are over-represented at the junior level positions and that have been the case for a long time. Despite that the proportion of women at senior level positions within the industry is still low. The purpose of this thesis is to discuss, problematize and create an increased understanding of the current situation regarding gender inequality within the Swedish business law industry. The essay investigates how Swedish business law firms actively work with gender equality issues, what the employees within the industry think is the reason why the situation looks the way it does and which opportunities there are for the different genders to make a career within the industry. For this study, a qualitative case study with an inductive approach was conducted. The empirical material has been gathered through semi-structured interviews with respondents from six business law firms that represent the Swedish business law industry in this essay. In addition to the interviews, material from the firm's websites and sustainability reports has been gathered. Subsequently, the empirical material has been analysed thematically with the themes that are presented in the theoretical framework. The conclusion of the thesis is that the equality situation within the Swedish business law industry can be related to the term glass ceiling. On paper, the opportunities are the same despite gender, but because of homosocial reproduction and societal structures the opportunities are not the same for the different genders. Therefore, it is important to illuminate the problematic equality situation and actively work to create a more equal industry.