| Summary: | The municipalities are important actors in the struggle to achieve gender equality. The main purpose of this study is to compare two municipalities, one with a higher representation of women and one with a lower representation in the political assemblies. We want to determine if there´s a difference in the way that the municipalities approach and define their gender equality work. To answer these questions we have divided our study into three different analyses. Based on previous research, our hypothesis is that in the municipality with a higher degree of women's representation, gender equality will be mentioned more often in political meetings (analysis one). We also assume that this municipality will have a more norm-critical approach in it´s gender equality plan (analysis two) and that the result will be reflected in the municipality's annual report (analysis three). The method of this study is a comparative analysis based on the most similar system design. The municipalities studied are Gällivare, which has a high representation of women and Arboga that has a low representation of women in the political assemblies. The overall findings of the first two analyses indicate that women´s representation doesn’t have a positive impact on how often gender equality is adressed and that women´s representation doesn´t lead to a more norm-critical approach in the gender equality plan. The results of the third analysis doesn´t reflect the result of the first two. On the contrary it indicates that the representation of women actually can have an effect on the municipality's gender equality focus. When all three of the analyses are taken into account we find that neither of the municipalities prioritize gender equality work.
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