Könsnormer inom socialtjänsten : Hur klientens kön påverkar beviljandet av insatser från socialtjänstens barn- och ungdomsavdelning

Sammanfattning: There is some research that indicates that there is a difference being made between men and women in many different contexts in Swedish society, including in social services. The differences being made can be anything from how social workers think about men and women to the adaptation of the language according to the client’s gender, and what kind of help the clients are being granted, based on their gender. There is however limited research in regard to how social services treat women and men according to their gender, and there are reasons to believe that there is room for more research in this field. A lack of gender awareness and reflection can cause harm for the individual, hence he or she does not receive adequate help. More research in this field could contribute to increased understanding of the problem and hopefully a disclosure of the gender awareness.   The intention of this vignette study has been to examine whether these differences are being made within the social services for children and youth, and how these differences are being expressed in the work field. The choice fell on examining social workers within the field from all cities with a population of between 100,000 and 150,000 citizens, thus a total sample of the chosen population. The number of the cities that are corresponding with the intended selection is eleven. However, the results in this study cannot be generalized to the entire selected population, due to the great lack of participation. Four cities participated in this study and 57 social workers answered the questionnaire. Regarding the question whether the youth should be granted any service, the results point at no significant difference between genders of the clients. On the other hand, there is a significant difference regarding which type of service would be granted for the youth social workers considered being in need of service. More respondents granted family treatment for the boy than for the girl. Regarding other types of services being granted there were no significant differences. Regardless of these findings, tendencies can be distinguished that more boys than girls are granted services. The possible explanation is that this has to do with clients’ gender, inclination of the vignette or loss of participants.