Pojkar fäktas och flickor leker? : En jämförelse av gymnastikundervisningen på Karlstads högre allmännaläroverk och Karlstads högre elementära läroverk för flickor. 1925–1930

Sammanfattning: This study compares the physical education between two Swedish schools from 1925-1930. One school is all female while the other is all male up until the school reform of 1927 when girls got access to higher education in Sweden.  The study aims to: •    Study how the two different schools educated their pupils in gymnastic and sports •    Compare how the all-female school differs from the boys’ school in terms of physical education. •    Analyze how the school system contributed to reinforcing social gender stereotypes in Swedish society. Physical education as a subject has been a part of the Swedish educational system since the end of the 19th century. Since its introduction, the subject has seen several changes in both name and content. But for a long time, it has always contained some form of ling gymnastics. Ling gymnastics is a type of gymnastic which is known for discipline, military exercises, and controlled movements with the help of commands from a teacher. I have analyzed the annual reports of the two schools in this subject to study the differences in the two school’s application of ling gymnastics, through a theoretical framework based on gender theory.  The results of the study show that there was a significant difference between the education of boys and girls. The boys’ education aimed more at making them strong and competitive while including military exercises which the girls did not. The girls’ education was more aimed at flexibility, grace, and simpler sports. This shows that the physical education system in Sweden did segregate the genders and enforced the social-gender stereotypes.