Vem ska få pengarna? : En studie om socialarbetares erfarenheter av rutiner och arbetssätt för handläggning av ekonomiskt bistånd i relation till kvinnors våldsutsatthet och jämställdhet

Sammanfattning

The purpose of the thesis was to examine the social services’ routines for handling financial assistance from a gender perspective, to gain an increased understanding on how social workers' working methods related to financial assistance are designed in relation to women's exposure to men's violence in close relationships and gender equality goals. This study has been conducted because there is relatively little research specifically focused on financial issues and the economic dimension of abuse in close relationships and gender equality. This study used seven qualitative semi-structured interviews with a total of eight interviewees from six different municipalities. The main themes for the interviews were how the social services that work with financial assistance apply a gender equality perspective to their work and how they link their work with intimate partner abuse to a gender equality and gender perspective. Analysis of data was based on gender theory from gender researcher Yvonne Hirdman. In summary, the study showed that the different municipalities had different ideas about gender equality and therefore met the requirements of the Social Services Act and gender equality goals to varying degrees. Some municipalities reproduced gender norms and had contributing factors to violence in close relationships, while some municipalities challenged notions of gender and counteracting violence in close relationships from a gender perspective. Despite these varying results, our study showed that professionals have an interest and demand for improving gender equality work, which provides good conditions for developing the work.