Yvonne Hirdman


Yvonne Hirdman, is a Swedish historian and gender researcher. She has received many awards for her work including the August Prize.

Early years and education

Yvonne Hirdman is the daughter of the language teacher Einar Hirdman and Charlotte Hirdman, born Schledt, and granddaughter of Gunnar and Maj Hirdman. She is the mother of Anja Hirdman and sister of Sven Hirdman. She grew up in Hökarängen, Malmberget. and Oskarshamn. She received a bachelor's degree in 1968 and PhD in 1974 at Stockholm University with the thesis of Sveriges Kommunistiska Parti 1939–1945.

Career

She has, among other things, conducted gender-oriented research and is particularly known for having in Sweden launched the concept of "gender", which was already established in the English language in 1988. Her theories came first to have an impact on the state power investigation, where she was one of the members. She has been a professor of history at the University of Gothenburg, working at the Institute for Working Life; professor of contemporary history at Södertörn University; and professor of history at Stockholm University, where, as of 2017, she is professor emerita in the history department.
Hirdman has done a lot of research on gender and is also the person who launched the word "gender" in the Swedish language in the 1980s. The concept of gender became helpful when talking about the "female" or the "male" in a context of cultural and social rather than biological. In 1988, Hirdman published a report at the University of Gothenburg in book form entitled: The Genus System: theoretical considerations about women's social subordination, the Power Investigation. It was in this report that Hirdman wrote about the concept of gender in its importance in the Swedish language and then the concept was launched in the Swedish language. In 2004 she wrote a book by the title: The Genus System - Reflections on Women's Social Subordination. In 2001, Hirdman published her first edition of the book Genus, about the changing forms of stability. A newer edition was published in 2003 with the same title. In all these books and reports, the common component is that everyone is concerned and touches on the subject gender both as a subject and as a concept. Therefore, Hirdman can be viewed as a protagonist in this area and a person who made a major impression on this topic in Sweden's history.
In 2015, her autobiography was published, Medan jag var ung.

Selected works