Beyond Invisibility : A Case-Study of Visualization of Gender in Already Organized Archives through the Gender and Work Project

Abstract: This study focuses on investigating the question of how gender can be made seen in already organized archives. This is done in order to provide answers to the thesis aims which is to broaden the knowledge of visualizing marginalized groups within archives, and to contribute with knowledge to the field of gender studies within Swedish archival studies. This will be achieved through a case-study framework and a document analysis where the Gender and Work project’s database and complementary documents is studied. The Gender and Work being a project aiming at collecting information regarding gender and work during the early modern period. A theoretical framework has been used where archives are understood as part of a process of power, where certain groups are given a voice whilst others are silenced. Here it is clear that visualizing can involve several steps. The study shows that the GaW database consists a vast use of metadata, in which gender is present, and both men and women are searchable. Therefore, the database presents a way through which gender can be visualized, by using a database. However, gender is not visualized at large. The database fails by not using a larger set of records which allows individuals to speak for themselves, and when sex is used as a search way individuals not registered as performing work cannot be located. It therefore mainly visualizes gender in relation to work. Even though the Gender and Work database do provide new insights to the field of gender and archive, there is still much to do in order to visualize gender within archives. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.