Acknowledgements
My wholehearted gratitude to my partner Hallur for his continuous support and making this work
possible by moving halfway across the world with me. I thank him for participating in an
„endless‟ conversation on gender equality and the gendered division of labour while enjoying the
greatest share of the housework at our own home. Most of all I thank him for being such a good
friend.
My two daughters, Fönn and Dögun, have provided me endless inspiration for this research and
their existence is a constant reminder of the importance for feminist research.
I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. Thomas Kemple and Dr. Dawn Currie for their support
throughout the process of writing this thesis and for enlarging my vision of sociology and gender
with provoking questions, enlightening conversations and valuable comments and suggestions.
I thank Dr. Thoroddur Bjarnason for directing my interest into the field of sociology, for
impressing upon me the importance of studying attitudes towards gender equality among
adolescents and for invaluable encouragement and inspirations he has offered since we first
started to work together in the field.
Many thanks to Björg, Elizabeth, Jayme, Sarah and Fang, my fellow students at The University
of British Columbia, who all have been great friends and helpers in different but very significant
ways.
I express my gratitude to all the girls and boys who participated in the focus group discussions. It
was very interesting and intriguing discussing with all of you. Your insights and experiences are
valuable contributions to attitudes towards gender equality in Iceland. I also like to thank the 10th
grade teachers and the staff at Brekkuskóli for welcoming me and for their help and flexibility
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during the process of the focus group discussions. Especially I like to thank Helga Sigurðardóttir
for her interest, great help and the insights she offered.
This study was supported by the Icelandic Center for Research Graduate Research Fund and the
KEA-University of Akureyri Scholarship for Graduate Studies.