Internship at the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud

What tasks did you perform during your internship?

– I did my internship in the supervisory department at the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud (LDO) and mainly worked with political advocacy. I worked on a variety of tasks related to equality, discrimination and human rights. Among other things, I contributed to work on a consultation response to the Ministry of Justice and Public Security on a public hearing, prepared meetings with public authorities, and drafted input and arguments for decision-makers. I mainly worked with gender as a ground of discrimination, and contributed, among other things, to topics such as work–family balance, social exclusion and care responsibilities. I got to take part in exciting projects. In addition, I wrote minutes from meetings, internal background notes and draft texts, and was able to participate in meetings with internal and external stakeholders.

How did you use skills you have acquired from your education at the Faculty of Humanities?

–The master’s in Gender Studies has given me tools to understand how norms, institutions and social structures shape different groups’ opportunities and lives. That was very useful at LDO, because much of the work is about seeing how discrimination and inequality arise. I also found that my education gave me a good language for understanding connections between different grounds of discrimination. That made it easier to contribute to work where several perspectives had to be kept open at the same time.

What do you think is or was the greatest benefit from your internship?

– The greatest benefit was being able to see how theory can be used in practice. In the study program we work a lot theoretically and analytically, while during my internship I got to experience how such perspectives can be translated into concrete measures, guidelines, input and policy development. I also got an insight into how interdisciplinary work takes place. At LDO, legal, political and social science perspectives meet, and it was instructive to see how different academic approaches can complement and challenge each other.

Anything else you would like to add?

– I would recommend taking an internship course to all students who want to understand how their academic competence can be used outside the university. My advice is to ask questions, dare to take up space and not underestimate the value of your theoretical background. Even if you do not always use theoretical perspectives directly, your studies give you a way of thinking that can be highly relevant in working life. Doing an internship was a good way to test what kinds of tasks and professional environments you thrive in. For me, the internship period made it clearer how gender studies can be used in concrete public equality work.”

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