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This article addresses the dynamics of changing gender relations. Drawing on the theoretical framework of gender relations and research on women in male-dominated organizations, the article analyses the experiences of women officers in the Swedish Armed Forces. The article focuses on experiences of including as well as excluding practices and the processes of negotiating gender boundaries. The article contributes to the field by highlighting the importance of changing perceptions of gender, showing that the officers' perceptions of gender change with time, age and rank. This change is fundamental for understanding the way the women attempt to negotiate more equal gender relations.

SummaryWhat happens when intersecting relations of gender and occupation are challenged by organizational change? In the present article, I explore this question based on a case study in the Swedish Armed Forces; an organization that is currently in a state of substantial transformation. Instead of defending the nation's borders against armed attack, the purpose is now to participate in peacekeeping operations worldwide. When informants construct the ''New Armed Forces'', they envision changed patterns of both gender and occupation. I show how gender and occupation intersect in informants' use of metaphors and images, analyse constructions of gendered occupational boundaries and problematize their visions for the future. I also add new dimensions to existing research by gendering the theory of boundary work.

In the turn towards a postnationaldefence, military organizations arebecoming increasingly diverse.Based on an ethnographic study of aSwedish international service unit,this article highlights tensions in theseemingly homogenous soldiercollective and shows how demarcationsof gender as well as occupation areactive in shaping military work.

This article contributes empirical knowledge about the shifting ways in which the Swedish Armed Forces (SAF) has articulated and addressed ‘the uniform issue’, that is, matters concerning servicewomen’s access to adequate uniforms and other equipment, since the 1980s. Drawing on analytical tools employed within post-structural policy analysis, we demonstrate how ‘the uniform issue’ has gone from being articulated as a problem for servicewomen, and to be solved by servicewomen, to a problem for the SAF in its pursuit to become an attractive employer and a legitimate public authority. By shedding light on how ‘the uniform issue’ has been problematized in shifting ways since Swedish women first were allowed to serve in all military positions, this article also contributes important insights into broader scholarly debates about workplace discrimination, gender equality, and gendered occupational identities in military work.