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This article discusses the status of the concept of hegemonic masculinity in research on men and boys in Sweden, and how it has been used and developed. Sweden has a relatively long history of public debate, research, and policy intervention in gender issues and gender equality. This has meant, in sheer quantitative terms, a relatively sizeable corpus of work on men, masculinities, and gender relations. There is also a rather wide diversity of approaches, theoretically and empirically, to the analysis of men and masculinities. The Swedish national context and gender equality project is outlined. This is followed by discussion of three broad phases in studies on men and masculinities in Sweden: the 1960s and 1970s before the formulation of the concept of hegemonic masculinity; the 1980s and 1990s when the concept was important for a generation of researchers developing studies in more depth; and the 2000s with a younger generation committed to a variety of feminist and gender critiques other than those associated with hegemonic masculinity. The following sections focus specifically on how the concept of hegemonic masculinity has been used, adapted, and indeed not used, in particular areas of study: boys and young men

Gender matters in child welfare partly by virtue of the relationship of men, masculinities and men’s practices to children, young people and childcare. This problematic is considered within a European context. The article sets out some of the major ways in which men relate, or do not relate, to children and young people. These include men’s care of, violence to and abuse of children and young people. Drawing on work with the EU Research Network, ‘The Social Problem of Men’, we locate men’s relation to children in the context of men’s gendered position within different European societies and ‘welfare states’. The final part of this article discusses more research and policy on men, children and childcare. These include somewhat contradictory findings on parental leave, violence and abuse, and professional interventions in Nordic, supposedly ‘women-friendly’ ‘welfare societies’.

2. Review of each country's statistical sources in relation to home and work, exclusion, violence, health. 3. Review of governmental and quasi-governmental legal and policy statements that explicitly address men. 4. Review of two (noncontiguous) weeks' national press output to examine explicit and implicit analyses on men and masculinities, and their problematization.In each case, national reports, as well as a summary report, are being written. Information OutreachThe research network also acts as an information resource for other researchers, policy makers, and practitioners for the future. Currently, it is either actively seeking, or planning, to achieve this in a number of ways including the following:1. The Web-based European Database/European Documentation Centre on men. This Database and Documentation Centre became operational toward the end of 2000. They are located at the Web site of the allied and "umbrella" organization, Critical Research on Men in Europe (CROME) (www. cromenet.org). The national reports and the cross-Europe summaries are available at that site. 2. Published articles, conference papers, and edited volumes. 3. Several interface workshops and an international conference, involving network members and key personnel in terms of research/policy-making/ practice, and specifically geared to making key outcomes more widely known. 4. Linking with other researchers in other countries in Europe and beyond.