Material from the FRONT project shows significant gendered differences in how the working environment and organizational culture are experienced. It is not a single factor that negatively affects women, but a complex process involving many components over time – with different causes and modes of action – together giving an accumulated disadvantage. These processes and their effects are summarized in a model called“Bøygen”, after the creature who creates obstacles and counter-forces to Peer Gynt in Ibsen’s play. The academic version of Bøygen operates partly through an “accumulation” of disadvantages throughout the academic career, and partly  through experiences that tend to cause loss of self-confidence and motivation. External resistance and lack of support translates into inner doubt. The Bøygen model is discussed in relation to international research on the effects of barriers to women in academia. The model is the first of three theoretical contributions to the project (chapters 7, 8 and 9) based on the empirical content in chapters 1–6.  [G1]inte säker på vad som menas här: approaches?