To be “a real woman” - local culture and gender roles in Tornedalen

To be “a real woman” - local culture and gender roles in Tornedalen

The empirical basis of this study consists of life-history interviews with women of different ages from the northernmost Sweden (Tornedalen area). By using the women’s narratives, from a feminist poststructuralist approach, the study focuses on how women have adapted their gender roles according to norms of the local society. The study involves a historical perspective from the middle to the late twentieth century. This includes transitions from an almost exclusively rural to a more urbanized life (in the countryside); and from a time when almost all women were full-time housewives to a time when this has become a rarity. The gender relations expressed in narratives from the 1950th are often surprisingly similar to those expressed in narratives from the 1990th. [more info]

The processes involved in conserving gender relations may be explained by studying the local culture. Many of the women are aware of gender equality questions including their own situations. However, instead of working towards equality, the women themselves may have acted to preserve traditional and unequal gender roles. The women seem to have guarded their gender roles by exercising group-pressure towards each other. One example is the female idolization of “a real women” meaning women who cleans their houses very carefully, makes well-prepared food and always keeps the children neat and tidy. The local culture has influenced the women’s lives through all generations covered in this study. The strong norm system with its cemented gender roles may have been hard to accept for young women growing up in Tornedalen.

PhD student

Ann-Kristin Juntti-Henriksson, PhD student
+46-920-49 30 28
ann-kristin.juntti-henriksson@ltu.se

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»	Ann-Kristin Juntti-Henriksson