Perspectives on womanhood in rural America: A qualitative exploration of female identity within a Christian and republican context
(2023) SOCK07 20231Sociology
- Abstract
- Equality between men and women in American society has been an ongoing struggle and debate
for centuries. In some ways, the societal position of women has improved, e.g., in terms of
gaining access to the labor market. Yet, despite significant changes regarding gender roles and
norms, along with an increased necessity of double-income households, old ideals of gender
roles and family structures still linger, particularly amongst more conservative parts of the
population. The purpose of this investigation was to explore how conceptions of gender roles,
both traditional and modern, are produced and negotiated by women, and to examine the
connection between notions of femininity and womanhood, and the economic, sociopolitical,
... (More) - Equality between men and women in American society has been an ongoing struggle and debate
for centuries. In some ways, the societal position of women has improved, e.g., in terms of
gaining access to the labor market. Yet, despite significant changes regarding gender roles and
norms, along with an increased necessity of double-income households, old ideals of gender
roles and family structures still linger, particularly amongst more conservative parts of the
population. The purpose of this investigation was to explore how conceptions of gender roles,
both traditional and modern, are produced and negotiated by women, and to examine the
connection between notions of femininity and womanhood, and the economic, sociopolitical,
and religious context of the women’s geographical locations. For this, a qualitative method has
been used, in which five semi-structured interviews were conducted with Caucasian, American
women in the ages 46-63 who resided in predominantly republican areas which have a high
concentration of white, Christian identity. The results demonstrate a rather traditional view of
womanhood, with value being placed on the woman’s role as a mother, in conjunction with the
perspective that men and women enjoy equal opportunities in today’s society. Furthermore, the
results pointed to an overlap between egalitarian and conservative values amongst the
participants and displays of conflict between reality and ideals were in some cases found. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9129813
- author
- Ekblom, Jonna LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SOCK07 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- gender roles, womanhood, motherhood, feminism, conservatism, religion, modern and traditional women.
- language
- English
- id
- 9129813
- date added to LUP
- 2023-08-11 13:53:16
- date last changed
- 2023-08-11 13:53:16
@misc{9129813, abstract = {{Equality between men and women in American society has been an ongoing struggle and debate for centuries. In some ways, the societal position of women has improved, e.g., in terms of gaining access to the labor market. Yet, despite significant changes regarding gender roles and norms, along with an increased necessity of double-income households, old ideals of gender roles and family structures still linger, particularly amongst more conservative parts of the population. The purpose of this investigation was to explore how conceptions of gender roles, both traditional and modern, are produced and negotiated by women, and to examine the connection between notions of femininity and womanhood, and the economic, sociopolitical, and religious context of the women’s geographical locations. For this, a qualitative method has been used, in which five semi-structured interviews were conducted with Caucasian, American women in the ages 46-63 who resided in predominantly republican areas which have a high concentration of white, Christian identity. The results demonstrate a rather traditional view of womanhood, with value being placed on the woman’s role as a mother, in conjunction with the perspective that men and women enjoy equal opportunities in today’s society. Furthermore, the results pointed to an overlap between egalitarian and conservative values amongst the participants and displays of conflict between reality and ideals were in some cases found.}}, author = {{Ekblom, Jonna}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Perspectives on womanhood in rural America: A qualitative exploration of female identity within a Christian and republican context}}, year = {{2023}}, }