“Women in groups can help each and learn from each other”: The role of homosocial practices within women’s social networks in building local gender contracts

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https://doi.org/10.17583/generos.2016.1992

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Abstract

Feminist scholars struggle to articulate gender relations in different contexts. Using the concept of local gender contract - a place specific agreement of gender relations, we explore how women’s networks challenge or shift gender contracts in their communities. Based on two empirical case studies of women´s groups from Eastern Africa and Thai migrants in Sweden, we show gender contracts are challenged through women’s homosocial activities. We highlight tensions between gender contracts and the women’s goals revealing a complicated process of assent and resistance. This study expands gender contract theoretically and provides a way to understand vulnerable women’s activities.

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Author Biographies

Natasha Alexandra Webster, Stockholm University

PhD Candidate

 

Martina Angela Caretta, West Virginia University

Associate Professor

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Published

2016-10-25

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Webster, N. A., & Caretta, M. A. (2016). “Women in groups can help each and learn from each other”: The role of homosocial practices within women’s social networks in building local gender contracts. Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, 5(3), 1072–1097. https://doi.org/10.17583/generos.2016.1992

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