“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

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.Keywords: local gender contract, homosociality, women's social networks, East Africa, Thai migrants, Sweden. Vol. 5 No. 3 October 2016 pp. 1072-1097 GÉNEROS -Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies ResumenLas académicas feministas tienen dificultades en articular las relaciones de género en diferentes contextos. Utilizando el concepto de contracto local de género -un acuerdo de relaciones de género especifico a un lugar, analizamos como los grupos de mujeres desafían o cambian los contractos en sus comunidades. Basado en dos casos de estudio de grupos de mujeres en África del Este y de mujeres tailandesas en Suecia, demostramos que los contractos de género han sido desafiados a través de las actividades homosociales de las mujeres. Resaltamos las tensiones entre los géneros y los objetivos de las mujeres revelando un proceso complicado de acuerdo y resistencia. El estudio amplía de forma teórica el concepto de contracto de género y presenta una manera de analizar las actividades de las mujeres vulnerables.Palabras clave: contrato local de género, homosocialidad, redes sociales femeninas, África de Este, inmigrantes tailandesas, Suecia GÉNEROS -Multidisciplinary Journal of Gender Studies, 5(3)1074 n a dark cold windy November night in Stockholm, Thai women gather from across the city to celebrate Loy Kratong, the Thai festival of light. A Thai community organization has rented a hall to celebrate the event and share their community with family and friends. The event is open to all and approximately 100 people mill inside and outside the facility. The hall is organized in long tables to allow large groups to share meals while watching a showcase of Thai cultural events; dancing, boxing, among others performed on a stage. The highlight of the evening is a beauty pageant where ten women compete for the title. The event is interspersed throughout the other performances of the evening. The women are dressed beautifully in traditional Thai clothing, their hair is coiffed and their movements are graceful. They move across the stages elegantly and 'wai' the audience in a feminine and graceful manner. The audience, primarily Swedish men clap and cheer for their favorite women. They buy roses, at 5 kronor (0.6 USD) a piece, to cast their votes towards the winner. The MC, a Thai man, brings humor to the evening by pretending to be a conte...

“Living like I am in Thailand”: stress and coping strategies among Thai migrant masseuses in Oslo, Norway

“…Comparative to other studies on Thai female migrants in Norway, our participants had less education and a lower command of Norwegian, which may help bring forward new perspectives [16]. In addition, half of our participants were entrepreneurs which adds to the literature from neighboring countries about Thai women who are creative risk takers [17, 18, 26]. One limitation of our study is that most of the participants were divorced and separated and as such their experiences may be different from other Thai marriage migrants who are still married.…”

“…Internationally, Buddhist religion and local Thai temples have been identified as an important resource for Thai marriage migrants to address their mental health needs and are often a site of recruitment for studies [23–26]. For studies on mental health, recruiting individuals from temples may lead to an oversampling of participants who use religion as a coping response.…”

Geographical Variation in Local Gender Contracts in Sweden

“…That gender contracts are shaped by spaces and places has been examined in Sweden in a number of studies (Amcoff 2001;Forsberg 1997Forsberg , 1998Forsberg , 2001Forsberg , 2010Forsberg and Stenbacka 2017;Forsberg et al 2006;Gil Solá 2016;Hedfeldt 2008;Stenbacka et al 2018;Forsberg and Lindgren 2015;Webster and Caretta 2016). A majority of these studies have used either qualitative or mixed methods, using case studies within Sweden, mostly in rural areas.…”

Local Variation in Gendered Family Policy Use: Evidence of Local Gender Contracts?

“…Gender contract theory emerged within the context of the Scandinavian universalistic welfare state where governments had committed itself to gender equality and women-friendly reforms and initiatives (Duncan, 1995). Studies of gender contract outside of the Nordic context have been done in Africa (Adu-Gyamfi et al 2019;Caretta, 2015;Caretta & Börjeson, 2015;Kalabamu, 2005), in Asia (Goldstein-Gidon, 2019; Golovina, 2018;Lindeborg, 2012), elsewhere in Europe (Kashina & Tkach, 2020) and in multi-sited research (Webster and Caretta, 2016). While applicable in all settings, gender contract theory, is especially useful in contexts with strong institutional welfare systems and in particular to studying changes in gender norms during times of large scale policy reforms (Leira, 2002).…”

“…Specific gender contracts are situated in time and place and develop from a process of conflict, negotiation and renegotiation with newly arising conflicts/ negotiations resulting in changes over longer time periods (Forsberg, 2010). Gender contracts being shaped by spaces and places has been examined in a number of studies in Sweden, mostly using qualitative or mixed methods, and often based in rural areas (Amcoff, 2001;Forsberg, 1997Forsberg, , 1998Forsberg, , 2001Forsberg, , 2010Forsberg & Lindgren, 2015;Forsberg & Stenbacka, 2017;Forsberg et al 2006;Gil Solá, 2016;Haandrikman et al 2021;Hedfeldt, 2008;Stenbacka et al 2018;Webster & Caretta, 2016). Forsberg (1998Forsberg ( , 2010 and Amcoff (2001) used a range of regional statistical indicators to operationalize gender contracts.…”