«Αν ήμουν άνεργη και δεν ήμουν παντρεμένη, θα ήμουν ένα τίποτα…»: Έμφυλες διαπραγματεύσεις της ανεργίας

This study investigates the ways in which unemployed married women talk about and justify their unemployment status in relation to the construction of gendered identities. It focuses on the analysis of the “interpretative repertories” which women use and their consequences on the negotiation of their female identity within the particular family and work framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the analysis was based on the principles of discourse analysis within the framework of feminist perspectives. It was found that women construct and arrange their occupational practices and choices relying primarily on traditional beliefs and assumptions about female participation in the labour market. Gender and marital status are used in order to justifyunemployment since the later is being described as a “natural” situation, especially for married women. Participants construct a context where there are no supportive mechanisms for married unemployed womenand their needs for employment are not taken into serious consideration. Findings further show that married women are confronted with personal conflicts as well as stereotypical socio-cultural expectations and constructions of female unemployment. Within this context, they seem to finally accept the dominant discourses about the traditional gendered division of work and family roles.