Description
- Abstract:
- This dissertation is about changing perspectives on marriage, family relations, and work life among older Italian women in their mid fifties to late sixties. These women came of age in the post World War II era, a period of great economic, social, and statutory transformation in Italy. The watershed of changes brought forth by the economic boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, as well as the feminist movement of the 1970s, opened unforeseen educational and work opportunities for women. These changes also raised questions about the fundamental organization of Italian society where the home, that is the family, is the primary source of social and economic support, and women are its foundation. Fieldwork consisted of repeated 2-3 month visits to my field site, Rome, for a total of 9 months of research where I participated in the daily lives of two groups of women from disparate socioeconomic backgrounds. Each group consisted of approximately 20-30 women. I conducted twelve life history interviews with six women from each group. In this study, I primarily use the life experiences of three women to examine the extent to which the social developments, and legal reforms, of that period succeeded in altering social and cultural values, and how they continue to intersect with women’s everyday lives. Their narratives illustrate how the position of Italian women is simultaneously evolving, yet remains consistent, as it intersects with wider structural changes. Today, these women continue to negotiate changing social patterns regarding family life, work life, and post-retirement aspirations amid a long-term economic crisis, a demographic reality characterized by long life and low fertility, and against an undercurrent of male privilege that has had detrimental repercussions for women and Italian society. Even as the structure of the Italian family conforms to accommodate evolving patterns of family formation, as well as life course expectations, the ideal of the woman as the primary provider of care remains unfalteringly stable. The reasons for this are a complex interweaving of familial, social, institutional, and statal factors that also intersect with deep-seated biases regarding gender.
- Notes:
- Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2015)
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Citation
Vares, Laura AM,
"Keeping It All Together: Changing Perspectives on Marriage, Family, and Career among Older Italian Women"
(2015).
Anthropology Theses and Dissertations.
Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library.
https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0SF2TJJ
