Unemployment and Identity: A Study of Women Outside the Labour Market

What are the implications of unemployment for women? What happens to women's identity when they become unemployed? Can women, as opposed to men, easily return to their place within the home in times of an economic recession? Or is it the case that women see paid work as their right? What happens when these expectations concerning paid work are not fulfilled? How do they cope with unemployment? What does paid work mean to women? A plethora of studies, both in Sweden and internationally, have emerged during the last decade which take a closer look at women's entry into the labour market, the interconnections between home and work and women's situation more generally.2 Ironically, the kinds of questions posed above have escaped closer scrutiny, yet these are questions which we see as being fundamental to an analysis of women's lives. By examining the links between unemployment and identity, we begin to tread important ground, since we are led to looking at what importance paid work has for women and how it shapes their lives. These questions are also of special relevance at present when unemployment is becoming a major social problem in our society and when women, as a specific group, are being disproportionately affected. Before commenting further on the aspect of unemployment in relation to women and in what ways our study approaches this problem area, a short survey of women's position in the labour market is necessary.