A Female Gendered Study

A feminist methodology is appropriate for this study, not only because it is an all female study, but also to address my own moral and personal position as a female researcher who is a mother, daughter and a university student. However, there are many different forms of feminism that encompass commonalities, contradictions, compromises and alliances (Letherby, 2003). Scott (in Letherby, 2003) provides useful guidelines for feminist research. These include the value of the personal and the private as worthy of investigation and the significance of gender as an important aspect of this study. This research has been conducted using a feminist methodology, to explore family, individuality and mothering and the impact on educational choices (Ribbens, 1994; Ribbens and Edwards, 1998; Rogers, 2003).

The use of a feminist underpinning in this study is necessary to consider the foci of this research, that is, generational change in women’s status and the place of any maternal support within this process. Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence is pertinent to the crossover between feminism and his work in respect of this study. The understanding of symbolic violence as the leveraging of status through an unwritten resource or power advantage, has kept women in particular roles and maintained a socially constructed, gendered society (Bourdieu, 2001). Lawler (2008) notes that such symbolism can only be powerful if it is recognised as sufficiently legitimate, which has historically been the case for the oppressive positioning of women. Bourdieu (1998, 2001) points to the historical reproduction of the masculine order within families, that has played its part in bounding women into gendered roles. The divisions between the sexes would have previously been

compounded by an established, unconscious agreement to the biological or natural order that maintained an effective and functioning society (Bourdieu, 2001).

Atkinson (2012) agrees that the ownership of capital creates conditions of possibility for power to exist through the use of symbolic violence. The historical norm of men as breadwinners and therefore the agents of social, cultural and economic capital placed men as symbolically and subsequently socially more powerful. Bourdieu (2001) suggests that women were compliant through obedience in undertaking domestic labour due to acknowledged dispositions of what constitutes masculine and feminine, that subsequently reinforce gendered differentiation in society. Members of society construct principles, visions and divisions that form structures that become embodied and ultimately a social reality (Bourdieu, 1998).

The interplay between gender and class is also a powerful force, both in the oppression and liberation of women’s place in society. Adkins and Skeggs (2004) note that Bourdieu’s work does not engage with the nuances of gendered symbolic violence between working and middle class distinctions, but such research has been undertaken in Skeggs’ (1997) ethnographic study of white, working-class women and Reay’s (2002b) study of working-class boys. Whilst Bourdieu’s conceptual tools are central to the theoretical application of this research, it has been necessary to also apply a feminist methodology to understand the lived reality of each participant and the place of feminism, class and generational differences to women’s rights in a changing social environment. However, like all forms of social change, it is necessary to challenge the understanding and appearance of feminism and femininity and how they have developed, as such concepts are constantly changing and unstable (Adkins and Skeggs, 2004).

Feminism has played a visible role in addressing and changing the way women are viewed in society, with various strands of feminism having developed over time, each with their own differences (Oakley, 2005). There are many forms of feminism, but two areas of feminism repeatedly recurred

in participants’ narratives. I have used second wave feminism and post feminism as markers to demonstrate shifts of opinion between two generations of women. The participants broadly experienced the opportunity to access higher education between the 1980s, which was the beginning of second wave feminism, and the 2000s, when there has been a shift to post feminist discourse. Consideration of second wave feminism provides an opportunity to explore recollections of participants’ life events and incidents of the revolutionary feminism of the 1970s and 1980s. Post feminism is used to explore how society has changed to position women in more equal decision-making situations and allowing women to have greater gender equality and improved options for both careers and child rearing (Wright, 2000; Negra, 2009).

Emerging themes from the research data suggest that many of the mothers identify with the second wave of feminism, supported by their recall of feminism of the 1980s with its radical tones of ‘anti-men, anti-family’ (McRobbie, 2009: 31). This contrasts with the daughters’ general view of feminism as an outdated notion and their alignment with post feminism attitudes that it has ‘done its job’ and everybody is equal (Tasker and Negra, 2007). This duality necessitates a critical engagement with both forms of feminism to consider what has instigated these changes and why. Merrill (1999) argues that women who witnessed the feminist movement of the 1970 and 1980s may be more vehement in their support for women of future generations if they did not have access to higher education or a chosen career path themselves. Therefore it is important to explore whether this was any of the mothers’ experiences and to capture any narrative.

Birch and Miller (2002: 3) suggest that the use of a feminist methodology enables reflection on particular aspects of women’s lives ‘from a particular theoretical and methodological perspective’. A feminist research approach specifically highlights the complications, both of women’s private experiences of public issues and the sensitivities required to remain faithful to the domestic, personal and intimate narratives of their participants, whilst translating them into public knowledge in an academic sphere (Ribbens and

Edwards, 1998). The feminist approach is central to my research design of wanting to hear the personal and the public facets of women’s narratives around their education.

3.7 The Researcher as Mother and Daughter

Following analysis of the data, I accepted that there were further resonances between some of my participants’ lifestyles and my own, as in Leanne’s example of not accepting extra childcare help or Vicky’s position of caring for children and an older mother. This has enabled me to consider more deeply my own position within this research.

Whilst there is much literature on auto/biography (Stanley: 1992), auto- ethnography (Ellis and Bochner, 2000; Rogers, 2009) and less conventional ways of writing research, there is still relatively little on the actual practicalities of the problem of managing the self when close to the research material, including how the researcher negotiates the more personal aspects of the research process. I have moved away from the impersonal methods of interviewing. My research has been carried out within a feminist reflexive process.

By virtue of my biographical interlude (Rogers, 2003) I am included within the reflexive process. Some of my participants have reacted not only as interviewees, but also as confidants. I sometimes shared experiences and my role as researcher blurred into that of parent-researcher. The nature of my insider understanding gave rise to reflexivity with the participants and their narratives. This encouraged the research to become a two-way process and required me to maintain a duty of care to my participants as a feminist researcher. My involvement as an insider meant I was often welcomed into people’s homes and life histories and some of my participants have placed themselves as ‘friends’ (Rogers, 2003). An excerpt from Tia’s narrative as a higher education student with a family demonstrates this co-understanding: