In spite of the recent positive economic growth, millions of Canadians continue to experience the impact of unemployment. Although half of the jobless are female, women remain seriously neglected in the unemployment literature, with the few existing studies tending to be non North-American, to focus on blue-collar workers, to rely on quantitative approaches, and to result in contradictory findings. In this qualitative study, conducted from a constructivist, feminist perspective, semistructured, in-depth individual interviews and a focus-group interview were conducted with 12 unemployed women. In an atmosphere of safety and mutual respect, the women were considered the experts best able to articulate their job loss experiences. Findings largely confirm those of earlier studies of male and female unemployment, in that job loss tends to produce negative affective reactions such as shock, fear, anger and betrayal, often followed by feelings of self-blame, low self-esteem, anxiety, and even depression. Specifically, Jahoda's (1982) deprivation model of unemployment is supported by this study in that the destructive effects of job loss appear to be linked to the loss of essential categories of experience previously provided by the institution of employment. These include: income, routine, social contacts, meaningful activity, a sense of identity, and a sense of purpose. Findings also tend to negate long-held assumptions regarding the primacy of the domestic role in women's self-definitions. Moving beyond the deprivation model, the findings of this study suggest that a relational model of unemployment might better illuminate our understanding of women's job loss experiences, in that it acknowledges the centrality of relationship in female, if not human, psychological development (Gilligan, 1996). Women's unemployment, according to this proposed model, is experienced as varying degrees of disconnection, or loss of relationship, along the dimensions outlined by Jahoda's model. The relational model also informs our understanding of other important and related issues, such as the failure of the alternative role of homemaker to ameliorate the destructive impact of unemployment, and the difficulties which many women, if not all individuals, experience during the re-employment process. Implications of a relational model for unemployment theory, for workplace policies, and for the implementation of support services and re-training programs are discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/9072 |
| Date | January 2001 |
| Creators | Hughes-Bond, Linda. |
| Contributors | Ahola-Sidaway, Janice, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 258 p. |
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