The Bumpy Road to Womanhood

Abstract

This paper is based on a qualitative study dealing with societal constraints with regard to womanhood for physically disabled young women in Sweden. The findings show that the young women are subjected to stereotyped views on what having an impairment involves and have to deal with certain normative criteria of what constitutes womanhood. Despite being 'children' of their time and culture, i.e. rejecting the traditional subservient role of 'the disabled' and of women generally, the young women yearn for the pursuing of tasks, such as caring for children and the home, closely linked to the traditional role of (non-disabled) women. It is argued that this can be understood as a means of counterbalancing an early acquired role of passive recipient. Alongside a positive identification with the group of 'the disabled', the interviewees strive towards being seen as something other than disabled, i.e. as women.

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