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" An exploration of the routes to empowerment for older women? "
Jacob, Mary Kathleen.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1092754
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TLets247832
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| Main Entry
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Jacob, Mary Kathleen.
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| Title & Author
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An exploration of the routes to empowerment for older women?\ Jacob, Mary Kathleen.
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| College
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University of Brighton
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| Date
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2001
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| student score
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2001
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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Older women have been perceived as among the least powerful groups msociety expenencmg poverty both as older people and as women.Contemporary challenges to oppression and discrimination, associated with ageand gender, together with the social policy focus on combating socialexclusion, raise important questions about i) the meanings of social inclusionand exclusion to older women, and ii) the ways in which older women act toachieve a sense of social inclusion.The notions of social inclusion and exclusion are closely linked with theconcept of power, and the associated processes of empowerment anddisempowerment. Within a theoretical framework based on developingconceptions of power, this thesis examines the role of collective action inachieving a sense of inclusion and empowerment.In-depth interviews were carried out with thirty-seven older women selected toreflect their involvement in four contrasting types of collective action:• political action groups emphasising consciousness raising and change;• organisations emphasising social/leisure activities;• group activity based around learning/education;• voluntary activityas well as a group of women who, through choice or circumstances, were notinvolved in collective action.Emerging themes were shared/reviewed/refined with five small groups madeup of original participants in order to achieve a participatory and iterativeprocess of interpretation, maximising the validity and utility of the findings.The study extends knowledge and understanding of the processes anddynamics of empowering change in the lives of older women, and in particularthe potential of different forms of collective action for older women to supportprocesses of empowerment and achieve a sense of social inclusion. It suggeststhat older women do not simply succumb to their circumstances, they can anddo take action. However, it is important to appreciate that these actions are notalways viewed as political or as resistance.
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Poverty
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University of Brighton
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