Fishermen's wives and fish processors: Continuity and change in women's position in Icelandic fishing villages, 1870-1990.
Item
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Title
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Fishermen's wives and fish processors: Continuity and change in women's position in Icelandic fishing villages, 1870-1990.
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Identifier
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AAI9521316
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identifier
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9521316
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Creator
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Skaptadottir, Unnur Dis.
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Contributor
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Adviser: Gerald Sider
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Date
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1995
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Anthropology, Cultural | History, European | Women's Studies
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Abstract
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The main purpose of this dissertation is to examine the changes which have occurred in gender relations in the context of industrialization in Icelandic fishing communities. It considers these relations as they have developed in two villages with different histories in terms of organization of production; villages exemplified by communal ownership on the one hand and private enterprise on the other. In the dissertation an attempt is made to make women's contribution to the maintenance of fishing villages more visible as well as analyzing the historical construction and reconstruction of gender inequality.;The major approach applied in the study of gender is to examine three interrelated domains none of which needs to be considered the prime mover: the arena of ideas, of the division of labor and of individual experiences. Emphasis is put on the historical construction of women's position with a primary focus on the effects of wage employment and industrialization of women's lives in the sphere of production and reproduction.;The study reveals that in order to get a better understanding of the changes in women's lives with industrialization it is necessary to be specific and take into account their various class positions. In comparing the two villages it is found that in terms of gender they differed to a greater extent in the beginning of the period but have become similar in today's society. The most important differences with regard to women's position in the two villages is that in the village where there has been communal ownership, production continued longer to be organized by the household, whereas in the village characterized by private enterprise the population earlier on became involved in wage labour. These are however not differences that are to be found today. The reorganisation with industrialization was based on already existing sexual division of labor in the former peasant society. In the fishing villages, with men's absence, the households have continued to be women's sphere although in a new way in which women are not limited to this sphere.;Women's participation in the fishery has been characterized by both continuity and change. They continue as fishermen's wives to prepare their husbands for fishing, but the processing of fish has moved into highly developed freezing plants. In the freezing plants a clearly defined sexual division of labor is maintained in which men's work is more highly valued than women's. Women are busy as before trying to balance their work in production and reproduction. Their contribution to the fishing economy, and their centrality in the household has given them a certain amount of autonomy but has not assured gender equality.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
