Women's Lifeworlds

Examining the changing meaning of 'place' in women's lives over time and across space, this book questions how women face, negotiate and shape the social space of their environment.
This work explores the diversity and complexity of women's perceptions and reactions to their own "lifeworlds" in their own words. Examining the changing meaning of "place" in women's lives over time and across space, this book questions how women face, negotiate and shape the social space of their environment. Personal narratives are presented by 15 women of various age groups, from different cultural, religious, social and geographical backgrounds, from Mexican politician, Muslim psychiatrist, Finnish housewife to Indian guru and African rural woman. Writing about the lives of their grandmothers, mothers, themselves, their daughters or other close female relatives, the authors of these life narratives cross generational and cultural divides and share perceptions with each other. The result is a collection of life stories of 54 women in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe, covering a period of more than 100 years, highlighting women's personal perceptions of the basic dimensions of their lives, their sources of strength and the things that bring meaning to their lives.