Gentle Transition : Aged women in Case Studies

ユルヤカナ テンカン ジレイ ケンキュウ ニ ミル ロウジョ タチ

ミズシマ, ヨウコ

Mizushima, Yoko

オオサカ ダイガク ニンゲン カガクブ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

英語

女性の老い

主婦役割

転機

lifehistory

women's aging

role as a housewife

turning point

The purpose of the paper is to examine aged women's way of life based on case studies . Once, there was a turning point called "Shamoji-watasi" in the course of women's life, and the position as a mother-in-law waited for a woman who finished her role as a housewife. In modern Japanese society , however, the position as a mother-in-law in cultural institution has become vague idea. As a result, it is said to be difficult to define a woman's life after finishing her role as a housewife. By applying a lifehistory method, I would like to examine how the women in this period cope with decline of role as a housewife, and how they reconstruct human relations afterward. I observe the cases of three women: 75 years old, 72 years old and 65 years old. The analysis shows that a woman who finished her role as a housewife starts to enrich her human relations. In doing so, she does not change her core identity. Rather, through this transition her former self image seems to become clearer. In conclusion, the decline of women's role as a housewife is not a drastic turning point which requires fundamental change in the course of women's life. As the subject of aged women has not been studied well yet, it is dangerous to generalize about women's aging from these findings. Therefore, it has to be noted that today's study describes one feature of woman's aging. However, I believe that my findings present keys for further studies and bring up the needs for more intensive surveys.

英語