Female friendship and gender transformation

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which friendships between women may promote gender transformation. The study is based on 25 in-depth interviews with young women in Geneva disposed to gender transformation but not necessarily considering themselves to be ‘feminist’. The findings, based on a dispositional and contextual analysis, show that female friendships provide women with a place where they find respite from men, become aware of gender relations, take action to further their emancipation and receive support for changes made. Furthermore, this research shows the way in which women are shaped by their friendships (being supported or influenced by them), but also how they shape them actively to model their emerging critical dispositions (selecting them, making use of them or moving away from them). It therefore indicates how women are active in modelling their dispositions within the dynamics of gender relations and other social forces.