High school students’ biographical project: Intersection of gender representation and the models of prospective family Cover Image

Биографический проект старшеклассников: пересечение гендерных представлений и моделей планируемой семьи
High school students’ biographical project: Intersection of gender representation and the models of prospective family

Author(s): Konstantin S. Divisenko
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Labor relations, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, School education, Family and social welfare, Rural and urban sociology
Published by: Ивановский государственный университет
Keywords: biographical project; high school students; gender ideals; constructing the future; patriarchy; egalitarianism; work-family balance;

Summary/Abstract: The study of life goals and strategies for its achievement related to the balance of professional and private (family) spheres is of interest for analysis of the gender order, reproduced not only at the institutional level but also in a personal biographical project. Referring to the example of the life plans of high school students, the article substantiates the assumption that males and females’ models of future lives associated with prospective family and work are gender-marked. The ideas of intersectional analysis were used to identify models for future life determined by the intersection of various dimensions: gender, family, and profession. The results confirm that the patriarchal female ideal is accepted by both males and females, but the patriarchal male ideal is supported mainly by the self-awareness of young men. The discovered models, defined by the patriarchal and egalitarian orientation, and reproductive intentions are associated not only with professional plans, but also with various life experiences of high school students. An analysis of the intersection of various factors of social differentiation represented in high school students’ ideas about their future allows us to suppose that scenarios of biographical project are gender-marked. Genderization of biographical project even of the most homogeneous social group reproduces current gender order and the consequent opportunities/limitations for family and work combination. The discovered complex of material exclusion and subjective ill-being, which explains both males and females’ rejection of traditionalism, is of particular interest for the following studies of the factors that transform the gender ideology of modern Russian society.

  • Issue Year: 2022
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 103-118
  • Page Count: 16
  • Language: Russian
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