“(Un)performed roles”. Conflicts of social roles in the lives of women with disabilities resulting from undergone breast cancer
“(Un)performed roles”. Conflicts of social roles in the lives of women with disabilities resulting from undergone breast cancer

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary women perform many social roles simultaneously, which creates a lot of difficulties and tensions. Women suffering from a chronic illness and women with disabilities experience a very particular conflict of roles. Disability or illness, especially a long-standing one, is connected with an inability to perform all previously existing roles, affecting the way women function and the scope of their participation in family, professional and social life. This, in turn, directly influences their self-perception, which is constructed on the basis of the relations with other people and the degree of adaptation to a new situation. As it is indicated by the author, according to her own research into women with neoplastic disease, the conflict of roles can take several forms. A typical conflict between family and work loses its importance and the one which begins to prevail is the conflict between the role of a motherwife and the role of a person with illness and disability. A woman is confronted by contradictory expectations and standards she cannot keep up to effectively. In this new situation, different coping mechanisms are deployed. The article presents some key dilemmas connected with the performance of roles experienced by women and adaptive models more or less successfully applied by them.

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