A “forced individuality”: conjugal experiences of separated women with children

Abstract

This work is based on a research conducted in 2010, about the meanings of marital experiences of middle-class women, from the city of Santa Fe, Argentina. I analyze the discourses about divorce in the context of changes in family and marital relationship’s, arguing about the “individualization process” with the theoretical propositions of Singly, Duarte and Figueira. I recognize that, although these women have conquered an economic independence, their marriages were traditional in the sense that they included the important participation of the extended family group as well as the presence of hierarchical visions about gender relations. Finally, I interpret the situation after the divorces (especially when there are children) through the idea of a “forced individuality”, which is vindicated but at the same time is experienced as a burden, with important consequences in the moment of considering in having an union again.