Coping with unemployment--a contribution to the understanding of women's unemployment

The aim of this paper was to contribute to the understanding of women's unemployment with emphasis on individual reactions in terms of their significance and context. The study was carried out within the methodological tradition of grounded theory. Thirty-six unemployed women were interviewed. The reactions to unemployment were seen in relation to two, systematically generated core variables: 'the relation to wage labour' and 'the relation to alternative activities'. Four different groups of unemployed were identified in light of their relations to these two core variables. They were called 'the give-uppers', 'the clenchers', 'the refocusers' and 'the ambivalents'. Serious effects of unemployment were found among the give-uppers and the clenchers. The refocusers on the other hand, enjoyed their lives and had replaced the loss of work with other meaningful activities.