Patriachy and resistance : a feminist symbolic interactionist perspective of highly educated married black women

Abstract

The struggles with patriarchy in the marriages of highly educated married black women are not clearly defined by research, leading to generalisations that all women experience, interpret and resist patriarchy in a uniform way. Written from an African feminist and symbolic interactionist perspective this qualitative study sought to investigate the cognitive processes of highly educated married black women that develop from their lived experiences, interpretations and resistance with regard to patriarchy in their marriages. Data were collected through (auto)biographical narrative essays, semi-structured interviews and observations and analysed using thematic data analysis. The findings indicate that highly educated married black women experience, interpret and resist patriarchy in diverse ways, highlighting three clusters of these women – the liberal, the conformist and the secretive. Their self-concept and identity are more likely to be shaped by their social experiences and interactions with their husbands and the extended family than interactions in their professions.