Experiences and Meanings of the Existence of a Generation of Women

Abstract

This study examines a generation of women born in the 1940s–1950s in the Braga region, northern Portugal. It analyzes their relationships with family, school, work, leisure and consumption, and religion. The sample considers generation, gender, and social class, focusing on low, medium-low, and medium classes, which predominate in Portuguese society. A qualitative methodology was employed, using Focus Groups and Open Interviews to understand how subjects interpret their life experiences in the analyzed areas and how these experiences’ meanings transform across generations. The initial hypothesis, supported by previous and current research, is that people of the same generation share certain bonds, manifesting in a particular way of being and understanding the world. This distinguishes them from other generations, creating complex intergenerational relationships. These relationships are sometimes oppositional, while other times they result in breaks or separations, and most of the time they transform the experiences and the meaning of the existence of the subjects involved. This reality is what we propose to describe and analyze in the present text, taking as reference the generations of women mentioned above.