Embodying health behaviours in everyday life: the social and gendered practices of female senior managers

Objective: This article extends current theorising around health behaviours using insights from a study with women working in senior management positions in Switzerland. The study aimed to explore the meanings they attached to their everyday activities and examine implications for health and wellbei...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychology & health 2020-10, Vol.35 (10), p.1249-1267
Main Authors: del Río Carral, María, Lyons, Antonia
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activities of Daily Living - psychology
Administrative Personnel - psychology
Administrative Personnel - statistics & numerical data
Adult
Embodiment
Female
Gender Role
Health Behavior
health behaviours
Humans
Middle Aged
neoliberalism
postfeminism
professional identity
Qualitative Research
social practices
Social Theory
Switzerland
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Objective: This article extends current theorising around health behaviours using insights from a study with women working in senior management positions in Switzerland. The study aimed to explore the meanings they attached to their everyday activities and examine implications for health and wellbeing by drawing on 1) social practices theory, 2) a socio-constructionist approach to gender, and 3) conceptualisations of embodiment. Design: Twenty female senior managers were interviewed at two time points six months apart: the first interview elicited highly-detailed, descriptive accounts of activities during the previous day, while in the second interview participants reflected on their previous accounts and discussed the meanings they ascribed to their activities. A thematic and narrative analysis of both sets of transcripts was conducted. Results: Three main themes captured the ways female senior managers talked about their everyday behaviours, all focused around their bodies: 'Functional bodies: Being on-the-go and meeting responsibilities'; 'Limiting bodies: Threats to everyday activities'; and 'Intentional bodies: Activities for wellbeing'. Conclusions: Results are considered in terms of contemporary postfeminist/neoliberal discourses in Western societies, how these are shaping and affecting everyday practices and subjectivities, and their consequences for women's health and wellbeing at work.
ISSN:0887-0446
1476-8321
DOI:10.1080/08870446.2020.1743292