Laurence Bachmann

Female friendship and gender transformation

This article explores the ways in which friendships between women may promote gender transformation. The study is based on 25 in-depth interviews with young women in Geneva disposed to gender transformation but not necessarily considering themselves to be ‘feminist’. The findings, based on a dispositional and contextual analysis, show that female friendships provide women with a place where they find respite from men, become aware of gender relations, take action to further their emancipation and receive support for changes made. Furthermore, this research shows the way in which women are shaped by their friendships (being supported or influenced by them), but also how they shape them actively to model their emerging critical dispositions (selecting them, making use of them or moving away from them). It therefore indicates how women are active in modelling their dispositions within the dynamics of gender relations and other social forces.

Entre féminité et modernité. La prise en charge médiatique de l'année présidentielle de Micheline Calmy-Rey

En 2003, Micheline Calmy-Rey est elue au college gouvernemental Suisse. Cinq ans plus tard, elle devient, pour un an, presidente de la Confederation helvetique. Son annee presidentielle coincide avec les elections federales ou sa formation, le parti socialiste, croise le fer avec l’Union democratique du centre (UDC), le parti de la droite dure dirige par Christoph Blocher. Notre article analyse la maniere dont Micheline Calmy-Rey utilise des medias pour moderniser l’image de la Suisse et des femmes. Cette modernisation s’effectue a travers ses actions politiques, mais aussi son apparence physique.