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Agency, Resources, and Identity

Lower-Income Women's Experiences in Damascus

Oregon State University, sgallagher{at}oregonstate.edu

Drawing on theories of structure and agency, this article assesses how women in lower-income households in Damascus use existing gender schemas to avoid unattractive employment and improve their access to income and employment. It highlights the overlapping effects of economic policy and gender dependency schemas on both the need for additional income and women's employment opportunities. While providing greater access to resources, women's accommodation to gender dependency schemas also helps to maintain domesticity and dependence on men. Agency for these women draws on and reinforces a collectively gendered sense of self that is central to the process of both obtaining resources and doing gender.

Key Words: agency • culture • employment • Muslim women • schemas

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