A course of one's own: The rhetorical self in educational life stories by women

Abstract

Education has been the main channel through which Finnish women have attempted to achieve the status of ''the individual''. But what has the story of women's individualization been like? Can women seek individual status specifically as women? This article examines how women use biographical work in their educational life stories to relate to their own gender. The women used various constructions the self as vehicles for processing their views of themselves, as they sought dignity and recognition as individuals. Different selves served to locate the protagonist in different ways within an ''ideology of the individual'' . The life stories about the attainment of adulthood and independence suggest that, despite their formal equality, Finnish women do not necessarily enjoy clear social standing as individuals.