In the Passenger: Seat Negotiating Professional Identity, Gender Expectations, and Structural Barriers Among Highly Educated Trailing Spouses in North Denmark: Negotiating Professional Identity, Gender Expectations, and Structural Barriers Among Highly Educated Trailing Spouses in North Denmark
Translated title
In the Passenger Seat: Negotiating Professional Identity, Gender Expectations, and Structural Barriers Among Highly Educated Trailing Spouses in North Denmark: Forhandling af professionel identitet, kønsforventninger og strukturelle barrierer blandt højtuddannede medfølgende ægtefæller i Nordjylland
Author
Schmidt, Hannah Elisa
Term
4. term
Publication year
2026
Submitted on
2026-05-31
Pages
64
Abstract
This thesis explores how highly educated international women who move to North Jutland as accompanying spouses experience integration and everyday life. The study takes a social constructivist and interpretivist stance and applies a critical feminist lens to power and gender. Methodologically, it is a qualitative, abductive study that moves back and forth between data and theory. The material consists of eight in-depth biographical narrative interviews, analyzed through thematic coding to identify shared patterns and individual nuances. A dual theoretical framework combines Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of capital, field and habitus with Axel Honneth's theory of recognition. Bourdieu helps explain why foreign qualifications and networks often lose value in a new context and are hard to convert into local symbolic capital. Honneth's three spheres of recognition (love, rights and solidarity) illuminate how exclusion from the labor market can weaken self-worth and create a feeling of invisibility. The findings introduce the Click-Experience Model: long-term retention is driven not by time lived in the region but by a subjective psychological turning point (the 'click' experience). This click is typically triggered by concrete milestones such as relevant employment, social recognition and children's well-being. The analysis shows that the regional Danish labor market operates as a relatively closed field where foreign qualifications are frequently devalued. This can lead to occupational downshifting and economic dependence. To regain legitimacy at home, many women undergo a process of refeminization, compensating by taking on more housework. The study also identifies a marked intersectional divergence in social integration: motherhood acts as a social bridge to Danish networks via childcare institutions, while childless women often rely on a fragile 'borrowed social identity' mediated through their partner. This marginalization is further intensified for non-EU women due to cultural distance, language barriers and legal dependency. Overall, the study shows that labor market integration is shaped not only by individual qualifications but also by inequalities in social capital and regional recognition structures, and that the transition to being an accompanying spouse fundamentally challenges women's autonomy.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan højtuddannede internationale kvinder, der flytter til Nordjylland som medfølgende ægtefæller, oplever integration og hverdagsliv. Studiet bygger på et socialkonstruktivistisk og interpretivistisk udgangspunkt samt et kritisk feministisk blik på magt og køn. Metodisk er det et kvalitativt, abduktivt studie, der veksler mellem empiri og teori. Datagrundlaget er otte dybdegående, biografiske, narrative interview, analyseret med tematisk kodning for at finde fælles mønstre og individuelle nuancer. Det dobbelte teoretiske rammeværk kombinerer Pierre Bourdieus begreber om kapital, felt og habitus med Axel Honneths anerkendelsesteori. Bourdieu bruges til at forklare, hvorfor udenlandske kvalifikationer og netværk ofte mister værdi i en ny sammenhæng og er svære at omdanne til lokal symbolsk kapital. Honneths tre anerkendelsessfærer (kærlighed, ret og solidaritet) belyser, hvordan udelukkelse fra arbejdsmarkedet kan svække selvværd og skabe oplevelsen af usynlighed. Resultaterne præsenterer Click-Experience Modellen: Langsigtet fastholdelse handler ikke om, hvor længe man har boet et sted, men om et subjektivt psykologisk vendepunkt ('klik-erfaringen'). Dette klik udløses typisk af konkrete milepæle som relevant beskæftigelse, social anerkendelse og børns trivsel. Analysen viser, at det regionale danske arbejdsmarked fungerer som et relativt lukket felt, hvor udenlandske kvalifikationer ofte devalueres. Det kan føre til karrieremæssig deklassering (occupational downshifting) og økonomisk afhængighed. For at genvinde legitimitet i hjemmet gennemgår mange en refeminicering, hvor de kompenserer ved at påtage sig mere husarbejde. Studiet peger også på en tydelig intersektionel forskel i social integration: Moderskab fungerer som en social bro til danske netværk via daginstitutioner, mens barnløse kvinder ofte må støtte sig til en skrøbelig, 'lånt social identitet' gennem deres partner. Denne marginalisering er stærkere for ikke-EU-kvinder på grund af kulturel distance, sprogbarrierer og juridisk afhængighed. Overordnet viser studiet, at arbejdsmarkedsintegration ikke kun handler om individuelle kvalifikationer, men i høj grad formes af ulighed i social kapital og regionale anerkendelsesstrukturer, og at overgangen til rollen som medfølgende ægtefælle grundlæggende udfordrer kvindernes autonomi.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
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