Doing or Undoing Gender? An Explorative Study of Gender, Activities, and Well-being among People with Mental Illness Attending Day Centers in Sweden

Abstract

This study explores gender, activity, and well-being among people with mental illness attending day centers in Sweden. Based on survey data of 215 attendees, this study applies the concepts of doing gender and regulatory regimes to analyze the relationship between being involved in gendered activities and well-being. The results show that while both male and female participants are involved in gender-neutral activities, men are less likely to engage in women-dominated (WD) activities while women are more prone to engage in men-dominated (MD) activities. Moreover, women involved in MD activities show a positive correlation with well-being, while the same does not hold for men engaging in WD activities. The study concludes that both women and men are “undoing” gender but that women also tend to “re-do” gender, suggesting that gendered regulatory regimes are more permissive to diversified feminist subjectivities than masculine subjectivities.