ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at how, within the context of conflicts between two institutions (the equal opportunity unit and the senior citizen centers), specific discourses are used either to support and allow women’s autonomous initiatives or to prevent and hinder them. It shows how institutions are used as an “argument” in advocating autonomous women’s initiatives. The chapter summarizes some features of institutional influence on the processes of gender identification. It highlights the symbolic use of institutions in argumentative strategies and shows how the appeal to the very existence of certain institutions is used to ratify relevant practices and convince the women of their importance. From the analysis so far, identity appears as an ongoing production, managed in the course of interactions, in and through the conduct of ordinary activities. Not only personal, but institutional, agendas have an influence on the processes of identity production. Institutional aims, practices, and conflicts become gender relevant, with immediate consequences for the women’s lives.
