Shedding light : a qualitative study of women's view on Men's Sheds in Ireland and Australia
- Authors: Carragher, Lucia , Golding, Barry , Foley, Annette
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Health and Social Care in the Community Vol. 30, no. 6 (2022), p. e4355-e4362
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Older men are less likely than women to meet in social groups and have greater difficulty developing social relationships beyond paid work. Yet they are joining Men's Sheds in ever greater numbers, often with the support of women, as wives, partners and daughters. Little is known about women's perspectives of Men's Sheds and what women get from men's participation in Sheds. Informed by social role theory, the present study explored narratives from 26 significant women of male Shedders in Ireland and Australia. The narratives reveal how gender roles and unspoken rules shape people's lives, with three overarching themes emerging. These include (1) older men being vulnerable, with subthemes men's masculine persona, and women's vigilance, (2) gendered spaces for older men, with subthemes companionship: men mending men and healing in the Shed and (3) the spill over effects of Men's Sheds. Retirement, whether planned or prompted by ill-health, ushers in a new stage of life, requiring new routines and social contacts. For men who lived their life according to gender social roles, which perceive men as masculine, independent and assertive and not inclined to open display of emotion and affection, adjusting to certain aspects of retirement may be difficult, particularly the lack of purposeful activity. Conversely, for women social role identity may be a source of strength for recognising and accepting vulnerability, and for seeking help. Our findings suggest women are central in encouraging older men to join Men's Sheds. In turn, women may experience an alleviation of stress when men participate in Sheds because they are not under the same pressure of their traditional social roles as carers and nurturers. © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Let the men speak : Health, friendship, community and shed therapy
- Authors: Foley, Annette , Golding, Barry , Brown, Michael
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at AVETRA 2008 Conference, Adelaide : 3rd-4th April 2008
- Full Text:
- Description: Our paper is based on our recently published NCVER project on Men's sheds in Australia, Learning through Community Contexts (Golding, Brown, Foley, Harvey & Gleeson, 2007), which showed that men';s sheds informally cater for non vocational, social, health, wellbeing and learning needs of mainly older men. We deliberately used unedited transcripts from the NCVER project in the form of narratives or stories to give the men an opportunity to speak for themselves about the benefits of participating in men's sheds. The paper highlights some of the limitations of the methodology used in the attempt to allow the men themselves to make sense of the benefits they experience and enjoy from participating in men's sheds as conveyed through their own voices.
- Description: 200300647
Men's sheds in Australia : Learning through community contexts
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Brown, Michael , Foley, Annette , Harvey, Jack , Gleeson, Lynne
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: ‘Men’s sheds’ organisations are typically located in shed or workshop-type spaces in community settings that provide opportunities for regular hands-on activity by groups deliberately and mainly comprising men. Men’s sheds in community organisations are shown to be a relatively new, diverse and poorly known set of community-based, grass-roots organisations—found only in Australia. These informal spaces and programs in community settings have grown recently and rapidly in parts of mainly southern Australia with a higher proportion of older men not in paid work. Men’s sheds are typically organised by, and legally constituted through, existing community organisations. They usually provide a woodworking workshop space, tools and equipment and an adjacent social area in a public, shed-type setting. Some include a metalwork area and/or an adjacent garden.
- Description: 2003005525