Social networks and women’s agency: the role of voluntary associations in brokering opportunities across the life course
Christie Robertson
Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW
Contact Email:   c.robertsonstudent.unsw.edu.au

Early debates about voluntary associations and social capital revealed their potential significance as sites for the realisation of a range of societal outcomes, from facilitating small-scale collective endeavours and building capacity and resilience within communities, to promoting civic virtue and building social trust. However, in the process of drawing connections between associations and social capital, these debates were noted for neglecting the context-specific nature of social capital, the differential outcomes it enables and constrains for individuals and social groups, as well as the influence of broader social dynamics including gender. This paper brings these aspects into sharper focus, presenting results from a qualitative case study of a large women’s service organisation in the Australian context. In interpreting this case study, a network concept of social capital is used to understand the processes through which social networks, and the social and organisational contexts in which they are embedded, broker opportunities for women’s engagement and agency across their life cycle. I argue that social capital, in the form of social networks, both enables and constrains the capacity for organisations to promote women’s agency. Furthermore, for women this is interconnected with experiences, identities, resources and networks developed across their life course.

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