Any heroine's journey: a qualitative exploration of women's empowerment through intersectional identities in Swale

This thesis examines how a group of women living in Swale, who participated in this study, construct, experience, and navigate empowerment within the intersecting dynamics of gender, race, class, and geography. Situated within a social constructionist epistemology and guided by critical feminist and intersectional theories, the study examines how empowerment is produced through the lived experiences, social discourse, and power relations of these participants in a semi-rural UK setting. Using a qualitative research design, the study employed semi-structured online interviews alongside participatory tools such as the Empowerment Wheel, the Intersectionality Identity Sheet, and speculative fabulation exercises. These methods enabled participants to articulate their realities and envision alternative futures beyond present constraints. Data were analysed using Template Analysis, facilitating theoretical and inductive insight into the complexity of empowerment.

Although not originally intended as a pandemic experience study, data collection occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many participants’ narratives were shaped by the social and structural disruptions of that period. Themes such as agency, resilience, digital exclusion, and intensified care burdens emerged alongside powerful accounts of how participants experienced othering, being positioned as ‘outside’ or ‘less than’ due to their race, migration status, class, or gender roles. These narratives reflected how the pandemic exacerbated structural inequalities and marginalisation and how participants resisted, adapted, and reimagined their place within the community and society.

This thesis contributes to feminist scholarship by offering a nuanced, context-sensitive account of empowerment rooted in the lived realities of a diverse group of women in a semi-rural locality. It highlights the importance of addressing othering as a discursive and material barrier to empowerment. The findings advocate for intersectional and locally grounded policy approaches, highlighting the value of participatory and imaginative methods in understanding and addressing systemic inequality.