Single Woman

Jill Reynolds is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Health & Social Care at The Open University. Her teaching is in the areas of social work, managing health and social care and mental health. Her research interests include feminist practice, identity and singleness, and meanings of care and support.

'This important study not only gives us a fascinating account of contemporary women's experiences of being single, but also demonstrates an exemplary use of discourse analysis to illuminate questions about identity. Jill Reynolds has shown how women today work with and negotiate singleness in a social context in which expectations about their proper role are changing rapidly' - Rosalind Gill, Professor of Social Psychology & Cultural Theory, Open University'Sometimes a new book illuminates an everyday issue in ways that shift understandings and make it puzzling why it has taken so long for someone to write it. The Single Woman is such a book. In what will surely prove to be the inaugural book for the field of singleness, Reynolds has written a thought-provoking and innovative book that will appeal to lay readers as well as academics from many disciplines.' – Ann Phoenix, Professor, Institute of Education, University of London As a single woman myself, I found the book resonant and perceptive, prompting a heightened awareness of my own ‘personal identity project’. I recommend it to anyone with a personal, professional or political interest in women’s position in society and the psycho-cultural acrobatics we use to perform our various roles. Alison Gilchrist, British Journal of Social Work

• 1. Developing a Feminist Discursive Analysis of Singleness 2. Contrasting Models of a Single Identity 3. Working with a 'Single' Identity 4. A Narrative of Relationships and Singleness 5. Choice and Chance in Relationships: Negotiating Agency 6. The Everyday Politics of Singleness. Conclusions