The home as a site of crisis preparedness: gender, place, and ontological security

In this article, the role of the home in citizen crisis preparedness is explored by utilising a theoretical framework that highlights the home as a sociological phenomenon and as a base for the construction and maintenance of ontological security. The aim of this article is to explore the performativity of crisis preparedness, and the ways it is co-produced through gendered imaginaries of home, identity and relational security. By foregrounding the interplay between preparedness practices and ontological security, the article analyses how ideas of home and social relations are mobilised in the enactment of preparedness, and how these enactments reproduce or unsettle gendered identities and expectations. In so doing, we explore how the home becomes a place for preparedness, as well as how understandings of home and preparedness are constructed in relation to gendered identity formations. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with 26 participants, all living in Sweden. A thematic analysis of the material reveals three empirical themes: (1) Staying at home, (2) Leaving home and (3) ‘Doing’ crisis preparedness - ‘Doing’ gender. The analysis shows that citizen crisis preparedness is a deeply gendered practice, where ontological security is constructed in relation to both place and gender. Women’s sense of security is in large part relational, family-oriented, and collective, while men’s sense of security is more often individual, competence-oriented, and materially anchored. Both forms of security are connected to the home – but the meaning of home varies depending on who is speaking, what practices are carried out there, and what resources are available.