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received: 2022-07-01           DOI 10.19233/ASHS.2023.20
RESILIENCE OF WOMEN AND THEIR HOUSEHOLDS IN TIMES OF CRISIS: 
AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL PRACTICES OF WOMEN IN 
SLOVENIA AND BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Andrej NATERER
University of Maribor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
e-mail: andrej.naterer@um.si
Nirha EFENDIĆ
National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Department of Ethnology, Zmaj od Bosne 3, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 
e-mail: efendicnirha@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
This article focuses on the survival strategies of women and is based on ethnographic research among women in 
Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2016 and 2020. Results show that (1) socio-cultural and historical 
context plays a crucial role in the level of perceptions of crisis, (2) the first and strongest response to crisis appears as 
mobilization of economic resources within their households, (3) women rely heavily on social capital and informal 
networks, (4) cultural factors appear as crucial for successful informal networking and (5) resilience evolves as an 
amalgam of different configurations of economic, social and cultural capital.
Keywords: women, resilience, formal and informal practices, survival strategies, response to crisis
LA RESILIENZA DELLE DONNE E DELLE LORO FAMIGLIE IN TEMPO DI CRISI: 
UN’ANALISI DELLE PRATICHE SOCIALI E CULTURALI DELLE DONNE IN 
SLOVENIA E IN BOSNIA ED ERZEGOVINA
SINTESI
Basandosi sulle ricerche etnografiche condotte sul campo in Slovenia e in Bosnia ed Erzegovina tra il 2016 e il 
2020 l’articolo è incentrato sulle strategie di sopravvivenza delle donne. Abbiamo ottenuto i seguenti risultati: (1) il 
contesto socio-culturale e storico svolge un ruolo chiave nella percezione della crisi; (2) nei contesti famigliari esso 
rappresenta nella mobilitazione delle risorse economiche la prima e la più forte risposta alla crisi; (3) c’è un forte 
affidamento da parte delle donne riguardo al capitale sociale e alle reti informali; (4) per un efficace integrazione 
informale risultano fondamentali i fattori culturali; (5) la resilienza alla crisi si sviluppa come un amalgama composto 
da diverse configurazioni, dal capitale economico, a quello sociale e culturale.
Parole chiave: donne, resilienza, pratiche formali e informali, strategie di sopravvivenza, risposta alla crisi
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INTRODUCTION
In contemporary anthropology, the concept of resil-
ience appears as part of a discourse on disaster mitiga-
tion, and although the term has a variety of meanings, at 
its core we find a “[…] concern with the reasons some 
groups of people and social systems manage to avoid 
disasters altogether or recover and even thrive in the af-
termath of disasters, while others seem to face continued 
struggles, difficulties, and even perish” (Barrioso, 2016, 
28). Resilience should therefore be understood as “the 
ability to survive and cope with a disaster with minimum 
impact and damage” (Cutter et al., 2008, 600), an ability 
which is key to stability and long term survival. Crisis, 
whether it starts as financial, social, environmental, or 
related to conflict, has the potential to become a disaster 
because of its deep and far-reaching impacts, which, if 
left unmanaged, soon engulf the whole of society. The 
development of resilience in this context is thus based 
on the idea of returning to a pre-crisis state, which is 
understood as stability.
On a macro level, societal resilience enables avoid-
ance or reduction of loss, containment of the effects of 
disaster, and recovery with minimal social disruptions 
(Manyena, 2006; Tierney & Bruneau, 2007). Therefore, 
many institutions and state programs strive to develop 
resilient communities by integrating prevention, mitiga-
tion, vulnerability, and risk reduction capacities (Cutter 
et al. 2008). Individuals and organized groups, on the 
other hand, often start developing resilience not as a 
preventive strategy but rather as a result of crisis. When 
faced with risk and uncertainty, individuals tend not to 
base their decisions strictly on variances and expected 
values but rather on subjective evaluation of risk, which 
is based on the utility value of gains and losses within the 
contexts of their lives (Bernoulli, 1954). Often lacking 
knowledge and resources, the development of resilience 
becomes a challenge, and women appear to struggle 
more than men. Several authors (Ajibade, McBean & 
Bezner-Kerr, 2013) argue that since women and men ex-
perience socio-economic environments differently, they 
rely on different habits and skills and act differently in 
solving their problems. Traditionally, women are more 
connected to household contexts, which makes their 
social networks outside their households less extended, 
hindering the social mobility that could potentially 
be developed into resilience (Chelekis, in Thucker & 
Nelson, 2017). Also, households are often contexts of 
intergenerational cohabitation, which develop multiple 
intergenerational risks in times of crisis and expose 
women more. Studies also show gender experiences of 
crisis to be influenced by gender roles, class, and house-
hold structures, and women, particularly those from 
low-income settings, tend to be more exposed to crisis 
impact and recover more slowly than men (Cohen et al., 
2002; Notter, MacTavish & Shamah, 2008; Ajibade et al., 
2013). Women traditionally engage in gender-defined 
jobs, which usually include dispersed and less well-paid 
activities, keeping them economically restrained, while 
at the same time, by being less involved in both public 
and private sectors of the economy, remaining less 
flexible and more economically and socially isolated, 
compared to men (Halilovich, 2014). In this respect, 
women’s resilience appears as a complex set of factors, 
including economic stability, social inclusion, psycho-
logical well-being, and environmental safety.
We base our analysis on Bourdieu’s (1986) idea of 
economic, cultural and social capital. In his concep-
tion economic capital represents a traditional forms 
of capital, for example money, property, and other 
financial resources that individuals and families possess, 
while cultural capital refers to assets such as education, 
knowledge, skills and other forms of cultural compe-
tences. Cultural capital includes embodied cultural 
capital (knowledge and skills acquired through personal 
experiences and education), objectified cultural capital 
(books, artworks, and other cultural artifacts reflecting 
individual’s cultural taste) and institutionalized cultural 
capital (qualifications and certifications like degrees 
and diplomas assuring social status). And lastly, social 
capital refers to durable social networks, connections 
and relationships individuals have, assuring them access 
to information, resources, and opportunities. All three 
forms of capital take variety of forms and are in a tight 
relationship enabling their acquisition, accumulation, 
transmission and conversion. However, to fully under-
stand these processes a concept of symbolic capital 
must be added: 
[Symbolic capital] is the form that one or another 
of these species (economic, social, cultural capi-
tal) takes when it is grasped through categories 
of perception that recognize its specific logic or, 
if you prefer, misrecognize the arbitrariness of 
its possession and accumulation. (Bourdieu & 
Wacquant, 1992, 119)
Considering all three forms of capital are of crucial 
importance in building a holistic analysis of resilience of 
women and their households. Economic capital is criti-
cal, for it provides a material foundation for individuals 
to deflect or withstand the negative impacts of crisis and 
the possibility of establishing stability. Economic capital 
presents itself as a key element of resilience (Rose, 2007). 
For women, it offers the possibility to escape dependent 
and often abusive relationships and develop resilient life 
trajectories toward stability and independence. Social 
capital is also crucial part of the resilience. Several stud-
ies confirm the potential of social capital to moderate the 
negative impacts of crisis (Sampson, Morenoff & Earls, 
1999; Aldrich, 2012; Sadri et al., 2018; Efendic, 2020). 
Research shows that the transfer of knowledge, informa-
tion, goods, strength and density of social networks, 
trust, shared norms, and reciprocity play crucial roles in 
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survival in times of crisis. In particular, bonding capital, 
connectedness to family and neighbourhood, trust, 
and reciprocity are particularly important for women 
(MacGillivray, 2018). A study among Israeli women by 
Cohen et al. (2002) reported effective resilience to be 
based on interpersonal relations, the ability to share 
painful feelings, flexibility among family members, 
connectedness and family values, thus emphasizing the 
importance of social capital in building resilience. In 
addition to economic and social capital, cultural capital 
also plays a critical role in the development of women’s 
resilience. According to numerous authors this form of 
capital emerges as inseparably tied to shared values and 
feelings of belonging which are crucial for well-being 
(cf. Ajibade et al., 2013; Barrios, 2016; Trdina, Podlogar 
Kunstelj & Pušnik, 2017). Cultural capital enables the 
application various forms of knowledge and informa-
tion and is within context of transference for example 
through education crucial for the development of adap-
tive capacities (Roberts & Townsend, 2016).
Our study focuses on practices and perceptions in 
response to crisis among women from selected parts of 
Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Our study 
is based on the research question (RQ) How do women 
in Slovenia and BiH develop their coping strategies and 
resilience in times of crisis? Our research is based on 
two initial assumptions: First, the global economic crisis 
starting in 2008 was strong enough to have a lasting 
impact on people’s lives and, therefore, cannot be ne-
glected in our research. This hypothesis has been tested 
in numerous papers, reports, policies, and intervention 
programs in both countries (DEP, 2009; CPU, 2012; 
SURS, 2015; Efendic et al., 2017). Our second assump-
tion is that actions and practices that people adopt as 
adaptive responses to crisis over time evolve. They are 
refined, focused, and specialized, and if still present or 
observable after ten years, can be perceived as an es-
sential part of resilience. Following this RQ and initial 
assumptions, we focus on four major areas of inquiry: 
mobilization of economic, social, and cultural capital, 
and perceptions as factors in resilience to crisis. Slove-
nia and BiH were selected because both countries share 
recent history as members of former Yugoslavia, show 
many cultural similarities, and are strongly socially 
and economically interconnected. At the same time, 
stark differences between Slovenia and BiH, resulting 
from recent historical events in the Balkans, different 
religious backgrounds, and economic development of 
both countries, present a critical context within which 
the issue of women’s survival needs to be analysed.
METHOD AND SAMPLE
We gathered data within two research projects with 
compatible methodological designs and samples and a 
series of follow-up field trips. The first project, entitled 
“Life Strategies and Survival Strategies of Households 
and Individuals in South-East European Societies in 
Times of Crisis” (SSHISEE, 2016), funded by the Swiss 
National Science Foundation, focused on the identifica-
tion and classification of survival strategies of individu-
als and households in Serbia, BiH, Croatia and Slovenia, 
emerging from the world economic crisis from 2008. 
Our mixed-method approach was based on a sample 
of adult questionnaire responses (n=1,000 per par-
ticipating country), combined with 30 semi-structured 
follow-up individual interviews and 25 group interviews 
in each country. The data was gathered between 2014-
2016. The second project, entitled “INFORM – closing 
the gap between formal and informal institutions in the 
Balkans,” was funded by the H2020 program of the 
European Commission. The INFORM Project focused on 
countries in the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzego-
vina, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania, 
Croatia, and Slovenia) and interaction and gaps between 
formal and informal institutions within the context of 
EU accession. A mixed-method approach was adopted, 
including a survey (n=1,000 per participating country), 
case studies, legal documents and media reports analy-
sis, interviews, and ethnography. The data was gathered 
between 2016 and 2018 (INFORM, 2016).
For the purposes of our study, we selected gender-
specific subsamples from individual and group inter-
views conducted in Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzego-
vina, as they were included in both projects. We based 
our approach and analysis on the results of Multiple 
Correspondence Analysis (MCA), which was applied 
within the project to develop a map of economic, social, 
and cultural capital and results regarding participants’ 
employment, practices, and attitudes. Additionally, 
several follow-up interviews and short field trips were 
conducted to extend the range of our study to the crisis 
induced by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 (AFI, 2020).
We based our analysis on three methods: narratives 
from in-depth and ethnographic interviews, participant 
observation, and visual notes. In-depth interviews with 
89 women were selected from over 200 cases in both 
countries. Our sample of 89 individuals was based on 
105 interviews performed within both projects. During 
the follow-up phase in 2020, 20 interviews were con-
ducted with a specific focus on crisis induced by the 
Covid-19 pandemic. Qualified researchers performed 
the interviews and lasted between 90 and 160 minutes 
each.
Participant observation was the second method in 
our study, and approximately 60 events and practices 
were followed using this method. These included food 
production (such as gardening and work in the fields, 
domestic slaughter of animals, production of wine and 
brandy), everyday work (work in the forest) and produc-
tion of commodities (work in a bakery, greenhouse gar-
dening), local places of high social activities (cafes and 
bars) and social events (celebrations within respondents’ 
families or periodic local events). Over 1200 hours of 
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participant observations were conducted in selected 
social settings at different times, and between 250 and 
300 ethnographic interviews were performed during this 
phase.
We underpin our analysis and interpretations by 
combining approaches from Content analysis (Drisko & 
Maschi, 2016) and Grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006). 
Collected interviews were transcribed and coded us-
ing QDA Miner. Photographs were selected, linked to 
selected cases, and coded using a partially predesigned 
codebook including sections with templates of pre-de-
veloped codes and open codes. Codes within the closed 
sections were developed following project guidelines, 
research questions and our hypothesis, enabling a com-
parison of qualitative data with quantitative findings. 
Open codes were obtained during data collection or 
the initial coding process. Axial coding was adopted 
during the process of categorization of open and closed 
codes. Selective coding was adopted for illustration and 
association of interviews with visual notes. Most of the 
coding was performed by the authors, who participated 
in both data collection and interpretation.
PERCEPTUAL FACTORS OF RESILIENCE
Perceptual factors present a general psychosocial 
context of crisis and are the first to be analysed. Un-
derstanding these factors is crucial, as they are the 
basis of economic, social, and cultural practices that 
women adopt in response to crisis. Perceptual factors 
were extracted from gathered narratives, interviews, and 
participant observation. Altogether, 964 pieces of data 
(narratives and interview fragments, observed events, 
notes) were extracted based on the co-occurrence of the 
codes’ influence of crisis and perception of the situation. 
The results show two main patterns in response to the 
crisis: rationalization of the impact of crisis and denial ( 
cf. Chart 1: Perceptions of the influence of crisis). These 
patterns are closely related to sociocultural idioms of 
causality influenced by recent historical events, par-
ticularly war in BiH. While Slovenian women perceived 
crisis in 2008 as a major life-changing event and their 
practices as undeniably related to economic recession, 
women from BiH perceived the crisis of 2008 as minor 
in comparison to the war of 1992–1995.
Chart 1 shows all gathered information axially coded 
with relationships to (1) the influence of crisis on all 
areas of life that were under study and (2) interviewees’ 
perceptions of the results of this influence. Two immedi-
ate observations emerge from this chart, one specific for 
women from Slovenia and the other for women from 
BiH. Slovenian women recognize the crisis as real 
and perceive a ratio between areas impacted and not 
impacted by the crisis at approximately 1:2. The most 
significant impact of crisis they see is in decline in liv-
ing standards, mostly through a decline in material and 
cultural consumption:
[…] we buy everything on sale or at discount 
prices. (#6, Slo, 2016)
We reduced everything. I even take used clothes 
if somebody offers. I take everything because 
it means I don’t need to buy it. At this point, 
we [she and her household members] are either 
economizing or cancelling our consumption! 
(#46, Slo, 2016)
Perceptions of the impact of crisis are largely neutral 
or even positive, indicating that women managed to 
Chart 1: Perceptions of the influence of crisis (Source: Qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and INFORM, n=89).
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either develop efficient rationalization strategies to cope 
with the crisis or simply got used to the new reality:
We changed a lot, but all is very simple – we 
consume less. (#46, Slo, 2016)
[…] why go to the restaurants, you can cook better, 
healthier, and cheaper at home. (#57, Slo, 2016)
You know what the best [coping] strategy is – get 
used to the crisis! (#41, Slo, 2016)
Negative perceptions among Slovenian women are 
mostly tied to those few areas of life where women 
did not manage to adapt. Here the crisis-induced 
reduction resulted in the deterioration of their living 
standard.
In contrast, women from BiH perceive the situation 
differently, and most deny any obvious impact of crisis 
on areas of their lives (cf. Chart 1). What they perceive 
as real crisis can be traced back to their experiences 
from the time of the civil war in BiH between 1992 
and 1995. Women who survived that period witnessed 
the devastation of their country and the huge suffer-
ing of its people, and this profoundly impacted their 
perceptions. When compared to the war, the current 
crisis is nothing exceptional for Bosnian women:
The whole region of ours [BiH] is a region of crisis 
and it’s been like this for the past 25 years, ever sin-
ce that unfortunate war we had. (#53, BiH, 2016)
This situation is following us from 1992, the year 
that war broke out… we are totally stuck in this 
economic crap. (#69, BiH, 2016)
The contemporary situation is perceived as economi-
cally and socially tough, but undoubtedly better than 
the situation during the war. The narratives describe the 
prevalence of economic and social hardships and depict 
the day-to-day struggle for survival as common:
Well, we are fighting ... we’ve been fighting daily 
for the past eight or nine years… my mother is 
sick, so… we’re fighting. My God, it’s hard, but 
what can you do. Nothing’s perfect, not even us! 
(#56, BiH, 2016)
While daily struggles appear to be normal in their 
perceptions, the presence of the crisis appears latent and 
often unclear, ranging in interpretation from denial to 
conspiracy:
There is no crisis, there never was any crisis. Peo-
ple made this up psychologically for themselves. 
If you are willing to work, there cannot be any 
crisis for you! (#51, BiH, 2016)
[…] today’s crisis is not fictional but fabricated 
with the sole intent to incite nations [in BiH] to 
start fighting among themselves. (#49, BiH, 2016)
These results lead to our first finding: at the level 
of perceptions of the emerging crisis and possible 
consequences, two factors that differentiate the ac-
tions of women in two different environments are 
important: (1) a set of previous experiences and (2) 
the traditional position and expectations of women in 
both societies. The expectations of women are similar 
in both countries. However, women in Bosnia who 
survived the war and famine do not recognize the new 
crisis as greater or to the same degree of danger as 
they have already survived. Still, the situation feels 
cramped, and there is less of a tendency to spend 
hard-earned money. This perception is characteristic 
of women in both BiH and Slovenia. However, if we 
look at official indicators regarding the depth of the 
economic recession in these two countries, economic 
growth in Slovenia was around -8% while in BiH it 
was -3%. Relatively, the fall in Slovenia was higher, 
especially as the economic base of Slovenia is at a 
much higher level, all of which could affect the per-
ceptions of women to some extent.
ECONOMIC FACTORS OF RESILIENCE
Economic status is one of the key elements of 
resilience (Cohen et al., 2002; Notter, MacTavish & 
Shamah, 2008; Ajibade et al., 2013). For our study, 
we adopted a relatively broad definition of economic 
factors: those factors that enable a material founda-
tion for our research subjects to withstand the nega-
tive impacts of crisis and with the ability to establish 
stability (Rose, 2007; Notter, MacTavish & Shamah, 
2008). Therefore, we focused on the economic factors 
that our participants mobilized to achieve resilience, 
ranging from diverse forms of income and work to 
mobilization assets.
The analysis of coded interviews and narratives 
shows that crisis negatively impacted the household 
economy. Unemployment, declining individual and 
household incomes, and stress resulted in reduced 
consumption and a struggle to maintain a living 
standard. This aspect of crisis forced women to adopt 
different practices and to mobilize various resources 
to develop a suitable mitigating strategy:
For Slovenian women, one of the most common 
responses to the crisis, apart from reduction in 
spending, is the emergence of self-provisioning. Ac-
cording to the narratives gathered, self-provisioning 
was already present before the crisis. However, for 
most women, it was a form of a traditional hobby or 
leisure activity and tied mostly to small-scale garden-
ing. As the crisis intensified, many of our participants 
adopted some form of self-provisioning, mobilized 
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previously unused resources, broadened the range 
of activities, and increased home-grown production. 
When asked to describe self-provisioning, these 
women listed different economic activities ranging 
from domestic production and preservation of food, 
drinks, bread, and brandy or wine, to repairing their 
own clothes, renovating their homes by themselves, 
and doing their own hair and nails. Since self-
provisioning was already traditionally present in this 
milieu, furthering these economic activities seems to 
have happened relatively easily:
[…] we make our bread, jams and other things… 
I also make some home remedies like traditional 
spruce buds. I do it every year, and other things 
to… you know, for minor illnesses. (#6, Slo, 2016)
Complementary to a reduction in consumption and 
self-provisioning, women in Slovenia report an increase 
in the strategy of saving in terms of economizing and dis-
investing in the sense of selling things that are perceived 
as unnecessary at the moment. Additionally, they also 
engage in targeted investing, mostly to boost the energy 
efficiency of houses, modernize agricultural production, 
to acquire assets needed for self-provisioning. However, 
these practices were still not fully sufficient, even in 
combination with formal employment, for exposure 
to debt remained, either in the form of bank loans or 
informal borrowing of money from friends and relatives.
The economic response among women from BiH ap-
pears somewhat different. Self-provisioning in BiH is tra-
ditionally present, but there was no structural increase in 
these activities as a response to the crisis. From the data 
presented in Chart 2, we identified two main economic 
strategies among our participants. The first intensified 
their involvement in formal and informal businesses and 
agricultural production, thus making women economi-
cally more active. The second was grounded on existing 
labour market legislation and involved adopting the 
legal status of unemployed or retired persons, thus mak-
ing them less economically active to gain some short-
term benefits. Both strategies produced limited positive 
effects but were often combined with other activities, 
most commonly informal production for markets:
[…] we are striving to make money, we’re selling 
surplus of our products, and we also go to work if 
somebody calls us. We spend our money for things 
that we cannot produce ourselves. (#73a, 2016)
[…] my role is to make money, and when we 
don’t have enough money, I go scavenging for 
metal, aluminium, copper. (#73b, husband, 2016)
These results lead to our second finding: that the first 
and strongest response to crisis evolves around the mobi-
lization of economic factors. Survival practices that can 
be understood as part of resilience are strongly rooted 
in attempts to modify, supplement, or upgrade different 
economic resources and activities. These actions can be 
seen as coping strategies. Since the economy presents 
one of the undisputed pillars of stability for our subjects, 
Chart 2: Economic factors of resilience (Source: Qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and INFORM, n=89).
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our second finding supports the claims of many other 
authors placing economic capital at the core of resil-
ience both on a macro-societal level (Manyena, 2006; 
Tierney & Bruneau, 2007; Cutter et al., 2008) and the 
individual level (Rose, 2007). Differences in the nature 
and frequency of various practices of our subjects can 
be understood as induced by subjective evaluation of 
risk and feasibility within the contexts of their lives, 
as has been proposed by other authors (Ajibade et al., 
2013). The fact that most of these practices are tied to 
the household has been noted by Chelekis (in Tucker 
& Nelson, 2017), who observes that because of the 
traditional position of women, the household represents 
their basic social context.
SOCIAL FACTORS OF RESILIENCE
Following the logic of Luthar, who in his review of 
resilience studies states that “resilience rests, fundamen-
tally, on relationships” (2006, 780), we extracted social 
factors indicating social relationships as a response to 
crisis. Most of the social factors extracted from coded 
narratives and interviews were expressed as different 
forms of reliance:
While women from both countries show a relatively 
strong reliance on social networks, Slovenian women re-
lied equally on members of their households, members 
of their extended family and on broader social networks. 
Reliance is mostly connected with the reorganization of 
household priorities and activities, which was induced 
by the previously mentioned economic response to 
crisis. Reliance on household members in most cases 
includes mutual help in activities of self-provisioning, 
economizing activities (minor house and equipment 
repairs), and the re-assignment or reorganization of 
household tasks. Apart from redistribution of workload, 
women from Slovenia also report that reliance on family 
members had a mitigating effect on stress and positively 
impacted connectedness with other members of their 
families.
Slovenian women also relied on family members 
outside their households. In most cases, they based this 
reliance on either siblings or parents, which usually takes 
the form of generalized reciprocity (Sahlins, 2017). They 
usually rely on siblings for occasional financial support 
and on parents for help with taking care of children or 
for domestically produced items, mostly food:
I have a big family. You know, growing up on 
a farm… you’re never scared or worried about 
starving. There’s always something to eat. And 
now, I can always go back home to them […] In 
Ljubljana where I live, I feel unsafe and stressed. 
What if I run out of money, what will we eat? What 
can you do? Nothing, go to Caritas or beg on the 
streets. I’m lucky enough to have my parents out 
in the country. (#10, Slo, 2016)
However, this reliance is mutual and governed by 
rules of generalized reciprocity which “[…] refers to 
transactions that are putatively altruistic, transactions 
on the line of assistance given and, if possible and 
Chart 3: Social factors of resilience (Source: Qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and INFORM, n=89).
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necessary, assistance returned” (Sahlins, 2017, 175). 
Our data shows that this mutual reliance increases 
the frequency and diversity of social connections and 
strengthens social ties.
Along with other available supportive social net-
works, women in Slovenia perceive their neighbours to 
be among their friends. Neighbours are regarded as a 
potential help in exceptional situations or as an emer-
gency safety net:
[…] if something terrible was to happen – God 
forbid – like fire, flood or something, I’m sure, at 
least six people from the village would immedia-
tely be here. (#22, Slo, 2016)
You know what they say: your neighbour is your 
first relative! And in a way it is true. Who are you 
gonna turn to if something terrible happens? (#5, 
Slo, 2016)
Reliance on these networks is governed by rules 
of balanced reciprocity which refer to fair and direct 
exchange (Sahlins, 2017). Data gathered from partici-
pant observation shows that this reliance is character-
istic of members of groups that cooperate in other 
areas, such as co-workers, who frequently exchange 
favours or spend free time together. Thus, exchange 
through balanced reciprocity among these women en-
sures not only direct transfer of goods and favours but 
also establishes feelings of safety, connectedness and 
integration. A typical example of balanced reciprocity 
among women in Slovenia can be observed within 
practices of an economy of favours. Ledeneva (1998) 
describes a socialist “economy of favours,” comprised 
of informal networks that serve people’s regular, pe-
riodic, life-cycle needs as well as scale up to serving 
the needs of others. From narratives on reciprocity 
and data gathered with participant observation, this 
economy of favours serves not so much as material 
support as it serves in maintaining and strengthening 
social connections and in mitigating individual feel-
ings of stress and social isolation:
Of course, we return favours […] we always 
pull together. In this respect [the question of 
returning favours] we are… there’s no dispute 
here. We are very connected in this respect. 
(#10, Slo, 2016)
Women in BiH also rely on family members outside 
their households and other informal networks, but less 
on members in their households. In contrast to women 
from Slovenia, their reliance on household members is 
somewhat lower, mainly because they perceive family 
members’ situations to be as tough as their own. Thus 
they rely instead on social connections outside their 
families. Like Slovenian women, their reliance on 
family networks is focused on siblings or parents and 
is governed by generalized reciprocity. However, for 
women from BiH, it appears more robust, diverse, and 
generalized:
[…] I turn to them for whatever I need. I even turn 
to my grandfather. For anything. And of course, 
when they need something, anything, they turn to 
me. (#48, BiH, 2016)
Our results show that women usually rely on their 
parents for homegrown food and for help in taking care 
of children or household help. Occasionally they turn to 
other relatives for financial support, particularly in cases 
where they emigrated to more developed countries to 
improve their economic status:
I have a big family… my brothers and sisters, I can 
rely on them for anything… They also rely on me, 
even materially, but in most cases this reliance is 
psychological. (#75, BiH, 2016)
Reliance on other informal networks also appears 
stronger, more direct and more intensive than among 
women from Slovenia, resulting in stronger feelings of 
safety, connectedness and integration:
I strongly rely on them. Even more in current 
times. I’m not alone. I have friends and neighbo-
urs, and this means a lot to me. We do everything 
for each other, and we do it out of mutual love. 
(#57, BiH, 2016)
Surprisingly, in contrast to women from Slovenia, 
women from BiH show an additional strong reliance 
on political connections and informal networks, yet in 
most cases this reliance operates on a perceptual level. 
Our participants do not engage in politics beyond oc-
casionally voting and thus don’t possess actual links to 
political power. However, they perceive political power 
as very important:
You have to be a member of a political party to 
get ahead. And it’s really sad. I’m old and not 
politically active, so it makes no difference for me. 
But for younger generations… (#63, BiH, 2016)
Politics is all about clans with shared interests 
and nothing with political parties, their names 
or programs. And it makes a difference for tho-
se people who are members. (#65, BiH, 2016)
Interviewer: Tell me, would you engage in 
politics to change the situation for yourself and 
your household? Why?
Yes. Mostly to improve my financial status. 
(#70, BiH, 2016)
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These results are the basis of our third finding: that 
women from the Western Balkans (WB) who partici-
pated in our study rely heavily on informal networks, 
including family members, cousins, friends, and godfa-
thers. These networks are generally built on strong ties 
between members. This conclusion aligns with an IN-
FORM (2017) quantitative survey from the region based 
on a sample of over 6,000 participants. According to 
the results of that study, 87% of respondents report 
their primary reliance on strong informal networks, 
with no difference between males and females. How-
ever, according to the report, these informal networks 
are still used less by women in comparison to men, as 
the average network size in WB sample for males is 15 
members, while for women, it is 12 members. While 
these networks have a regular presence in the region 
and bring economic and other benefits to individuals, 
households, and entrepreneurs, Efendic and Ledeneva 
(2020) report that the economic costs of maintaining 
these networks are also substantial, both in terms of 
money and in terms of time invested to establish and 
maintain the networks. The benefits of these networks 
are expected to outweigh the related costs, but the net 
economic gains of reliance on these networks are less 
beneficial than one would assume at first glance. Since 
our results show that these networks act as a form of 
social capital, moderating the negative impact of cri-
sis, they are in line with the findings of other authors 
(Sampson et al., 1999; Aldrich, 2012; Sadri et al., 2018; 
Efendic, 2020). In particular, for our participants, these 
networks enable the transfer of information and goods 
and strengthen social ties, thus improving member con-
nectedness and resilience of women, which was con-
firmed by Cohen et al. (2002) and MacGillivray (2018). 
CULTURAL FACTORS OF RESILIENCE
Cultural factors affecting resilience have often been 
recognized as crucial, yet studies focusing on these 
issues are relatively scarce (Wright & Masten, 2005). 
Within these studies, information and the ability to 
communicate with members of attachment networks 
emerge as crucial in the application of information 
skills and knowledge in building resilience (Longstaff 
& Yang, 2008). The use of knowledge as a cultural ar-
tefact should therefore be regarded as one of the keys 
to survival: ‘‘Knowledge […] is always man’s primary 
guide in his relationship with the environment. […]. 
Without knowledge and without strict adherence to 
knowledge, no culture could survive. This is, then, 
the backbone of culture from the beginning onwards’’ 
(Malinowski, 1960, 198).
Among cultural factors that can be linked to the sur-
vival strategies of our subjects, we focused our analysis 
on those relating to education, use of knowledge, and 
cultural capital (cf. Chart 4). 
An immediately discernible finding is that women 
in BiH regard knowledge as significantly more impor-
tant in dealing with crisis than women from Slovenia. 
However, this finding remains tied to the perceptions of 
importance; the perceived importance of the acquisition 
of knowledge among our research subjects was rarely, if 
Chart 4: Cultural factors of resilience (Source: Qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and INFORM, n=89).
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ever, translated into actual practice, activity, or skill that 
would improve their survival, such as enrolling in an 
educational program as a response to crisis.
Nevertheless, both groups of women perceive 
cultural factors as important, and these perceptions 
influence their behaviours. For Slovenian women, the 
education of household members, although important 
in strengthening resilience, remains unimportant 
compared to socio-economic factors, and is therefore 
only secondarily connected to the survival of the 
household. Education of household members, plans 
for education of children, and acquisition of new skills 
and practical knowledge thus appear with expectedly 
low frequency. Data from narratives and interviews 
show that among Slovenian women, cultural factors of 
resilience appear mostly linked to cultural consump-
tion, usually as reading books and watching content 
that enables their household to be more efficient in 
self-provisioning.
Women from BiH place a greater emphasis on cul-
tural factors, particularly on education. For them, formal 
education, although important on a nominal level, 
cannot mitigate the negative aspects of crisis. Regard-
ing knowledge that could be used as a tool of survival, 
the knowledge that enables mobilization of other forms 
of capital, in particular, economic and social capital 
through the informal sector, is perceived as of primary 
importance:
I think (persuasive) communication is essential. 
It’s the key for everything! (#58, BiH, 2016)
Social connections are crucial [to survive]. If you 
want to survive you must gain knowledge of 
people, of business, sadly also of politics. That’s 
killing all of us. (#62, BiH, 2016) 
In this situation the best skill is to learn to be a 
crook, to form your own social networks and to 
enter political party. (#69, BiH, 2016)
[…] and it’s all education, the knowledge of 
the language, knowledge of social groups and 
everything else [tied to informality]. It’s all in 
vain if you don’t have that knowledge. (#75, 
BiH, 2016)
Informal networking thus appears to be a part of 
their basic survival and problem-solving strategy. 
Indeed, Efendic et al. (2017) reports that individuals 
and households with more highly developed informal 
networks could cope better with the economic down-
turn in Southeast Europe during the 2008–2009 crisis. 
Commonly, this informal networking takes many forms 
and is usually not perceived as corruption or another 
form of illegal activity. It is, rather, perceived as a basic 
survival skill:
What works to solve a problem or get a job done? 
You need skills, money, good product, but you 
also need štele [social connections, networks]. 
Some sort of a friend or friend of a friend who 
can help you. For instance, if I have a friend who 
needs a job in our Hotel I will go to my gazda 
[boss] and will tell him I have a good friend, 
who’s hard working, honest, reliable… Maybe he 
will give her a job straight away or call her when 
position is available. (#81, BiH, 2016)
In addition, informal networking appears just as 
important on an interpersonal level, for it represents a 
channel of interaction to which people are traditionally 
accustomed. Informal networking in the Balkans is one 
of the basic platforms of day-to-day interaction and prob-
lem-solving (Gordy & Efendic, 2019; Efendic & Ledeneva, 
2020). However, while informal networking is relatively 
efficient on an interpersonal basis, the situation appears 
to be somewhat different in formal and semi-formal 
contexts. These contexts seek formal interaction and are 
therefore often confusing or even conflicting:
How informality works? I think it’s everything 
that people do to help each other personally. Like 
traditionally, in old days, in the village, people 
helped each other to solve problems, like for 
survival… and this was good, and still is. But no-
wadays people do informal things that are totally 
unnecessary. (#83, BiH, 2016)
What do you mean? [interviewer]
In BiH, people act informally when they do 
not have to. For instance, old grannies go to 
the doctor and even before they tell him what 
their problem is, they give him something, 
money, chocolate, something… I know they 
want to get them [doctors] to help them, and 
I know it’s tradition to be friendly and all, but 
these grannies are essentially poor and this gift 
giving is like a cultural reflex which is useless. 
Or for instance, people need confirmation of a 
document from a city office. The submit it and 
the office has 15 days to confirm it. People pay 
20, 30 KM to the clerk, who’s supposed to ‘help 
them get the job done.’ Why? It’s useless, abuse 
of money and authority and tradition. I think 
people use informality the wrong way. And, it’s 
not even corruption. Corruption is simple and 
obvious and bad. Informality is complicated, 
murky and… good, bad or both! 
However, when considering stability or the further 
development of small business, all respondents agree 
that formalization is necessary. These procedures often 
present considerable challenges, particularly because 
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of limited financial resources, tough economic back-
ground, insufficient education, and informal network 
support:
In Bosnia women are silent rulers. I don’t 
know how you see it [as a foreigner] or how it 
is in your country, but I’m telling you this as a 
woman. However, it is harder for women to do 
business compared to the men. For instance I 
had a business with my friend. We opened a 
hairdresser salon and it went great. After two ye-
ars, we couldn’t do it anymore, we divided our 
customers, closed the shop and went separate 
ways. (#83, BiH, 2016)
Why did you split? [interviewer]
I don’t know… we had a small fight, nothing 
serious… but, it wouldn’t work in the long run. 
You said it is harder for women to do business 
than for men. Why? [interviewer]
I guess our social networks are different. Men go, 
sit down over a drink and do business. Women 
go, sit down over drink and talk… you know, 
chit-chat… Nothing comes out, no business. […] 
men do business collectively and they don’t take 
things personally. Women do business individu-
ally and take everything very personally…
These results support our fourth finding: that spe-
cific cultural factors appear as a key to resilience. These 
factors are largely tied to the knowledge and skills of 
informal networking, enabling people who possess 
them to mobilize their social networks and thus improve 
their economic situation. While our findings regarding 
the cruciality of cultural capital in building resilience 
are in line with those of other authors (Ajibade et al., 
2013; Roberts & Townsend, 2016), they also expand on 
them. Our results show that apart from conventional 
knowledge and education, cultural capital relies on un-
conventional and informal knowledge and, even more 
important, presents a key element in accessing informal 
networks and thus enabling the mobilization of social 
capital for purposes of resilience.
MAPPING THE COMPOSITION OF RESILIENCE
To map the general composition of resilience 
among women in Slovenia and BiH, we analysed 
the co-occurrence of codes. A proximity plot (0 = no 
co-occurrence, 1 = complete co-occurrence) shows 
observed practices in relation to the category of all 
practices induced or promoted by crisis (Chart 5). The 
practices of self-provisioning, investing and relying 
on help from members within the household appear 
closest to the time of crisis, confirming these to be 
the most direct responses and thus the most focused 
elements of resilience. Most of the practices related to 
crisis in this way are centred around reliance on family 
Chart 5: Proximity plot of crisis and emerged practices (Source: Qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and 
INFORM, n=89).
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Chart 6: Cluster analysis of mitigating responses (Source: Qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and 
INFORM, n=89).
Chart 6.1: Map of type 1 resilience (Source: Authors’ 
calculations based on qualitative dataset merged from 
SSHISEE and INFORM).
Chart 6.2: Map of type 2 resilience (Source: Authors’ 
calculations based on qualitative dataset merged from 
SSHISEE and INFORM).
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networks and other informal networks, the economy 
of favour, and friends, practices of reduction, and 
acquisition of debt, indicating that these practices 
are promoted by crisis. Somewhat less related to cri-
sis are income from retirement, practices of selling 
(disinvesting), agricultural production, borrowing, 
and different forms of employment. The least related 
to crisis are unpaid work within the household, social 
connections, and acquisition of new skills and other 
practical knowledge.
Based on these results, we conducted a cluster 
analysis which enabled us to map different patterns 
of resilience. From an agglomeration order of 14 
clusters, 3 distinct patterns or maps of resilience 
emerge:
The first cluster (Chart 6, magenta group) repre-
sents a map of resilience that includes mobilization 
of savings, acquisition of bank loans, reliance on 
friends and personal relations and activities and per-
ceptions that are focused on an economy of favours. 
Link analysis between nodes shows relatively weak 
but equally distributed connections, indicating an 
absence of any obvious dominance of practice or 
perception within this type of resilience (Chart 6.1). 
This type of resilience is based equally on reliance 
on friendship and interpersonal relationships with 
approximately the same strength of relations to an 
economy of favours, mobilization of savings, and 
acquisition of bank loans. This finding could not 
be confirmed in its clear form directly in observed 
cases. However, it can be found as a pattern in 
many cases, indicating that women who tend to 
base their resilience on reliance on friendship and 
interpersonal relations also tend to perceive or even 
to engage in an economy of favours as a resilience 
strategy.
The second cluster (Chrat 6, orange group) repre-
sents another distinct map of resilience. It is based 
on economizing and reducing, relying on help from 
the household and other family members, and on 
broader informal networks, social benefits (money 
for unemployment) and activities of self-provision-
ing. Link analysis shows economizing at the core 
of this map with strong connections to reliance on 
help from social networks outside households, and 
on family members outside the household (Chart 
6.2). At the periphery of this map is reliance on 
household members, activities of self-provisioning, 
and reliance on unemployment benefits. This find-
ing is confirmed by many narratives in which our 
respondents state that their first response to the cri-
sis came in the form of a reduction in spending and 
Chart 6.3: Map of type 3 resilience (Source: Authors’ calculations based on 
qualitative dataset merged from SSHISEE and INFORM).
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almost at the same time, or shortly after, actual help 
or reliance on help from friends and neighbours, 
mostly from improved or newly adopted practices 
of self-provisioning.
The third cluster (Chart 6, violet group) repre-
sents a map of resilience based on benefits from re-
tirement, informal employment activities, reliance 
on political connections and acquisition of skills, 
knowledge, and self-education (Chart 6.3). Link 
analysis shows the strongest associations between 
acquisition of skills and knowledge, self-education 
and reliance on political connections, thus placing 
these in the center of the map. At the periphery 
are activities including informal employment con-
nected to both reliance on political connections 
and acquisition of new skills, and lastly, weak 
connections to benefits from retirement. These find-
ing are illustrated in cases where research subjects 
acquire new skills and knowledge by engaging in 
self-education to be able to both mobilize potential 
political connections and to perform better in flex-
ible and unstable informal employment.
The results from link analysis are the basis for 
our final finding: all types of resilience appear as 
3 distinct configurations of economic, social, and 
cultural capital amalgamated into a single strategy 
of resilience. This finding is in line with the con-
clusions of authors showing how different forms of 
capital act as a basis for women’s resilience. Our 
study extends this notion by showing how these 
forms of capital function together as a mechanism 
of resilience. Based on our analysis, we conclude 
that type 1 resilience is based on the mobilization 
of social capital, type 2 on economic capital, and 
type 3 on cultural capital. At the same time, each 
type, while having an emphasis on a specific strat-
egy, includes the other two types of capital:
Although at this stage it is not possible to 
completely confirm this statement, there are some 
indications of its solid groundedness. Further link 
analysis, in particular on a larger sample and 
in different social and cultural contexts, would 
generate more data to either support or refute this 
statement. In addition, a bigger sample would en-
able the analysis of the impact of different social, 
cultural, and historic contexts on preferred types of 
resilience among women.
CONCLUSION
Our analysis of the ways in which women in Slovenia 
and BiH develop their resilience to crisis through their 
survival practices shows that:
1. Socio-cultural and historical context plays a cru-
cial role on the level of perceptions of crisis and 
subsequently impact practices, survival strategies 
and resilience.
2. The first and strongest response to crisis revolves 
around the mobilization of economic factors 
within women’s households.
3. Women who participated in our study have 
relatively narrow social networks; however, they 
rely heavily on social capital and on informal 
networks, including family members, cousins, 
friends, and godfathers, and these networks in-
clude strong ties among members.
4. Cultural factors appear as a body of knowledge 
and skills on informal networking enabling 
women to mobilize social networks to improve 
their economic situation, and
5. Resilience evolves as a specific amalgam of dif-
ferent configurations of economic, social, and 
cultural capital.
This analysis presents an original contribution to 
the field in several ways. First, our study is based 
on original and previously unpublished empirical 
data, gathered in a region that is geographically, 
socio-culturally, and historically under-researched 
regarding issues specific to women’s survival. Sec-
ond, our analysis is performed in an innovative man-
ner. By combining perceptual factors with factors of 
Type of resilience Elements of economic capital Elements of social capital Elements of cultural capital
Type 1 – social capital 
based Bank loans
Friendship and 
interpersonal relations Economy of favours
Type 2 – economic capital 
based
Economizing, 
self-provisioning, 
unemployment
Reliance on help within 
and outside HH Reliance on social networks
Type 3 – cultural capital 
based
Informal employment, 
retirement Political connections
Skills and practical knowledge, 
self-education
Table 1: Composition of types of resilience.
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economic, social, and cultural capital, we analysed 
relatively complex practices and their place in mi-
cro, mezzo, and macro levels of social and cultural 
reality. Third, by using link analysis to extrapolate 
parts of models that can be regarded as both unified 
survival models and idiosyncratic cognitive schemes, 
we outlined core elements in different survival strat-
egies driving different practices.
While providing new data and insights, this 
study also comes with several limitations. Firstly, 
there is a limitation in the method. Our approach 
is based on in-depth and ethnographic interviews, 
participant observations, and content analysis, 
which necessarily contain a component of subjec-
tivity, both on the level of our respondents and us 
as researchers. Adding new methodological proce-
dures, for instance, triangulation would undoubt-
edly improve the quality of our results. There is also 
a limitation in our sample. Our study is based on 
purposive sampling, a non-probability sampling 
method, recognized and accepted within anthropol-
ogy, but known for being selective, subjective, and 
judgmental. Therefore, our results and conclusions 
appear valid only within our sample and should be 
handled with caution when generalizing beyond its 
limits. Extending the sample and adopting different 
sampling techniques would improve the quality of 
our results, in particular the quality of generaliza-
tion. Thirdly, economic, social, and cultural factors 
that were selected for our study are limited in their 
range and scope. The practices we observed and 
analysed encompass a small selection from all prac-
tices that can be observed in real-life scenarios, and 
the maps described could undoubtedly be furthered 
by including more diverse factors. Finally, types of 
resilience are based on the co-occurrence of codes 
– a proxy based on the assumption that pieces of 
data that occur together with a certain frequency 
and in distinct patterns during data collection also 
function together in actual life strategies. These 
maps should thus be regarded as a preliminary at-
tempt to represent key elements of resilience along 
with their inner relationships, and not as a blueprint 
for building resilience.
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Andrej NATERER & Nirha EFENDIĆ: RESILIENCE OF WOMEN AND THEIR HOUSEHOLDS IN TIMES OF CRISIS: AN ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ..., 381–398
ODPORNOST ŽENSK IN NJIHOVIH GOSPODINJSTEV V ČASU KRIZE: 
ANALIZA SOCIALNIH IN KULTURNIH PRAKS ŽENSK V SLOVENIJI IN 
BOSNI IN HERCEGOVINI
Andrej NATERER
Univerza v Mariboru, Filozofska fakulteta, Oddelek za sociologijo, Koroška cesta 160, 2000 Maribor, Slovenija
e-mail: andrej.naterer@um.si
Nirha EFENDIĆ
Narodni muzej Bosne in hercegovine, Oddelek za etnologijo, Zmaj od Bosne 3, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosna in Hercegovina
e-mail: efendicnirha@yahoo.com
POVZETEK
Ženske se v sodobnih kontekstih Slovenije in Bosne in Hercegovine soočajo s številnimi izzivi, med katere 
velikokrat sodijo visoka brezposelnost, pomanjkanje zaposlitvenih možnosti, neugodne delovne razmere, nizko 
plačilo in visok socialni pritisk, da hkrati opravljajo zakonske, materinske in gospodinjske funkcije. Ženske se 
spopadajo z neugodnimi socialnimi in ekonomskimi razmerami skozi serijo formalnih in neformalnih podjemov, 
ter na ta način oblikujejo odpornost zase in za svoja gospodinjstva. Pričujoča razprava izhaja iz etnografskega 
terenskega dela med ženskami v Sloveniji ter Bosni in Hercegovini, ki je bilo izvedeno v okviru projektov Scopes 
in H2020 med letoma 2014 in 2019, ter krajšo terensko follow-up fazo v času pandemije Covid 19 v letu 2020. 
Pristop temelji na seriji študij primerov in terenskim delom, ki vključuje metode opazovanja z udeležbo, pogloblje 
intervjuje in vizualne zapiske. Glavne ugotovitve raziskave kažejo na visoko iznajdljivost, družbeno angažiranost 
in vztrajnost žensk, kar so tudi ključni elementi v oblikovanju preživetvenih strategij in grajenju odpornosti med 
udeleženkami raziskave. Na podlagi teh rezultatov so v članku predstavljeni trije osnovni tipi odpornosti in sicer 
(1) tip, ki pretežno temelji na socialnem kapitalu, (2) tip, ki pretežno temelji na ekonomskem kapitalu ter (3) 
tip, ki pretežno temelji na kulturnem kapitalu. Kljub relativno uspešnim preživetvenim strategijam, pa ženske 
svoj položaj še vedno dojemajo kot neugoden, med glavnimi razlogi pa so pomanjkanje ekonomskih kapacitet, 
socialnih veščin, socialnih mrež, poguma, izobrazbe in zaupanja.
Ključne besede: ženske, odpornost, formalne in neformalne prakse, preživetvene strategije, odgovor na krizo
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