This article examines a group of Chinese seafarer-partners’ activities in an online support group and discusses how gender issues may serve to influence women’s informal learning process online. It reveals that seafarer-partners not only acquired information, knowledge and emotional support, but also learnt an attitude, which helped them to adapt to the environment. In this process, gendered communication content and style and gendered beliefs/values played a role.
Bar-LevS (2008) ‘We are here to give you emotional support’: Performing emotions in an online HIV/AIDS support group. Qualitative Heath Research18(4): 509–521.
2.
BlankTOAdams-BlodnieksM (2007) The who and the what of usage of two cancer online communities. Computers in Human Behavior23(3): 1249–1257.
3.
ChenC (2005) The Transformation of Marriage and Families in China, (in Chinese). Beijing: Central Compiling and Translating Press.
4.
CilesizS (2009) Educational computer use in leisure contexts: A phenomenological study of adolescents’ experiences at internet cafes. American Educational Research Journal46(1): 232–274.
5.
CoatesJ (2004) Women, Men and Language: A Sociolinguistic Account of Gender Differences in Language. Oxford: Blackwell.
6.
DaviesJ (2004) Negotiating femininities online. Gender and Education16(1): 35–49.
7.
FrancisLE (1997) Ideology and interpersonal emotion management: Redefining identity in two support groups. Social Psychology Quarterly60(2): 153–171.
8.
GoodenRJWinefieldHR (2007) Breast cancer and prostate cancer online discussion boards: A thematic analysis of gender differences and similarities. Journal of Health Psychology12(1): 103–114.
9.
HerringSC (2003) Gender and power in online communication. In: HolmesJMeyerhoffM (eds) The Handbook of Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 202–229.
10.
HochschildAR (1979) Emotion work, feeling rules, and social structure. American Journal of Sociology85(3): 551–575.
11.
KlemmPHurstMDearholtSL. (1999) Gender differences on internet cancer support groups. Computers in Nursing17(2): 65–72.
12.
MadgeCO'ConnorH (2006) Parenting gone wired: Empowerment of new mothers on the internet?Social and Cultural Geography7(2): 199–219.
13.
MaierPArmstrongRHallW. (2005) JointZone: Users’ views of an adaptive online learning resource for rheumatology. Learning, Media and Technology30(3): 281–297.
14.
NaJChiaSW (2008) Impact of online resources on informal learners: Parents’ perception of their parenting skills. Computers & Education51(1): 173–186.
15.
OrgadS (2005) The transformative potential of online communication: The case of breast cancer patients’ internet space. Feminist Media Studies5(2): 141–161.
16.
OwenJEKlapowJCRothDL. (2004) Use of the internet for information and support: Disclosure among persons with breast and prostate cancer. Journal of Behavioural Medicine27(5): 491–505.
17.
PittsV (2004) Illness and internet empowerment: Writing and reading breast cancer in cyberspace. Health8(1): 33–59.
18.
RadinP (2006) ‘To me, it’s my life’: Medical communication, trust, and activism in cyberspace. Social Science & Medicine62(3): 591–601.
19.
RagerKB (2003) The self-directed learning of women with breast cancer. Adult Education Quarterly53(4): 277–293.
20.
SealeCZieblandSCharteris-BlackJ (2006) Gender, cancer experience and internet use: A comparative keyword analysis of interviews and online cancer support groups. Social Sciences & Medicine62(10): 2577–2590.
21.
TangL (2009) Shaping feelings in cyberspace: The case of Chinese seafarer-partners. Emotion, Space and Society2(2): 104–110.
22.
ThomasM (2003) Lost at Sea and Lost at Home: The Predicament of Seafaring Families. Cardiff: SIRC.
23.
ThomasMBaileyN (2006) Square pegs in round holes? Leave periods and role displacement in UK-based seafaring families. Work, Employment and Society20(1): 129–149.
24.
VadeboncoeurJA (2006) Engaging young people: Learning in informal contexts. Review of Research in Education30(1): 239–278.
25.
YuSWKChauRCM (1997) The sexual division of care in mainland China and Hong Kong. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research21(4): 607–619.
26.
ZhangN (2006) Gender role egalitarian attitudes among Chinese college students. Sex Roles55(7–8): 545–553
