Women's leisure : A qualitative study.

Mainstream leisure studies has largely failed to consider the importance of gender as a structuring variable upon leisure and consequently has neglected women's leisure as an area for study. This thesis aims to describe and analyse the experience and meaning of leisure for women, the constraints upon and opportunities for leisure which women have, and the ways in which these relate to the broader economic and social structures within society. Informed by feminist critical research, the thesis takes a holistic approach, seeking to situate women's leisure in the context of their lives as a whole. It considers the interrelationships between leisure and other aspects of women's lives, including the family and employment. The role of ideology and its relationship with women's material inequalities isconsidered, and the impact of prevailing ideologies of masculinity and femininity upon leisure is discussed. A selective review of theoretical writing upon leisure evaluates existing writing about leisure in the light of recent feminist contributions to the field. A discussion of some the available historical evidence provides the context for a discussion ofwomen's leisure during the 1980s. The thesis draws upon a range of survey data and small scale social research findings to provide an overview of contemporary women's perceptions and experiences of leisure. This then forms the background to a discussion of five case studies, based upon qualitative data derived from interviews with 28 women. The case studies examine the experiences of women who share particular configurations of contraint and opportunity, and the analysis attempts to identify points of communality and points of divergence between the groups. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of the present status of feminist research upon leisure, and offers some suggestions for possible future directions for research in the area of women and leisure.