Abstract
Macrae discusses post-school exercise and shows the many ways women were able to access sport and physical recreation, despite contemporary dominant discourses being largely unsupportive of women’s sport. Through the use of oral history testimony from nurses and factory workers, Macrae shows that there were options for women to take part in sport if they were determined to do so. The chapter covers workplace provision of sport, community sport, and the influence of friends and family on the exercise experiences of young women. Macrae argues that despite the real and perceived barriers towards women’s sport and exercise, many women were able to keep up their exercise participation in their post-school years.
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Notes
- 1.
Skillen, ‘Woman and the Sport Fetish’, pp. 750–765.
- 2.
Skillen, ‘When Women Look their Worst’, p. 121.
- 3.
H. Lorimer (1997) ‘“Happy hostelling in the Highlands”: Nationhood, citizenship and the inter-war youth movement’, Scottish Geographical Journal, 113: 1, p. 44.
- 4.
Skillen, ‘When Women Look their Worst’, p. 122.
- 5.
Norah, oral history interview, 11th November 2010.
- 6.
NAS ED27/28 Scottish Education Department: Scottish Youth Advisory Committee, ‘Memorandum on the Relations between the Scottish Youth Advisory Committee and the Advisory Council on Education’, p. 1.
- 7.
J. Springhall, ‘Building character in the British boy: the attempt to extend Christian manliness to working-class adolescents, 1880–1914’, in Manliness and Morality, p. 55.
- 8.
See for example Sport England’s policy in this area: http://www.sportengland.org/our-work/children-and-young-people/satellite-clubs/
- 9.
‘Copplestone’ (1938) Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 30th September, p. 10.
- 10.
‘Keep-Fit’ (1940) Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, 10th May, p. 5.
- 11.
‘Edinburgh School of Dancing’ (1938) The Scotsman, 7th September, p. 1.
- 12.
‘The Jack Douglas School of Dancing’ (1937) Paisley Daily Express, 11th January, p. 5.
- 13.
Girls’ Clubs Appeal, (1939) reference: 0862, Scottish Screen Archive.
- 14.
Girls’ Clubs Appeal.
- 15.
Maxine, oral history interview, 19th May 2010.
- 16.
T. Proctor (1998) ‘(Uni)Forming Youth: Girl Guides and Boy Scouts in Britain, 1908–39’, History Workshop Journal, 45, p. 111.
- 17.
Norah, oral history interview.
- 18.
Norah, oral history interview.
- 19.
L. Fleming (2005) Jewish Women in Glasgow c1880–1950: Gender, Ethnicity and the Immigrant Experience (Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of Glasgow), p. 347.
- 20.
A. Gibb (1983) Glasgow: The Making of a City (London: Croom Helm), p. 155.
- 21.
Maxine, oral history interview, 19th May 2010.
- 22.
Christine, oral history interview, 2nd July 2010.
- 23.
NAS ED27/28 Scottish Education Department: Scottish Youth Advisory Committee, ‘Dr Boyd’s paper on the Needs of Youth’, p. 3.
- 24.
P. Tinkler (1995) ‘Sexuality and Citizenship: the state and girls’ leisure provision in England, 1939–45’, Women’s History Review, 4:2, p. 211.
- 25.
NAS ED27/28 Scottish Education Department: Scottish Youth Advisory Committee: Policy Sub-Committee, Minute 4, p. 1.
- 26.
ED27/28, ‘Draft Report: Chapter IV, The Meaning of Adolescence’, p. 9.
- 27.
‘Women and Sport’ (1939) The Lancet, 19th November, p. 1091; N.A.S. ED27/28 Scottish Education Department: Scottish Youth Advisory Committee, ‘Dr Boyd’s Supplementary Notes on the Psychology of Adolescents’.
- 28.
ED27/28, ‘Draft Report: Chapter IV, The Meaning of Adolescence’, p. 9.
- 29.
NAS ED27/112, Scottish Education Department: Scottish Association of Boys’ Clubs and Scottish Association of Girls’ Clubs, Joint Clubs Committee, General, 1947–1956, ‘A summarised report of the Conference held at Dunblane 25th–27th November 1949’, p. 7.
- 30.
Margaret H., oral history interview, 17th May 2010.
- 31.
Margaret H., oral history interview.
- 32.
Margaret H., oral history interview.
- 33.
Curriculum for pupils of twelve to fifteen years, 1931, Reprint no 8. Physical Education, p. 15.
- 34.
Anne A., oral history interview, 30th June 2010.
- 35.
Anne A., oral history interview.
- 36.
Anne A., oral history interview.
- 37.
Anne A., oral history interview.
- 38.
I. M. Young (2005) On Female Body Experience: “Throwing Like a Girl” and Other Essays (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
- 39.
Margaret B., oral history interview.
- 40.
Margaret B., oral history interview.
- 41.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 42.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 43.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 44.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 45.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 46.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 47.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 48.
Janette, oral history interview, 18th May 2010.
- 49.
Janette, oral history interview.
- 50.
- 51.
Helen, oral history interview.
- 52.
‘A summarised report of the Conference held at Dunblane 25th–27th November 1949’, p. 4.
- 53.
Maxine, oral history interview.
- 54.
P. Jephcott (1967) Time of One’s Own: Leisure and Young People (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd), p. 79.
- 55.
Helen, oral history interview.
- 56.
Helen, oral history interview.
- 57.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 58.
Norah, oral history interview.
- 59.
Elspeth, oral history interview.
- 60.
Elspeth, oral history interview.
- 61.
Betty, oral history interview.
- 62.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 63.
Helen, oral history interview.
- 64.
Betty, oral history interview; Cathleen, oral history interview, 28th June 2010.
- 65.
Skillen, ‘When Women Look their Worst’, p. 122.
- 66.
R. Hoye, M. Nicholson and B. Houlihan (2010) Sport and Policy (Oxford: Elsevier), p. 155.
- 67.
H. Jones (1983) ‘Employers’ Welfare Schemes and Industrial Relations in Inter-War Britain’, Business History, 25: 1, p. 61.
- 68.
For example: interviews with Cathleen and Anne A.
- 69.
Jones, ‘Employers’ Welfare Schemes and Industrial Relations in Inter-War Britain’, p. 72.
- 70.
Ballantine et al. (1989) The Singer Strike Clydebank, 1911 (Glasgow History Workshop/Clydebank District Library).
- 71.
ICI Ltd., ‘Minutes of the Inaugural Meeting of Works Councils’, 18 April 1929, in Jones, ‘Employers’ Welfare Schemes and Industrial Relations in Inter-War Britain’, p. 63.
- 72.
Skillen, ‘When Women Look their Worst’, p. 147.
- 73.
Mary M., oral history interview.
- 74.
Mary M., oral history interview.
- 75.
Mary M., oral history interview.
- 76.
L. Robinson (1997) ‘Changing Attitudes Towards Women’s Athletics 1920–1950’ in G. Jarvie, and L. Jackson (eds) Scottish Centre Research Papers in Sport, Leisure and Society Vol.2 (Edinburgh: Moray House Institute, Herriot Watt University), pp. 53–62.
- 77.
Skillen, ‘When Women Look their Worst’, p. 100.
- 78.
Mary M., oral history interview.
- 79.
S. McGann, A. Crowther, and R. Dougall (2009) A History of the Royal College of Nursing 1916–90: A Voice for Nurses (Manchester: Manchester University Press), p. 1.
- 80.
McGann, Crowther and Dougall, A History of the Royal College of Nursing, pp. 1–2.
- 81.
Muriel, oral history interview, 11th October 2010.
- 82.
Muriel, oral history interview.
- 83.
Muriel, oral history interview.
- 84.
A. Kuhn (1995) Family Secrets: Acts of Memory and Imagination (London: Verso Books), p. 4.; L. Abrams, Oral History Theory, p. 79.
- 85.
Christine, oral history interview.
- 86.
S. Grogan (1999) Body Image, Understanding Body Dissatisfaction in Men, Women and Children (London: Routledge), pp. 14–15.
- 87.
For example Mary M., oral history interview; Betty, oral history interview.
- 88.
Betty, oral history interview.
- 89.
This will be explored further in Chap. 5.
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Macrae, E. (2016). Experiencing Exercise as a Young Woman. In: Exercise in the Female Life-Cycle in Britain, 1930-1970. Palgrave Studies in Sport and Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58319-2_3
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