Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

A Handbook of Leisure Studies pp 216–230Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Leisure and Gender: Challenges and Opportunities for Feminist Research

  • Chapter

Abstract

The centrality of gender as an organizing principle of leisure practice has been the focus of a considerable body or research conducted over the past couple of decades (for example, Deem, 1986; Wimbush and Talbot, 1988; Henderson et al., 1996; Wearing, 1998). Researchers revealed how gender relates not only to leisure activities and behaviours, but also to the experiences and meanings of leisure in everyday life. The gender stereotyping of activities, evident in many realms of leisure practice, was shown to be associated with gendered opportunities, constraints, and patterns of time use. Men’s time was seen as segmented with often a clear differentiation between work and non-work, and men seemed to have a greater availability of leisure activities and relaxation. The more holistic nature of women’s lives, despite dramatic increases in labour market participation of some groups of women in the later years of the twentieth century, was seen to reflect women’s caregiving roles, family responsibilities, and the lack of access to leisure that was free of socially prescribed obligations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Bibliography

  • Aitchison, C. (2000) ‘Poststructural Feminist Theories of Representing Others: A Response to the “Crisis” in Leisure Studies Discourse,’ Leisure Studies 19: 127–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aitchison, C. (2001) ‘Gender and Leisure: The Codification of Knowledge,’ Leisure Sciences 23: 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen, K. R. and Chin-Sang, V. (1990) ‘A Lifetime of Work: The Context and Meanings of Leisure for Aging Black Women,’ The Gerontologist 30: 734–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen, M. L. (1993) Thinking about Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender New York, Macmillan Publishing Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, K. L. (1999) ‘Snowboarding: The Construction of Gender in an Emerging Sport,’ Journal of Sport and Social Issues 23: 55–79.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bedini, L. A. and Guinan, D. M. (1996) ‘“If I Could Just Be Selfish…”: Caregivers’ Perceptions of Their Entitlement to Leisure,’ Leisure Sciences 18: 227–39.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bialeschki, M. D. and Henderson, K. A. (1996) ‘Women, Leisure, and Global Issues,’ World Leisure and Recreation Association 38(4): 41–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bialeschki, M. D. and Walbert, K. L. (1998) ‘“You Have to Have Some Fun To Go Along With Your Work”: The Interplay of Race, Class, Gender, and Leisure in the Industrial New South,’ Journal of Leisure Research 30(1): 79–100.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brod, H. and Kaufman, M. (1994) ‘Introduction,’ in H. Brod and M. Kaufman (eds) Theorizing Masculinities Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, pp. 1–10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1990) Gender Trouble New York, Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coalter, F. (1997) ‘Leisure Sciences and Leisure Studies: Different Concept, Same Crisis?’ Leisure Sciences 19(4): 255–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coalter, F. (1999) ‘Leisure Sciences and Leisure Studies: The Challenge of Meaning,’ in E. L. Jackson and T. L. Burton (eds) Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty-first Century State College, PA, Venture Publishing, pp. 507–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coltrane, S. (1994) ‘Theorizing Masculinities in Contemporary Social Science,’ in H. Brod and M. Kaufman (eds) Theorizing Masculinities Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications, pp. 39–60.

    Google Scholar 

  • DAWN (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era) (2001) ‘Gender Justice and Economic Justice: Reflections on the Five Year Reviews of the UN Conferences of the 1990s,’ <http://www.dawn.org.fjglobal/health/gender_justice.html>.

  • Deern, R. (1986) All Work and No Play? The Sociology of Women and Leisure Milton Keynes, Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deem, R. (1999) ‘How Do We Get Out of the Ghetto? Strategies for Research on Gender and Leisure for the Twenty-first Century,’ Leisure Studies 18(3), 161–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, M. (1990) ‘The Problem of Gender for Women’s Studies,’ Women’s Studies International Forum 13(5): 457–62.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez-Kelly, P. and Wolf, D. (2001) ‘A Dialogue on Globalization (Women’s Employment),’ Signs 26(4): 1243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Floyd, M. F. (1998) ‘Getting Beyond Marginality and Ethnicity: The Challenge for Race and Ethnic Studies in Leisure Research,’ Journal of Leisure Research 30(1): 3–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frederick, C. J. and Shaw, S. M. (1995) ‘Body Image as a Leisure Constraint: Examining the Experience of Aerobic Exercise Classes for Young Women,’ Leisure Sciences 17: 57–73.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gramann, J. H. and Allison, M. T. (1999) ‘Ethnicity, Race, and Leisure,’ in E. L. Jackson and T. L. Burton (eds) Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty-first Century State College, PA, Venture Publishing, pp. 283–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, E. (1998) ‘“Women Doing Friendship”: An Analysis of Women’s Leisure as a Site of Identity Construction, Empowerment and Resistance,’ Leisure Studies 17(3): 171–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, E., Hebron, S. and Woodward, D. (1990) Women’s Leisure, What Leisure? London, Macmillan Education Ltd.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Harding, S. (1991) Whose Science? Whose Knowledge? Thinking from Women’s Lives Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A. (1990) ‘The Meaning of Leisure for Women: An Integrative Review of the Research,’ Journal of Leisure Research 22(3): 228–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A. (1991) Dimensions of Choice: A Qualitative Approach to Recreation, Parks, and Leisure Research State College, PA, Venture Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A. (1994) ‘Broadening an Understanding of Women, Gender and Leisure,’ Journal of Leisure Research 26(1): 1–7.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A. and Bialeschki, M. D. (1999) ‘Makers of Meanings: Feminist Perspectives on Leisure Research,’ in E. L. Jackson and T. L. Burton (eds) Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty-first Century State College, PA, Venture Publishing, pp. 167–76.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A., Bialeschki, M. D., Shaw, S. M. and Freysinger, V. J. (1996) Both Gains and Gaps: Feminist Perspectives on Women’s Leisure State College, PA, Venture Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A., Hodges, S. and Kivel, B. (2002) ‘Context and Dialogue in Research on Women and Leisure,’ Journal of Leisure Research 34(3): 253–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henderson, K. A. and Shaw, S. M. (2003) ‘Leisure Research about Gender and Men: The Weaker Link?’ Paper presented to the Leisure Research Symposium of NRPA in St Louis, Missouri, October.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hogeland, L. M. (2001) ‘Against Generational Thinking, or, Some Things that “Third Wave” Feminism Isn’t,’ Women’s Studies in Communication 24: 107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hooks, B. (1989) Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black Boston, MA, South End Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howry, A. L. and Wood, J. T. (2001) ‘Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed: Themes in the Voices of a New Generation of Feminists,’ The Southern Communication Journal 66: 323.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. (1997) ‘Leisure as Life: Outline of a Poststructuralist Reconstruction,’ Loisir & Société (Society and Leisure) 20(2): 401–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, J. R. (1999) ‘Leisure Behaviors and Styles: Social, Economic, and Cultural Factors,’ in E. L. Jackson and T. L. Burton (eds) Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty-first Century State College, PA, Venture Publishing, pp. 135–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimmel, M. S. and Messner, M. A. (eds) (1998) Men’s Lives (4th edn), Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kivel, B. and Pearce, K. (1999) ‘Shifting Identities, Shifting Paradigms: Leisure and Feminist-Queer Theory’. Paper presented to the Leisure Research Symposium of NRPA in Nashville, Tennessee, October.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKay, J., Messner, M. and Sabo, D. (2000) Masculinities, Gender Relations and Sport Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Messner, M. A. and Sabo, D. (eds) (1990) Sport, Men, and the Gender Order: Critical Feminist Perspectives Champaign, IL, Human Kinetics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moghadam, V. M. (1999) ‘Gender and Globalization: Female Labor and Women’s Mobilization,’ Journal of World Systems Research 2: 367–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedlar, A. (1995) ‘Relevance and Action Research in Leisure,’ Leisure Sciences 17(2): 133–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillipp, S. F. (1998) ‘Race and Gender Differences in Adolescent Peer Group Approval of Leisure Activities,’ Journal of Leisure Research 30(2): 214–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richardson, L. (1997) Fields of Play: Constructing an Academic Life New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, K. (1997) ‘Why Old Questions are the Right Response to New Challenges: The Sociology of Leisure in the 1990s,’ Loisir & Société (Society and Leisure) 20(2): 369–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rogers, M. F. (2001) ‘Contemporary Feminist Theory,’ in G. Ritzer and B. Smart (eds) Handbook of Social Theory London, Sage Publications, pp. 285–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rojek, C. (1995) Decentring Leisure London, Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rojek, C. (1997) ‘Leisure Theory: Retrospect and Prospect,’ Loisir et Société (Society and Leisure) 20(2): 383–400.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenau, P. M. (1992) Postmodernism and the Social Sciences: Insights, Inroads, and Intrusions Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samdahl, D. M. (1999) ‘Epistemological and Methodological Issues in Leisure Research,’ in E. L. Jackson and T. L. Burton (eds) Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty-first Century State College, PA, Venture Publishing, pp. 119–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samdahl, D. and Kelly, J. (1999) ‘Speaking Only to Ourselves? Citation Analysis of Journal of Leisure Research and Leisure Sciences,’ Journal of Leisure Research 31(2): 171–80.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scraton, S. (1994) ‘The Changing World of Women and Leisure: Feminism, “Postfeminism,” and Leisure,’ Leisure Studies 13: 249–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scraton, S. and Watson, B. (1998) ‘Gendered Cities: Women and the Public Leisure Space in the “Postmodern City”,’ Leisure Studies 17: 123–37.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, S. M. (1985) ‘The Meaning of Leisure in Everyday Life,’ Leisure Sciences 7: 1–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, S. M (1992) ‘Body Image among Adolescent Women: The Role of Sports and Physically Active Leisure,’ Journal of Applied Recreation Research 16: 349–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, S. M. (1997) ‘Controversies and Contradictions in Family Leisure: An Analysis of Conflicting Paradigms,’ Journal of Leisure Research 29(1): 98–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, S. M. (1999) ‘Gender and Leisure,’ in E. L. Jackson and T. L. Burton (eds) Leisure Studies: Prospects for the Twenty-first Century State College, PA, Venture Publishing, pp. 271–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, S. M. (2000) ‘If Our Research is Relevant, Why is Nobody Listening?,’ Journal of Leisure Research 33(1): 147–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, S. M. (2001) ‘Conceptualizing Resistance: Women’s Leisure as Political Practice,’ Journal of Leisure Research 33(2): 186–201.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinam, G. (1995) ‘Foreword,’ in R. Walker To Be Real New York, Anchor Books, pp. xiii-xxviii.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tirone, S. C. and Shaw, S. M. (1997) ‘At the Center of Their Lives: Indo Canadian Women, Their Families, and Leisure,’ Journal of Leisure Research 29(2): 225–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (LS 106–386) (2000) Retrieved on 28 June 2004 from <http://www.state.govdocuments/organization/10492.pdf>.

  • Walker, R. (1995) ‘Being Real: An Introduction,’ in R. Walker To Be Real New York, Anchor Books, pp. xxix–xl.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wearing, B. (1998) Leisure and Feminist Theory London, Sage Publications.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wimbush, E. and Talbot, M. (eds) (1988) Relative Freedoms Milton Keynes, Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yule, J. (1997) ‘Engendered Ideologies and Leisure Policy in the UK. Part 1: Gender Ideologies,’ Leisure Studies 16: 61–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Karla A. Henderson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Susan M. Shaw
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law and Social Science, Brunel University, West London, UK

    Chris Rojek

  2. Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

    Susan M. Shaw

  3. School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia

    A. J. Veal

Copyright information

© 2006 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Henderson, K.A., Shaw, S.M. (2006). Leisure and Gender: Challenges and Opportunities for Feminist Research. In: Rojek, C., Shaw, S.M., Veal, A.J. (eds) A Handbook of Leisure Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625181_13

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation