Abstract
Androcentric by nature, traditional leisure research assumed male researchers knew the meaning of leisure activities for women, that home and work were separate spheres for women, and that the dimensions of men’s leisure were also common to women’s leisure. Feminist interest in leisure increased with the realisation that women’s leisure was a product of social forces. Thus differences in women’s perceptions and experience of leisure reflected wider social divisions which contributed to the construction and maintenance of inequalities.Women both as narrators of their own leisure experiences, and as researchers of other women’s experiences, found little evidence in women’s everyday lives of leisure as traditionally defined by male researchers. A gap exists between women’s leisure experiences and the theoretical constructs available to them to talk about and investigate their experiences. This gap can be narrowed by talking with women about the feelings they associate with leisure and the contexts in which they experience these feelings in relation to the beliefs associated with motherhood, family and work.
The use of memory work in the study of emotion and gender suggested a method through which feminist goals and principles could be linked to a study of feelings, contexts and meanings. Using memory work in this way involved the establishment of the memory work groups; collection of written memories according to certain rules; collective examination of the memories by co-researchers for the common meanings used in their construction; appraisal of memories by the researcher in the context of existing leisure theory; and group discussion of the researcher’s appraisal and negotiation by group members of a collective account of the memories.
Memories were written to trigger words which have some association with leisure and to others viewed as the antithesis of leisure. For co-researchers the interactions of feelings of pleasure, relaxation, enjoyment, obligation and entitlement in containers represented by social settings, activities and physical locations were given meaning as leisure by the feeling of being free from obligation and free to choose and to implement that choice. The research supported the interlinking of values/entitlement, containers/opportunities and feelings (both positive and negative) as elements contributing to the gendered meaning of leisure. Women’s desire to achieve balance in their lives mediates these interactions.
An exploration of the tensions and problems encountered as a feminist doing research revealed resolution of some of these issues was possible. Others needing further reflection and wider discussion include : how do we create conditions in which participants become co-researchers with the power imbalance between all participants minimised?; how do we balance the requirements of postgraduate research/academic scholarship with the needs of co-researchers?; and what do we really give back to coresearchers?
| Date of Award | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Original language | English |
| Supervisor | Jim Clough (Supervisor) & Ron Traill (Supervisor) |
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