Problem. Oppressive cultural and social representations are inscribed on the body and intersect with women's subjective identity. / Objective. The present study explores the use of the body as a vehicle for resistance against such inscriptions. / Method. The practice of martial arts is investigated as one of the means of empowerment for women. Quantitative methods were used to compare the levels of empowerment in a group of women who practice martial arts versus a comparison group of women who do not practice martial arts. / Results. Quantitative analysis revealed that while no differences were found in overall empowerment scores between the two groups, differences were found on the subscales of empowerment. Women who practice martial arts demonstrated lower levels of Righteous Anger on the empowerment scale than women who do not practice martial arts. Closely reaching statistical significance, women who practice martial arts demonstrated higher levels of Control on the empowerment scale.

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The purposes of the investigation were to determine if status of professional sports and professional athletes increases as male participation increases, if perceived status of 'athlete' increases with participation in sports that contain 'male' attributes, and if gender differences are related to status indicators. Sixty-eight students were administered a status-determinants questionnaire. A one-way ANOVA (gender) and a 2 x 12 ANOVA (gender x sport) were employed to determine status ratings of sports. A 3 x 2 (increase/decrease/no change x gender) Chi square was employed to determine status of sports, perceived masculinity of males/femininity of females, and status of the athlete related to gender attributes of sports.

The Australian Disability Rights Movement (ADRM) developed slowly during the century, with a major spurt of growth in the 1980’s, resulting in the formation of two national advocacy organisations controlled by people with disabilities. This thesis uses the insider perspective of the researcher, feminist research methodology, review of relevant theory, and the views of self-selected board members to explore the history and common themes of the ADRM, and the relationship of these organisations to social change. Theoretical sources have been explored concerning past and present status of people with disabilities, new social movements, and second wave feminism. / Participants identifies individual experiences of disability and most felt the formation of such collective action groups had positive effects on social change. Respondents named major significant events in the achievement of disability rights, most naming the development of the two national organisations Disabled People’s International (Australia) (DPI(A) and Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) as essential to positive outcomes. / Sexism was experienced by most women involved in the more traditional organisation. This, and recognition of feminism, gave impetus to the formation of WWDA. / Opinion was divided about the best way the disability movement could continue without a peak body for both genders. The movement was perceived as ongoing, but less organised in its confrontation of challenges to the citizenship of people with disabilities posed by social and economic changes and governments’ weakening of the concept of advocacy.

The Australian Disability Rights Movement (ADRM) developed slowly during the century, with a major spurt of growth in the 1980’s, resulting in the formation of two national advocacy organisations controlled by people with disabilities. This thesis uses the insider perspective of the researcher, feminist research methodology, review of relevant theory, and the views of self-selected board members to explore the history and common themes of the ADRM, and the relationship of these organisations to social change. Theoretical sources have been explored concerning past and present status of people with disabilities, new social movements, and second wave feminism. / Participants identifies individual experiences of disability and most felt the formation of such collective action groups had positive effects on social change. Respondents named major significant events in the achievement of disability rights, most naming the development of the two national organisations Disabled People’s International (Australia) (DPI(A) and Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) as essential to positive outcomes. / Sexism was experienced by most women involved in the more traditional organisation. This, and recognition of feminism, gave impetus to the formation of WWDA. / Opinion was divided about the best way the disability movement could continue without a peak body for both genders. The movement was perceived as ongoing, but less organised in its confrontation of challenges to the citizenship of people with disabilities posed by social and economic changes and governments’ weakening of the concept of advocacy.

D.Phil. (Sport Science) / Socialisation is an interactive reciprocal process that shapes the way individuals think, act and make decisions. Through the sport socialisation process, over time individuals acquire beliefs and behaviours that affect other areas of their life, including education, family relations and peer interactions. Socialisation affects the lives of the participant’s significant others and socialising agents, who demonstrate changes in the way they view women’s football, interact with the player and assist with domestic duties. These processes occur in the public and private spheres and are closely associated with cultural perspectives of masculine and feminine gender identity construction. Four theories underpin the research, namely figurational theory, critical feminism, interactionism and cognitive development theory. This thesis examines the effects of female football participation in family dynamics, school and community relations, as well as individual identity formation and the challenges and benefits related to participation. For this comprehensive case study approach mixed methods were used (i.e. interviews, focus groups and questionnaires). The study focused on 21 cases of female football players in two South African locations, Johannesburg and Cape Town. Interviews were conducted with 21 players that played in leagues organised by the South African Football Association. In each location there was a senior team that played in the provincial leagues and an under-15 team that played in the regional leagues. Interviews were conducted with 48 significant others (individuals who influence the self-esteem, emotions and behaviour of a person, including mothers, fathers, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents), four coaches, seven administrators, and eleven school representatives. Focus groups took place at four schools in each location in which 258 students participated. Questionnaires were conducted in the communities around each of the selected schools, incorporating the perspectives of 169 respondents. The data was analysed with the assistance of Atlas.ti 6.2 and SPSS 20. Football in South Africa occurs within a context of poverty with the legacy of apartheid remaining in terms of limited access to resources, poor provision of sports facilities, unemployment, fragmented families, and lack of educational opportunities. These factors continued to affect the prospects of sport participation. Understanding hegemonic masculinity as the dominant ideology in the townships provides a background to analyse how men control the limited physical resources and public sport spaces, requiring girls to gain access through a male proxy or gatekeeper. Once females acquire access they are able to gain acceptable and legitimacy through demonstrating their competencies and success in competitions. Socialisation through sport occurs as girls are occupied in safe, controlled spaces with adult supervision rather than become involved in deviant behaviours. In these settings female footballers acquired positive behaviours and improved attributes such as time management, discipline, respect and self-efficacy. Their participation resulted in a reduction of social distance between them and their teacher-coaches, which improved the learning climate fostering trusting relationships. As the girls were socialised into football, some adopted masculine behaviours and appearance. In some cases tomboy behaviour merged into homosexuality (lesbianism) with the rejection of feminine role identification of ‘mother’ and ‘wife’. The team in the Cape Town setting openly promoted heterosexuality compared to the team in Johannesburg, where coach and players were accepting and receptive towards players who expressed a variety of sexualities. This resulted in four individuals identifying as lesbian or bisexual within the research participants. The responses by their family members were complex and varied. Siblings encouraged the acceptability for other family members, whereas fathers were absent or oblivious and mothers were highly critical based on their religious and cultural traditions. Mothers experienced failure of not socialising their daughters into the social role that is perceived to encapsulate womanhood (as wife and mother). Perceptions regarding women’s football are changing in the public discourse to become more supportive. This is informed by a democratic South African consciousness and human justice framework that encourages greater acceptance of women’s roles in positions of power. Increased resource allocation through sponsorships and government programmes affords additional opportunities for female participation as well as encouragement for participants. Recommendations emerging from this thesis are useful to maintain the growth and support of women’s football. Structural adjustments are necessary within South African football in terms of increasing the amount of leagues and tournaments available for women and girls, leadership opportunities and long-term athlete development plans. Changes in practices that are vital to women’s football include equality of resource allocation, stakeholder engagement and media exposure. These changes require government and SAFA support to materialise, as well as continued alterations in individual, family and community attitudes, behaviours and practices. As women’s football in South African continues to grow and develop the opportunities for forthcoming research are plentiful. Utilising a mixed method comprehensive case study approach, becoming intimately involved in the research context, and providing opportunities for local voices to be heard can meaningfully inform future policies and practices.

Motivations: Socio-economic status (SES) is a major source of health disparities. Those who lived in resource-deficient social and physical environments and with low individual income have been found to be at increased risk of physical inactivity. In Hong Kong there is virtually no research on the effect of SES on adolescent physical activity (PA). It is therefore important to explore the SES differentials in PA among Hong Kong adolescents and identify the mechanisms underlying such differentials. It is also important to examine the extent to which SES acts as a moderator and mediator of associations between various potential determinants of adolescent PA. Methods: A hundred eighty-one adolescents aged 12-18 were recruited in the study. This study applied an ecological framework to study the SES effects on adolescents’ PA participation. Physical activity was measured both objectively using accelerometers and subjectively using self-reports. Individual, social and school environment factors were assessed by validated self-report measures. Neighborhood built environmental factors were assessed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data. Individual-level SES was based on parents’ report of monthly household income, while area-level SES was based on census data on median household income of selected study neighborhoods. Generalized linear models with robust standard errors were used to assess associations of individual, social and environmental factors with adolescents’ PA. They were also used to assess the moderating of SES and mediators of SES-PA relationships. Results: The results supported the hypothesis that individual, social and environmental factors would all contribute to the explanation of adolescents’ PA. Moderation analyses showed that the PA level of adolescents living in low SES areas might have been negatively affected by the presence of steep streets in the neighborhood environment and the lack of sports facilities. These effects were not observed in adolescents living in high SES areas. In contrast, only adolescents living in high-SES areas showed positive associations of school-based social support and school PA-related environment with PA. Mediation analyses showed that SES differences in adolescents PA participation could be explained by social support from family and access to sports/recreational facilities in/around the school. Significance: The current findings would imply that environmental interventions at the neighborhood level might benefit low-SES groups of adolescents as they seem to be more influenced by aspects of the neighborhood environment. By contrast, high-SES adolescents might be more reactive to school-based environmental interventions. To narrow the SES gap in PA participation among Hong Kong adolescents, interventions should encourage low-SES families to provide more support to their children by widening the available range of opportunities for PA, encouraging their children to participate in PA, and acting as role models. The findings from this study also suggest that the provision of more PA facilities in/around school neighborhood in low-SES areas could contribute to increasing PA participation among the adolescent population of such areas and, thus, narrow the gap between high- and low-SES groups of adolescents. / published_or_final_version / Human Performance / Master / Master of Philosophy

The effects of attitudes and perceived constraints on behavior and the choices females make about involvement in recreational sports, exercise, and other physical recreation activities are important to consider if females physical, social, and emotional quality of life is to be enhanced. The main aim of this study was to explore the perception held by female undergraduate students at UWC regarding the physical and socio-cultural constraints that influence their participation in recreation sport.

Children in upper primary school who have not made progress along the Swimming and Water Safety Continuum may be at a greater risk in an aquatic environment because they have not developed the swimming competency, endurance and skills needed for survival in threatening aquatic situations. Three groups representing different socio-economic and geographical areas were selected to explore the relationships between psycho-social factors and the development of swimming ability among year seven students. Two groups from lower socio-economic areas were chosen. The first group was directly on the coast with easy access to the beach, while the second group was inland in the foothills of Perth. As higher socio-economic areas in Perth are generally not far from the coast only one group from a higher socio-economic coastal area was chosen. The participants were 540 year seven students, 282 of whom were males and 258 of whom were females. The primary variable of interest was the current swimming stage of year seven participants, and the differences between genders and/or locality groups. The primary research questions investigated differences between locality groups and/or genders for; a) perceived athletic competence and global self-worth, b) perceived swimming competency, confidence in deep water and importance placed on learning to swim well. c) perceived social support for sport and swimming activities and d) attendance at Interm, Vacswim and other swimming programs and aquatic venue experience. Relationships between swimming stage and the above variables were analysed. The secondary research questions investigated the most frequent reasons given by the students for not attending or discontinuing participation inVacswim, and whether there were differences between locality groups or genders. Findings indicated that the lower socio-economic groups had a significantly lower swimming stage and lower perceived self-worth than the higher socioeconomic group. Students from the lower socio-economic inland area had the lowest mean swimming stage as well as lower perceived social support for sport and swimming than either of the other two groups in the study. The two lower socioeconomic groups also attended less swimming instruction and placed less emphasis on the importance of learning to swim well than the higher socio-economic group. Despite these findings, the lower socio-economic groups did not view themselves as any less able in terms of athletic and swimming competence. However, as the two lower socio-economic groups have not progressed along the Swimming and Water Safety Continuum to the 'desirable standards' of the RLSSA (1999), these groups could be viewed as at-risk in an aquatic environment. At the same time, there was evidence that attendance at Interm along with attendance at another swimming program enabled participants to reach the 'desirable standards' of the RLSSA (1999). Girls generally had a higher swimming stage than boys in the lower socio-economic areas, attended year seven Interm and Vacswim more than boys, reported more social support for sport and swimming, and placed more emphasis on the importance of learning to swim well than boys. While many of these relationships between swimming stage and psycho-social factors have been intuitively accepted within the swimming teaching industry, we now have a better understanding of the strength and direction of these relationships.

In a small town in a Canadian prairie province where spots, particularly football and basketball, are the chief activities, many young men in school define their self-worth based on their thletic ability. To determine the impact that sports had on the young men in this particular town, 20 boys between the ages of 15 and 19 were selected for interviews. Due to the importance placed upon sports in the school and the small size of the school, all 20 of the boys had some association with football and basketball. They either played on one of the sports teams but spent much of the time sitting on the bench, or they desired to play but failed to qualify for team play. Only one of the boys had never tried to play on one of the teams. The boys were interviewed about how they fit into the circle of sports and how their participation or non-participation has influenced them. It was determined that sports did influence their self-esteem. Many of the boys, both those who were part of the team and those who had been cut from the team, felt left out and began to dought their abilities and their worth. The study confirms much of the current literature. Recommendations include making coaches and administration aware that boys were being negatively influenced by a successful sports program, as well as calling for further research to determine the extent and depth of the negative influence of sports on boys who are not the stars of the team. / viii, 83 leaves ; 28 cm.