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
minirnised?; how do we balance the requirements of postgraduate researchlacademic
scholarship with the needs of co-researchers?; and what do we really give back to coresearchers?
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219563 |
| Date | January 1995 |
| Creators | McCormack, Coralie, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Coralie McCormack |
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