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Perception of sport appropriateness as a function of gender and culture

According to Metheny (1965), people's impressions of the acceptability of sport for women varies across several factors, including culture and gender. In this study, 206 prospective physical education teachers from Canada and Kenya were questioned about their perceptions of gender appropriateness of various sports. They completed Likert-type questionnaires related to sport/physical activities found in their respective university curricula. For those sports that appeared in both countries, responses were compared (2 x 2 ANOVA) for effects of culture and gender. Gender differences were also addressed within each culture. / Results revealed that Canadian respondents perceived fewer sports to be on the extremes of the male-female continuum than did the Kenyan respondents. Females in both cultures considered more sports to be appropriate for both male and female participation than did their male counterparts. However, Canadian and Kenyan respondents, both male and female, unanimously perceived some sports to be primarily appropriate for males and others primarily appropriate for females. / The study supports Metheny's contention of cultural variance in perceptions of the gender appropriateness of sports. Although many sports that had been considered inappropriate for females in 1964 are today considered to be androgynous, especially by Canadians, some gender stereotyping still remains to be overcome. Implications for physical education teachers are suggested.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35215
Date January 1995
CreatorsOluko Olembo, David
ContributorsDowney, M. J. (advisor)
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Arts (Department of Physical Education.)
RightsAll items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.
Relationalephsysno: 001475223, proquestno: MM07950, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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