Recent research findings (Burton 1995), shows individuals perceive and experience leisure differently – and gender may be a factor which determines leisure lifestyles. Gender differences play a large part in the participation, time, constraints, similarities, and stereotypes of leisure. Freysinger (1995) (cited in Burton 1999), in her in-depth interviews with a group of middle-aged working and middle-class white women and men, found that gender distinctions in adult leisure were modified. Factors such as social class, parental and marital status also had an impact on leisure. Recently men’s studies have emerged as a distinctive and identifiable area: causing a heated debate about whether to focus studies on women, gender, or men (Kimmel and Messner, 1995) (cited in Burton 1999). As a result of the increasing awareness of the importance of gender and the need to understand both women’s and men’s leisure experiences, a new body of research emerged that examined gender differences in leisure. In Firat’s (1994) (cited in McGinnis 2003) process evidence shows in a sport and leisure context of what is associated with men and masculinity is valued over what is associated with women and femininity. He suggest casually showing people involved in sports and leisure activities without regard to conventional gender categories, thus letting men and women decide on their own whether they should engage in any activity without the need to worry about gender appropriateness. So while gender significations are less limiting in some ways than they were in the past, for the most part gender still matters.
PARTICIPATION IN LEISURE
Research into adults motives for participation in physical activities and leisure has identified several reasons. ... Gender differences in participation motives depend more upon the type of physical activity. ... People performed tasks in the home that were considered unskilled and profane such as cooking, cleaning, eating, sleeping, leisure activities, and caring for their children. ... Henderson’s (1990) (cited in McGinnis 2003) review, while somewhat outdated, indicates that women tend to have leisure that consists of activities near or at the home because it can be infused with household chores and because few opportunities for leisure exist outside the home.
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