Women, climbing and serious leisure

Abstract

In this paper, the notion of serious leisure is critically explored in relation to women's climbing careers and identities. It draws upon findings from an in‐depth qualitative study of 19 women climbers and explores the concept of serious leisure from a gender perspective, arguing that in order to develop a more sophisticated understanding of serious leisure, it is important to situate participation in the social, cultural and political contexts that frame experience. Drawing on the theoretical work of Aitchison, Shaw and Wearing, we use a feminist theoretical approach that recognises both collective experiences of gender, focusing on inequality, as well as a post‐structuralist engagement with difference and identities. The data identified the central significance of physicality, social relationships and motherhood in the experiences of, and motivations for, the women's participation in climbing as a form of serious leisure. It is argued that understanding the relationship between climbing and the women's wider lives, specifically their work, attitudes to childbearing, sexual relationships, gender identities and motherhood is central to understanding their commitment to climbing.

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