Family Recreation: You're Doing a Great Job, Mom!!(Report‪)‬

The familiar old cliche assigned to women's leisure time, "Leisure....what leisure!", holds as much importance in family life and family relationships today, as once acknowledged by feminist researchers (Deem, 1986; Henderson, Bialescheski, Shaw, and Freysinger, 1989; Taylor, 1990; Wearing, 1990; and Wimbush & Talbot, 1988). The focus of early research has been to understand the meaning of leisure for women within the context of their lives; including family and the workplace. If leisure was identified in the mid-1980's as a "problem" area of women's experience, it is further complicated by the multi-dimensional nature of women's lifestyles today. Literature on play recognizes the universality of the play experience. Therefore, one can question: within the wider realm of recreation and leisure, including play, is there a commonality of experience for western women, given the context of their varied lives? Thus this paper will address the literature and the "lived experience" in relation to the work women do which facilitates and serves participation in sport and recreational needs of others; in particular those persons of their immediate family (Thompson, 1999). Further, a discussion of sport participation for New Zealand women, while facilitating family needs, is contrasted with an brief exploration of the leisure lives of a cohort of women from the United States of America.