Three generations of Lancashire women

Abstract

In 1914 opportunities for working-class women's sports participation were limited and peripheral, but the 1980s, policy reforms resulted in the then Sports Council identifying women as a ‘target group’. Subsequently the notion that barriers to women's participation are issues to be identified and resolved has become commonplace in contemporary sports participation and development. In this paper I wish to track the changes in sports participation in the lives of a group of Lancashire women over the last 98 years, from 1914 to the present day. I do this from a personal perspective by exploring the life history of my grandmother and mother and interweaving this with an autoethnographic narrative of my own experiences. I document the changes from an individual who had no opportunity to engage in sport and physical activity, through to myself who has achieved a career based upon it. These three sporting histories illustrate the shift in women's participation from overt marginalisation from the sports arena to greater acceptance. This change in opportunities to enter the male-dominated world of sport is due to various socio-historical factors. In terms of changes in the broader historical context, women have the vote, legislated rights and the hegemonic dominance of men's sport has been challenged and resisted. In the more specific context of my family history, upward social mobility has opened up both educational and sporting opportunities for me which were not available to my working-class parents or grandparents. These opportunities have enabled me to enjoy a lifestyle which would have been inconceivable for my grandmother. By exploring our sporting histories and, through them, the changes in working-class women's lives in the United Kingdom more generally, my aim is to recognise that the previous generations' struggle for the opportunity to take part in sport has afforded benefits for my generation.