Leisure & young married women in Malta

Abstract

The impact of leisure on personal development and subjective well-being makes it a critical issue in women’s studies. Leisure time gives women the space in which they can experiment with different lifestyles, as well opportunities for identity development. However, strong gender divisions in leisure opportunities and involvement exist. The paper documents how young women’s leisure is constrained by virtue of the female’s role in Maltese society, including domestic responsibilities, the dual shift, time fragmentation and childcare and, even more importantly, women’s own perceptions of appropriate leisure time and activities. Within theMaltese cultural context, women continue to face enormous challenges in participating in the social, economic, political and cultural fields. The role culturally perceived to be most important for a woman is that of mother and consequently women often find themselves confined to the limited space of the family and home and deprived of more engaging social roles. 18 women participated in qualitative in depth interviews, which were audio taped and transcribed verbatim. A constant comparative approach was used to inductively develop themes. The analysis focuses on young married women’s perceptions and experiences of leisure, and identifies those aspects of their situation which facilitate or constrain their opportunities for leisure, the meaning that leisure has for them and their feelings regarding this matter. The text illustrates that young married women in Malta experience a substantial decrease in their leisure time once they become mothers, and that this decrease may be attributed to cultural ideologies and the maintenance of traditional gender stereotypes.