Exploring the complexities of community attitudes towards women’s rugby: Multiplicity,continuity and change in Fiji’s hegemonic rugby discourse

Kanemasu, Yoko and Johnson, James D. (2017) Exploring the complexities of community attitudes towards women’s rugby: Multiplicity,continuity and change in Fiji’s hegemonic rugby discourse. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, TBC . pp. 1-18. ISSN 1461-7218

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Abstract

Negative societal pressures against women’s participation in traditionally male-dominated sports
like rugby are widely acknowledged, but little empirical research has investigated community
attitudes associated with such participation, especially in non-Western contexts. This article
presents exploratory insights into community attitudes towards women’s rugby in Fiji with a focus
on athletic young women, who do not play rugby but are physically active, and their ‘gatekeepers’
or those in positions of influence over athletic young women’s sport-related decision-making.
Based on a questionnaire survey (n = 160) and focus groups, the article identifies significant
diversity, possible change, and persisting disapproval in community perceptions of women’s
participation in rugby. From these findings, the article also draws some insights into the changing
dynamics of women’s rugby as a site of hegemonic struggle.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > School of Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata
Date Deposited:	04 Jun 2017 22:27
Last Modified:	04 Jun 2017 22:27
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/9956

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