Ladies of leisure?: perspectives of some New Zealand rural women on volunteering and leisure

Abstract

Voluntary activities feature prominently in the lives of New Zealand women. They encompass community, social service and leisure pursuits, and together account for a significant proportion of women's daily occupations. This study explores the experiences of ten rural women with respect to volunteering and leisure, placing specific focus on their perceptions of the organisational aspects associated with leisure pursuits. A multi-method research approach is used, with feminist theories concerning women's expectations and experiences providing the analytical underpinnings. The findings show that these women consider volunteering to be a duty, comprising activities carried out 'by us for others'. The same, or similar, activities undertaken in association with the women's own leisure pursuits, are not volunteering, but leisure. A number of possible explanations are discussed, and it is suggested that the 'ethic of care', if understood to encompass the dual potential to empower and to constrain, provides the means to interpret the women's experiences. Recommendations for participants, practitioners, policy-makers and scholars in fields relating to women, leisure and volunteering are proposed.