Gendered cities: women and public leisure

space in the ‘postmodern city’

SHEILA SCRATON and BECCY WATSON
Leeds Metropolitan University, Beckett Park Campus, Leeds LS6 3QS, UK

This paper focuses on women’s leisure in city urban space. It draws on feminist
discourses around ‘difference’ and cultural geography that explores public space as a
gendered, sexualized and racialized arena. Empirically the paper discusses two case
studies of women’s leisure in the city: older women and ‘young’ mothers including a
speciŽc sample of South Asian mothers. The research suggests that although there is
an obvious plurality of meanings attached to leisure and a plurality of sites where this
takes place, thus providing evidence of the fragmentation of women’s experiences,
there remain a combination of structural factors that have varying inuences on
women’s leisure opportunities in an urban context. The challenge for leisure studies
is to complement its already multidisciplinary base by drawing on work that opens
up the complexities of space, not merely in the recognition of ‘new’ lifestyles and the
conspicuous consumption of leisure but also, as a site for the maintenance and
reproduction of complex power relations, in this instance, primarily those of gender
and ‘race’.

Introduction
This paper is set in the context of rapid economic, political and social change.
Within leisure studies the structural analyses of the 1980s, that focused on the
relationship of leisure to the production and reproduction of class, gender
and ‘race’ relations, have given way to debates on postmodernity, leisure
consumption, leisure lifestyles and identities (Scraton, 1994). Universal
explanations of leisure behaviours have been replaced by a concern to
acknowledge differences, a plurality of voices and multiple leisure choices. As
the focus has shifted to consumption, the spaces and places in which this
consumption takes place have received attention. The city and, in particular,
the ‘postmodern city’ has become the focus for researchers and theorists
seeking to explore changing, localized contexts and the city as a site for
pleasure, fun and conspicuous consumption. (Bramham et al., 1990; Mowl
and Towner, 1995; Taylor et al., 1996). This paper begins to explore these
concerns by centring attention on women, public leisure spaces and the
‘postmodern city’. In response to current theoretical concerns about ‘women’
as a uniŽed and homogeneous group, it draws on feminist discourses in order
to assess their potential contribution to the multidisciplinary study of leisure,
in particular addressing debates around difference and diversity (Maynard,
1994; Strickland, 1994; Brah, 1996). In addition the authors found it useful
Leisure Studies 17 (1998) 123–137 0261–4367 © 1998 E & FN Spon
124 S. Scraton and B. Watson
to consider the developing work in ‘new’ or cultural geography which
provides critical analyses of space and place as racialized and sexualized
arenas (Valentine, 1989, 1992) as well as sites for the construction and
reproduction of gender, and class relations (Harvey, 1989; Massey 1994).
Empirically the paper discusses qualitative material from two case studies
of women’s leisure lives in Leeds. The Žrst project involved in-depth
interviews with white, heterosexual, working class, older women most of
whom have lived for many years in a particular residential area in Leeds1. The
research attempts to capture the richness of individual detailed accounts of
older women’s leisure in order to paint a picture of their leisure experiences in
the context of their everyday lives. The interest was in how they perceive
Leeds as a city, what the city means to them and how they use this ‘new’
24-hour city.
The second case study is an on-going research project with ‘young’,
working-class mothers in Leeds2. The group of women interviewed came
from different ethnic backgrounds, including a group of South Asian
mothers. As with the older women, the interviews were semistructured
around certain themes, one of which explored their use of public space for
leisure. In both contexts the interviews did not occur in isolation and the
research included aspects of participant observation. In the Žrst case, time
was spent with the older women at their fortnightly ‘Burley Ladies’ group at
a local church and access to the South Asian women was facilitated through
contact with a community group for young black and Asian women. In the
latter case the participant observation has increasingly become an important
aspect of the research as the researcher has begun to ‘do’ leisure with them as
well as meet for individual interviews. This has included trips to the Turkish
Baths (sauna/steam), attending a ‘taster day’ of activities, going to fashion
shows and attending a play. The epistemological and methodological issues
raised in discussing different mothers’ lives are considered in more detail
elsewhere (see Watson, 1997). In order to respect the conŽdentiality of all the
respondents who are discussed individually here, all names have been
changed.
The research interests, therefore, stem from the concern to understand
women’s leisure lives in the context of a rapidly changing northern city. The
aim is to explore theoretical ideas relating to space and the consumption of
place and the continued signiŽcance of structural power relations of gender,
class, ‘race’ and age. Also a further aim was empirically to ground the
discussions in contrast to the abstract and often obtuse theoretical debate that
has dominated much of the recent work in these areas (Deem, 1996).
Although data from two case studies (older women and ‘young’ mothers) was
drawn on, these groups have not been identiŽed for comparison, rather some
interesting questions are raised regarding how these women’s leisure lives can
be interpreted in light of existing discourses around marginalized groups,
heterogeneity, freedom and constraint and the intersection of culture and
structure. Consequently, they provide empirical illustration of the debates
raised.
 Women and public leisure space 125
Theorizing public space
Work in cultural geography has insisted on the recognition that space is
socially constructed and is not a void or empty stage on which ‘actors
perform’ (Mowl and Towner, 1995). This provides a useful means through
which to look at different groups’ uses and perceptions of the city, to look
more sensitively at the heterogeneous population of urban areas and to
consider the multiplicity of meanings that might be attached to a particular
city space. However, as Massey (1994) succinctly proposes, there is a dearth
of attention paid to either the work of feminists, or the ideas of feminism
generally, within particular Želds of ‘new’ or cultural geography. Drawing on
a detailed critique of the work of Harvey (1989) and Soja (1989), Massey
argues that space continues to be theorized from the premise of the universal
male norm, where women (and one would add, racialized groups) are
generally regarded as other, to be subsumed within analyses concentrating on
perceived changes in the relations of production and consumption. As Massey
(1994, p. 213) notes: ‘. . . both postmodernism and modernism remain so
frequently, so unimaginatively, patriarchal.’
Similar criticisms have been made about work more centrally located
within the sphere of leisure and tourism studies. Analyses of the production
and consumption of leisure within postmodernity have concentrated, once
more, a predominantly male gaze onto the public arena (see for example Urry,
1990, 1995). In a similar vein to Massey, writers such as Wearing and
Wearing (1996, p. 237) have challenged this work by refocusing the tourist
experience to incorporate a ‘feminized dimension’. Deem (1996), in her
research on women, the city and holidays, makes very similar critical
observations about ‘postmodern’ analyses of leisure and tourism that
continue to be written from the perspective of white, heterosexual males.
While these are welcome critical contributions to the debate, it remains the
case that there is little theoretical or empirical work that recognizes the
continued signiŽcance, or the potential contribution, of feminist work in
understanding leisure spaces or tourist experiences in rapidly changing urban
contexts. As Mowl and Towner (1994, p. 106) argue:
. . . it is only through a more in-depth understanding of the nature of speciŽc
places and their complex mosaic of gender and class relations that a more
complete picture of women’s leisure can emerge.

It must be stressed that ‘race’ and racialized experiences are integral, also, to
this ‘complex mosaic’. Whilst the impact of new economic growth in the cities
and the social and cultural changes that are taking place is recognized, one
would argue that what is being constructed are new sets of gender roles/
gender relations (Massey, 1994), complex ‘new’ ethnicities (Hall, 1992) and
increasingly fractured and fragmented identities. In relation to leisure it is no
longer enough to discuss ‘women’s leisure’ as a universal experience or
category. However, nor is it appropriate to return to a position that is ‘gender
blind’ (reminiscent of the early theorizing in sociology and leisure studies that
is now well critiqued) and simply celebrate a plurality of leisure experiences
126 S. Scraton and B. Watson
and voices without recognizing differences, the complexity of power relations
and the signiŽcance of politics. Thus deŽning the city as ‘postmodern’
provides a surface description, but one that requires more detailed examina-
tion in order to ‘unpack’ difference (including material and/ or cultural
divisions as well as sexualized and racialized identities) and the overlapping
contexts within which they are experienced and reproduced.

Theorizing difference – theorizing leisure

The interest in looking at different groups of women and their leisure in the
‘postmodern city’ has developed from the recognition of the need to
problematize ‘gender’ and ‘women’ as terms denoting commonly shared
experiences. Therefore, the developing feminist discourses around difference
have been drawn on. The starting point is that difference between women is
about power relations (Bhavnani and Coulson, 1986) and is not something
that speaks for itself (Strickland, 1994). The early writings of Black feminists,
who challenged the ethnocentrism of second wave white feminist thought and
argued for difference to be not only recognized but made central to feminist
theorizing (see for example Amos and Parmar, 1984; hooks, 1984), continue
to have resonance. It is insufŽcient to pay lipservice to difference and
diversity amongst women, without addressing the social construction of
‘race’, ethnicity,3 gender, sexuality, age, class. As Anthias and Yuval-Davis
(1992, p. 99) argue:
. . . we believe that a historically contingent articulation of gender, race and class
must draw on the analytical distinctions between the categories and their social
effectivity and begin to theorise particular ways in which they interrelate in
different contexts.
Thus, ‘social effectivity’ must be centralized in order that lived experiences
(where evidence of difference is exhibited) are recognized as complex inter-
relationships. It is crucial to recognize difference as an ‘analytical tool’
(Maynard, 1994) rather than the explanatory model for understanding
women’s lives. Postmodern analysis tends to use difference as a celebration of
a plurality of voices, multiple identities and experiences. While this has
allowed for an acknowledgement that there are a range of genders,
ethnicities, ages, sexualities, abilities etc., there is a danger that the power
relations between and within categories become ignored. Just as already
argued, cities are gendered, racialized and sexualized so, too, are the
individuals within this context. However, in recognizing difference in the
context of power relations, one is wary of suggesting that some of the women
are powerless purely on the basis of difference. Here, Foucault’s notion of
power as ubiquitous and uid rather than harnessed has some value. Yet,
rejecting the dichotomy of power/powerless does not necessarily mean that
resistance automatically results. It is important to acknowledge that differ-
ences between women can and do lead to different levels of access and
experience (including leisure and recreation). Power is complex and contra-
dictory (Ramazanoglu, 1993) and relates to institutional and structural
 Women and public leisure space 127
power as well as the power within to negotiate and resist. As Smart (1996)
argues, mothering (along with other gendered identities) is fraught with
contradiction in terms of how women experience, reproduce and resist within
dominant discourses of motherhood.
As a starting point to theorizing and understanding difference within the
research, it was recognized the need to ‘unpack’ the categories of ‘older
women’ and ‘young, single mothers’. For example, although the older women
were all over the age of 60 years and shared certain experiences and
characteristics, their chronological ages spanned three decades, highlighting
problems with labels such as ‘older’ or ‘elderly’. Growing old is a social
process (Arber and Ginn, 1991) and ‘older woman’ has a myriad of
meanings. Many preconceived notions of what it is to be an older woman rest
on stereotypes immediately challenged when one researches and talks to
individuals (see Watson et al., 1996; Scraton et al., 1997).

Leeds – the ‘postmodern city’?

Over the past decade social commentators, together with urban geographers,
have focused attention on the spatial restructuring of cities and the emergence
of new cultural forms and lifestyles (Featherstone, 1988; Lash and Urry,
1994). Leeds would seem to exhibit many of the features related to a
‘postmodern city’ with major city developments and new leisure styles and
cultural tastes. It is high on the list of student cities much in demand for its
social and cultural life. New city pubs and clubs open regularly on prime sites
offering music, food, drink, big screen TV, often on several oors catering for
a range of tastes and styles. Harvey Nichols opened its Žrst out-of-London
store, Granary Wharf and the Corn Exchange offer specialist shopping and it
now has its own ‘White Rose’ out-of-town shopping mall. Opera, theatre,
music, art are all well catered for. Yet is this the ‘whole picture’? As Bramham
et al., (1990, p. 143) argues in providing a well developed critique of theories
of postmodernity and the city:
. . . readers are left with a brichologe of often dazzling and uneven insights into
postmodern spatial and cultural developments in a plethora of leisure forms (e.g.
tourism, retailing, sport, recreation, and so on) which are clearly visible but
somehow partial and insubstantial. (Emphasis added.)
This criticism is developed further by Bramham and Spink (1996, 1997).
The research reported on here provides the voices of some people, tradition-
ally marginalized physically, socially, culturally, politically and economically
from both academic discourse and many mainstream spaces, places and
experiences including the broadly-deŽned sphere of leisure. These margin-
alized groups include older women, ‘young’ mothers, single or lone mothers,
black and South Asian women, working-class women, many of whom are
representative of several of these categories. How do these women live in and
utilize this ‘new’ city? What meanings does it hold for them?
128 S. Scraton and B. Watson
Perceptions and meanings
The perceptions of Leeds as a city, and the meanings attached to it as a site for
leisure, are interlinked to the ways in which the individual women in the
studies perceive themselves as women and consequently how they use the city.
The women’s perceptions of themselves are gendered for the women see
themselves as ‘mothers’ or ‘older women’ in enacting a gendered social role,
whether or not they are in paid work and whether or not they have the
support of a partner, boyfriend or husband. For the younger women, even
when they talk about their own time and leisure that is separated out from
their mothering responsibilities, there is still a sense of being a mother in
relation to using public space. This has both negative and positive connota-
tions that can be contradictory. For some of the women, being a mother,
makes them feel less vulnerable when they are out in the city during an
evening. One white mother, Lisa, talks about how, now that she is older
(thirty two), she is less affected by the feelings of being a single woman when
she goes to town in an evening. She compares this to being young as a
potential object for men’s gaze and/or advances. Although there is nothing on
her that says she is a mother to others, her identity as a mother makes her
appear ‘less available’ and, therefore, safer. Contrary to this, she talks about
how she is now less likely to walk to her local shop after dark because she
‘feels scared’ that something might happen (the possibility of male physical
attack though she does not specify it as sexual attack).
The women in both of the studies talk about Leeds in terms of ‘going into
town’ rather than talking about it as ‘a city’. It is possible to see why the
spatial dimension requires a social description as well as a physical one
(Massey, 1994), particularly in terms of what it means to the women living in
the city. When the older women describe Leeds, it is very much on the basis
of their local community, the area they live in and are familiar with. One of
the women, Pat, has lived in her house for over Žfty years and Mary (age 90
at the time of interview) has lived in her house for sixty three years. Much of
the literature on postmodern leisure talks about the importance of lifestyle
and how the city becomes identiŽed around consumption – shops, pubs,
clubs, theatres and so on – rather than deŽned in relation to work contexts.
Yet, the older women still identiŽed Leeds in terms of employment and the
jobs that they or their partners did. More than half of the older women have
been active in paid employment and two of them have worked full time for
forty-plus years. Although there have been criticisms of the gender bias in
regarding cities primarily as being centres of production (for example,
Massey, 1994), for these women, the city retains dominant meanings relating
to paid work and employment. For example, Madge (aged 63 at the time of
interview) says:
I’ve worked all me life from age 14 to 60. I’ve had four jobs in that time and only
once been out of work for a fortnight. I worked for Burton’s most of that time so
I’ve seen the changes in the clothing trade in Leeds. There used to be a lot of jobs
but there aren’t now.
 Women and public leisure space 129
She was referring to Leeds as, historically, a centre for the cloth trade. Her
perceptions centre around her identity with paid work with a recognition that
the conditions of, and opportunities for, work have changed over time.
Where the mothers are engaged in paid employment, their perceptions of
the city, also, are centrally related to a paid work context. One mother Emma
for example, talks about Leeds in terms of opportunities for her to set up her
own small business (in fashion) and feels that to ‘make a go of it’ she needs
to move to London. One of the South Asian mothers, Nasra, set up her own
boutique supplying Asian fashion as she had discovered a big demand in and
around her surrounding area. These women do have perceptions of the city in
relation to economic potential and there are some similarities with some of
the older women’s descriptions of Leeds in relation to work. However, paid
work is not only associated with public space. Perceptions of the city need,
also, to be explored across the gendered and racialized construction of the
public and private. Some Black feminists, for example, insist upon a
reconstruction of the public/private dichotomy as many, both historically and
currently, fulŽl a number of gendered and racialized work roles in private
contexts, such as menial domestic work and caring (Hill-Collins, 1994). This
is an issue, also, for many white women with no or low income, who may
Žnd work as child-minders or cleaners in private households.
Perceptions of the city and leisure choices (in downtown) are inuenced,
also, by the part time, low-paid jobs some of the women have in pubs, bars
and restaurants. These leisure contexts associated with the city come to have
different meanings where others’ leisure becomes their work. While this is
true for many workers, there is clearly a gendered dimension that is often
ignored. Lisa, a young white mother, talks about the fact that she rarely goes
into town to socialize, not only because it reminds her of work but because
this work reects speciŽc gender relations. She comments: ‘I mean, I’ve
worked places where a lot of blokes come on their own or in groups after
work, and I mean you can get hassle off them and stuff’. She clearly identiŽes
the city as her work place which is a gendered space that restricts her use of
these spaces for leisure. Many of the mothers talked about various pubs as
being spaces for certain groups. This included comments such as ‘it’s too
young in there’ or ‘it’s full of students’ or ‘there’ll at least be someone I know
in there’.
Most of the South Asian mothers live in a particular area of Leeds,
Harehills, which has a large South Asian population, although it is by no
means an homogeneous community. There is no generalizable Muslim
identity amongst the women in the research, although all but one identiŽed
themselves as Muslim. One identiŽed herself as Hindu. In one sense, the space
in which they live is determined by ethnic identity, although one is aware of
the possible inaccurate assumptions that can result from assuming a generic
description such as ‘Asian’ or ‘ethnic minority’ (Anthias and Yuval-Davis,
1992; Brah, 1996). Areas of the city become known as ‘Asian’ areas or
‘muslim’ areas yet the women living in these areas are individuals whose
experiences can be quite diverse. There are, therefore, different perceptions of
Leeds dependent on whether the women were brought up in Leeds, came
130 S. Scraton and B. Watson
following marriage, or have moved for economic reasons. As Samaira says: ‘I
didn’t know Leeds until after I got married and well you don’t know places in
the way you know you were brought up.’
For the young mothers in the study the meanings they attach to the city and
their leisure are derived from their identity as mothers and deŽned in relation
to how they use the city with and/or for their children. For example, schools
and education, household shopping, parks and leisure centres all feature as
public spaces and sites they utilize both for leisure and for obligatory day-to-
day requirements. Kelly (lone parent, age 25 at time of interview) talks about
when she goes ‘into town’ with her son (age 8): ‘He gets bored, he’s lazy, he
can’t be bothered to walk. We go into town to MacDonalds but that’s about
it.’
However, in contrast to this, she does go on to say that, now her son is
older, going to things such as the Leeds street arts festival ‘Rhythms of the
City’ has been ‘great’ and that occasionally they will go to the clothes shops
together and ‘we’ll both go home with a bag’. Town is used to refer to the city
centre by women across both the studies and the centre is regarded in terms
of its shopping potential. A discussion of shopping which Žgures strongly in
the interview data is returned to later.

Leeds: city of change

Most of the older women do not think of Leeds as a ‘new’ metropolitan
centre based around service sector industries. However, this does not mean
that the women do not have any conceptualization of the major reconstruc-
tions that have taken place in the city. One woman, for example, describes
how she sees Leeds as becoming more ‘European’ with its ‘new’ arcades and
cafes. The newness is talked about very much in relation to how it was before
and which parts of Leeds are still the ‘same’. Nostalgia and reminiscence
forms a large part of the leisure of the older women (Watson et al., 1996), and
there are some useful commentaries in the data on how values and meanings
are constructed around nostalgia as a concept (see, also, Wilson, 1996).
Public sites for leisure are often placed on a continuum of change by the
older women. Some venues are regarded as pretty much the same, such as the
theatre, and to an extent the cinema, though the latter is discussed in relation
to perceived differences in experience of ‘going to the pictures’ in bygone
years. While it is possible to identify how the women talk about Leeds
changing, it is important to recognize that they themselves change, as does
their leisure, inuenced by a multiplicity of structural determinants and
individual choices. These structural features include for example, Žnancial
constraints, a fear of public spaces particularly after dark, health, mobility, as
well as gendered constructions of caring.
Change is viewed positively by some of the women. One mother, Manda,
who describes herself as British-African-Asian, talks about how Leeds city
centre has become more tolerant of different ‘races’ and cultural groups than
it was only ten years ago or so. She talks of areas that were particular no-go
spots on the grounds of ‘race’ rather than gender:
 Women and public leisure space 131
There were certain parts of town we couldn’t go in. You couldn’t go to town
before 12 on a Saturday because the NF were out . . . we got chased loads of times
and I mean, if there was a football match on, you didn’t go into town.
She goes on to suggest that the city has become a more democratized space
and talks about music as a major contributory factor:
It sounds silly but what I think kind of changed it were the music scene, you know
like house and garage and lots of different kinds. I see guys now who ten years ago
were into the NF and blatantly racist.
At the same time, she talks about her increased sense of vulnerability as a
female out alone after dark. This reects contradictory, but very real, feelings
and experiences that many of the women have in relation to how Leeds has
changed over the past decade or so and highlights the signiŽcance of women’s
multiple identities as gendered, racialized, sexualized and classed.

Safety and risk in the city

Certain features run throughout both the older women’s and the mothers’
perceptions of public space. Once again, far from these spaces being blank
contexts within which to engage in leisure, they are often perceived in terms
of safety and the possible threat of male violence. This has been explored in
previous studies on women’s experiences of leisure (Deem, 1986; Green,
1987) and to some extent in Taylor et al’.s (1996) more recent study of the
cities of ShefŽeld and Manchester. Valentine (1989) talks about how women
‘map’ certain places mentally in relation to their fears of possible male
violence. Many of the women talked about how they plan or ‘map’ their
routes through and in the city, making decisions based on safety and risk.
Jenny, for example, describes which public places she would or would not
wish to be on her own, including a route through some woods which would
actually be the most direct and obvious way to go.
I used to walk there but I just started feeling . . . I used to use it as a shortcut from
work, but I started feeling unsafe because I just felt that anything could happen
and no-one’s there. And I don’t feel safe walking there now.
The issue of safety in public places has different manifestations across the
different women’s descriptions. For example, many of the older women talk
about a fear of mugging and/or attack. June for example, has been mugged in
town (near the bus station) three times in the last two years and as a
consequence says ‘I haven’t gone in town any more, it spoils me pleasure you
know’.
The younger women however, refer to safety more in terms of sexual
attack. Two of the South Asian women feel the threat of the possibility of
attack on the grounds of racism. They talked about the attacks being more
likely to be verbal rather than physical and discussed examples in shops and/
or places where they had worked. One of them said that things ‘were better
than they used to be’ but racism was still there. As discussed earlier, many of
the women have clear notions of what are the ‘no-go’ areas of the city and the
132 S. Scraton and B. Watson
majority rarely use the city at night. Interestingly, three of the South Asian
mothers said that safety (after dark) was not an issue because they would not
put themselves in a position to ever be out alone after dark. Arguably, this
makes it very much an issue because the women appear to be of the opinion
that going out in the dark is not an option and thus their choices for leisure
are restricted. However, many women do negotiate this constraint and
develop adaptive strategies; they make sure that they can have a lift, get a taxi
or go with friends. One would argue, however, that safety is not only ‘a
problem speciŽc to women’ (Wilson, 1996, p. 135), and that it is only
through analyses of space as gendered, racialized and sexualized that one can
make suggestions on improving accessibility and use of public space,
particularly after dark in the night-time economy.
Deem (1996) points to trends in social theories that regard leisure in terms
of taking increased risks. As she points out, however, these have so far paid
insufŽcient attention to the role of gender in terms of ‘choosing’ to take risks.
There is excitement and danger in taking risks in the city but these
circumstances and the spaces in which they take place are sexualized and
racialized. For some groups, using the city as a 24-hour leisure and work
space, risk is an inherent and exciting feature of their experiences. However,
for the older women and the white and South Asian mothers, leisure choices
were not made in any context of risk as a form of leisure. For example, Emma
(young, white mother) talks about how she feels she cannot take risks in
terms of getting across Leeds at night. Where she once would have walked
and got the bus, she says that now she would get a taxi because she feels it is
no longer about her own sense of safety but about her responsibility to her
daughter not to take unnecessary risks. The Žndings suggest that perceptions
of safety have a signiŽcant inuence on the use of public spaces for leisure for
the women in our research. However, one would agree with Deem (1996) that
there needs to be more attention paid to the different instances where women
do take risks as an aspect of leisure, and the contexts and circumstances of
these choices.

Different women’s leisure: public spaces in Leeds

Shopping
Shopping emerges from the interviews as an important aspect of all the
women’s lives. To a large extent, shopping is mainly considered mundane and
is not regarded as a leisure activity. One of the biggest constraints on the
enjoyment of shopping is Žnancial and the fact that the responsibility of
‘getting the shopping done’ often falls exclusively on the women. Many single
mothers and the majority of the older women on their own in the study (only
one of the women’s husband was still alive), have very little or no choice
about where to shop and when it needs doing. Financial status is a key
determinant, therefore, of the women’s enjoyment of shopping, how they get
to the shops and what restrictions are placed on their ‘choices’ of where to
shop.
 Women and public leisure space 133
The research highlights, also, the need to look more closely at the
interrelationship of ‘race’ and gender in terms of shopping. It is the South
Asian mothers who appear to have the most support for shopping, largely
because they, in this study (and one must stress one is not generalizing here),
have more access and use of private transport. However, one woman, Meela,
who does not drive, (nor does her husband) says that she and her husband
shop together at the weekend because he would not expect her to ‘struggle
with the shopping’ with two small children on her own. Meela was having
driving lessons before her husband, and they hope to get a car fairly soon. She
says: ‘He thinks I should have the car because I have the children. That way
we can go to more places when he is at work.’ This disrupts stereotypes of the
passivity of South Asian wives (which is something the South Asian mothers
were keen to discuss), as Meela’s husband actively supports her attendance at
local classes and so on, and knows this access would be improved with a
car.
A number of the older women visit the market area in Leeds regularly to
combine the necessary chore of shopping with leisure. The market is a place
they talk about with great fondness where they will browse, wander and stop
for a cup of tea. They travel, generally, by bus and those that are not able to
negotiate public transport also talk about the market but with a sense of
reminiscence. Cathy, who still goes regularly, talks about how the market is
changing, despite its continuing appeal for her: ‘I’ll wander round the market,
which I love, it’s me second home . . . I could live there but you see they’re
spoiling it, they’re putting the stalls into shops.’
Theorizing shopping spaces is a common feature of urban geography,
particularly the development of shopping complexes away from urban centres
(Westwood and Williams, 1996). Despite there being justiŽable environmen-
tal concerns about such developments, it should not be ignored that a number
of the women interviewed in this research saw these sites as a place where
shopping might be more pleasurable than in a city centre, or a feature of
leisure. This was the case for several of the older women and the Asian
mothers, and reected their view of these shopping malls as more self-
contained, safe and convenient spaces.

(In)-conspicuous consumption and the ‘local public’

It is apparent in listening to the women talk, that the city centre is recognized
by many women as both a gendered and a racialized space. As such it is used
‘carefully’ by the women – both space and time determine women’s use of the
city. However, Leeds has a much more local meaning for many of the women
and their leisure may be in ‘public’ space but it is localized space. One mother,
Tricia, who describes herself as British-West Indies, talks about the places she
attends in the evenings to socialize. These are places that are fairly close to
where she lives and are all in Chapeltown, which has a large African-
Caribbean population. Here, she spends much of her time visiting friends and
relatives. This provides a place for leisure which has a shared racialized
134 S. Scraton and B. Watson
meaning both physically and socially and thus provides an environment in
which certain women feel ‘safe’. The majority of the South Asian mothers
have become regular attendees of a new aerobics class that is held locally and
is speciŽcally for Asian women. They continue to be marginalized on the
grounds of ‘race’ and ethnicity and their number of leisure ‘choices’ are
restricted. Public spaces for leisure are highly racialized arenas in this
instance. The South Asian women feel alienated from public leisure centres
(with a range of ethnicities) for a number of reasons. These include concerns
about physicality, body shape, childcare and so on and are not simply about
religious constraints such as the need to wear speciŽc clothes. This latter issue
is raised as a concern only in relation to wearing ‘jog bottoms’ whilst ‘other
(white) women are in leotards’ and was raised as an issue only by some of the
women. What is clear is that separate leisure provision is seen by most of the
women to be important and it is local space that provides these
opportunities.
The older women also talk about their leisure taking place in local venues
such as community centres or through local networks or groups. These
become in a sense new public spaces that the older women may access, as
similarly day centres may represent an element of public provision that at
times incorporates leisure. These leisure places are speciŽc to certain groups
of women and cannot, therefore, be generalized as ‘women’s leisure’. Yet all
the women, at some stage, talk about the importance of networks, friendship
groups, family and local venues for their leisure. These shared, gendered
meanings and experiences of leisure appear, at times, to cut across differences
of age, race, class, although the speciŽcs of space and activity may be quite
different for different women. As the above examples illustrate, there are
times when certain social constructions of space and social structures such as
‘race’, are more pervasive than others. In some senses, much of the interview
material appears similar to that from women interviewed well over a decade
ago in the ShefŽeld study of women and leisure. Very few (then and now) put
any emphasis on the city centre as providing new opportunities for leisure.
Far from new, ‘postmodern cities’ providing a democratized leisure setting for
the consumption of culture, for many of the women it remains a gendered
and racialized space that offers few opportunities. These women, in many
ways, continue to be marginalized from public city leisure and continue to
create their own meanings and opportunities much as many women have
done in local communities and in private spaces. These women (older, South
Asian mothers, and those stigmatized as single mothers) are not conspicuous
in the urban context although they are certainly active across an array of
‘local publics’. To ensure that their leisure is visible, it is necessary to move
behind the ‘bright lights’ of the ‘postmodern city’ to parts of the city that may
have changed but which are still identiŽable with many of the characteristics
more readily associated with times considered past. That is to say, analyses of
public space require an historical analysis, but not one that is restricted by a
view centred around the move from modern to postmodern cities. Cities
continue to exhibit much of their modernist legacy.
 Women and public leisure space 135
Conclusions
As society moves into so-called ‘new times’ and theoretical debate focuses on
the postmodern, leisure is an important site for multi-disciplinary enquiry.
Public space has began to be theorized, focusing on particular groups of
women and their leisure in the context of the city. Interest is retained in the
social aspect but it is beginning to incorporate understandings drawn from
cultural studies and cultural geography, thus exploring exciting new ways in
which one might understand leisure in the context of different women’s
lives.
What becomes clear from the data is that women’s leisure in the 1990s
retains many features that are determined by gender, race, class, sexuality and
age. Many women share gendered experiences relating to safety, Žnancial
constraint, sexual divisions of labour (employment opportunities, domestic
labour, caring responsibilities). But similarities are not only experienced in
terms of constraints, they become obvious in relation to how many of these
women (regardless of age, class, sexuality, ethnicity, gender), negotiate and
develop adaptive strategies thus deŽning leisure around social networks,
female friendships, shared meanings and local communities. Yet any notion of
‘shared oppressions’ or ‘shared resistances’ must be recognized as complex.
Women have multiple identities, at times sharing experiences as women, at
others experiencing a group identity (for example as ‘older women’ or
‘mothers’) and often developing or experiencing very individual responses to
speciŽc historical, localized contexts and within individual subjectivities. Yet,
just as modernist, structural explanations are limited for a full understanding
of the complexities of women’s leisure lives, so too are explanations that view
heterogeneity as central, with difference as the key explanatory concept.
Difference is central but it is not a difference devoid of power. It is vital,
therefore, to address difference not simply as plurality and diversity, but as
sites of power relations where mechanisms of exclusion are continually being
reproduced and reinforced. Leisure spaces and places can be both sites for the
production and reproduction of structural relations and where counter and
contradictory discourses are developed. They can be sites for inclusion and
exclusion.
Similarly, the dichotomy public-private demands further theorizing and
empirical investigation. Traditionally, urban geography located men in the
public city spaces and women in the private, domestic spaces, usually on the
outskirts or in suburbia. This was critiqued by feminists (see, for example
Hall, 1992) and more recently by postmodern discourse that views the city as
a democratized space where individual lifestyles reect a new heterogeneity of
choice, freedom and consumption. It would seem that the picture is complex.
This tentative analysis would suggest that, in the study, certain public leisure
spaces within the city are gendered, racialized, sexualized and constrained in
relation to individual’s access to Žnancial resources. ‘No-go’ areas exist whose
spatial deŽnition excludes and marginalizes. There is little evidence that the
women who were interviewed were consuming the ‘bright lights’ of a 24-hour
city centre. This is, perhaps, because they did not represent the young,
136 S. Scraton and B. Watson
middle-class, white, heterosexual women who are more visible at the centre
of both academic debate and as consumers of the ‘postmodern city’. Yet,
older women, single mothers, South Asian mothers do use the city. There is
no dichotomized, gendered separation of public and the private spaces in
relation to work or leisure – it is far more diverse and complex. Many
women’s consumption is in-conspicuous consumption that tends to get
marginalized and neglected both in academia and by policy makers/
practitioners involved in the provision of leisure opportunities. If one wants
to know about the leisure needs of women, then one needs localized empirical
research that recognizes difference between women and the different identi-
ties held by individual women. Furthermore, a concentration on individuals
or groups of individuals is insufŽcient without an exploration of the socially
constructed spaces and places in which leisure takes place.

Notes
1. For a fuller discussion of the research methodology and methods involved
in this project see Watson et al. (1996) and Scraton et al. (forthcoming)
2. This is on-going doctoral research at Leeds Metropolitan University. A
detailed discussion of methodological concerns relating to this project can
be found in Watson (1997).
3. ‘Race’ and ethnicity are not used as interchangeable (Maynard, 1994).
Both are sites of power relations that need to be addressed in an historical
context (Anthias and Yuval-Davis, 1992). We are keen not to regard
ethnicity in terms of ‘ethnicity as culture’ or ‘ethnic diversity’ where it is
often incorporated into a pluralist model that fails to locate it as a site of
power relations (Brah, 1992).

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