ABSTRACT
In this chapter we focus on the reciprocal relationships between sport, gender and social exclusion. Although the relationships between gender and poverty have now been well studied, as have those between gender and sport, the connections between these two pairings have not. There has been little reason for analysts of women’s experience of social exclusion to address sport: sport is generally less prominent in women’s lives than in men’s, and particularly so among women most likely to be affected by poverty. In gendered analyses of sport, more attention has been paid to the general underrepresentation of women in sport, than to the situations of the most disadvantaged women. In this chapter we therefore have the opportunity to forge stronger links between women’s experiences of sport and of social exclusion, and to consider the relationship between them.
