ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on women's changing leisure lives and examines leisure theory, research and women's invisibility. It considers some of the important changes that have occurred in women's lives, especially in the second part of the twentieth century, which have enabled some women to challenge their exclusion from sport as fans and players. The chapter also examines women's exclusion from sport historically and discusses how this can be linked to the segregation of male and female spheres which accelerated during the Victorian period. It describes the major transformations that have occurred in women's lives which have led to increasing gender equality. The chapter explores continuities in gendered inequalities for women in contemporary society which may serve to restrict opportunities for some women to engage in leisure activities, including sports fandom. It also considers how the persistence of gender inequality can also be seen in media discourses through the male-dominated coverage of sport.
