Empowering and oppressive: the lived experiences and social politics of women golfers in regional Australia

Abstract

This research provides an overview of the lived experiences of women golfers at regional Australian golf clubs, a cohort of sports participants who are often advantaged in their access to leisure time, but also often disadvantaged by the intersection of both (women) gender and (older) age. Specifically, this study provides a critical examination of the experiences of 53 women (purposively and snowball sampled) survey participants from 13 different golf clubs in regional Australia. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to analyse data received from the open-ended survey questions. This study explores the simultaneous shared lived experiences of these women golfers as they relate to both oppression and empowerment. These empowering experiences range from creating friendships, camaraderie and engaging in a variety of social interactions, while oppressive experiences relate to a range of structural and cultural barriers that women golfers face. These shared simultaneous experiences are explored using a third-wave feminist lens.

Keywords:

• Golf
• women
• gender
• regional
• Australia

Disclosure statement

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

1 A ‘golf club member’ is an individual who pays a membership fee at a registered golf club in Australia.

2 The average reported age for a male club member is 54.7 years old (Golf Australia, 2020a).

3 The participants were golf club members in regional areas in Southeast Australia, from both the states of New South Wales and Victoria.

4 While McCann (2019) is referring to the British Open as a major golf event for men, the women also have a similar event competed at the highest level of the game.

5 The PGA tour is the organiser of the premier professional golf tournaments for men in the United States. Similarly, the LPGA refers to the women’s tour.

6 As part of this larger research project, a separate manuscript from this work focuses on the gendered leadership at golf clubs in regional Australia.

7 Although this study focuses on the experiences of women participants in golf in regional areas in Australia, I would also like to acknowledge that these experiences may be similar for women in other sports in these same geographical locations and beyond.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.