‘I don’t want my parents’ respect going down the drain’: South Asian, Muslim young women negotiating family and physical activity

ABSTRACT

Young women’s relationship with physical activity has been explored extensively, yet the focus is often upon young women who are White. This paper considers South Asian, Muslim young women’s experiences of physical activity and how these are influenced by family. A ‘middle ground’ feminist approach is used, drawing upon the work of Hill Collins [(2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. London: Routledge] and Hamzeh [(2012). Pedagogies of deveiling: Muslim girls and the hijab discourse (critical construction). Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing]. Data were generated with 13 young women using participatory approaches in focus group settings, and individual interviews. This research highlights how the young women’s families can both enable and challenge opportunities and involvement in physical activity. The paper discusses how gender and religion intersect with family and wider community to influence experiences in multiple, diverse and fluid ways. The young women’s narratives suggest that experiences are not determined solely by these influences; rather, they emerge as active agents negotiating different contextual challenges in their quest to be physically active.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• ethnicity
• Muslim
• young women
• family
• physical activity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Annette Stride is a Senior Lecturer in the Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University. Her research focuses on issues of social justice, discrimination and inequality in sport, PE and physical activity. She is particularly interested in the ways in which identity categories including gender, ethnicity and disability intersect and influence opportunities and experiences across different sport, physical activity and PE spaces.

Anne Flintoff is Professor of Physical Education and Sport in the Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University. Her teaching, research and consultancy centre on issues of equity and social inclusion in physical education and sport, with a particular focus on gender. She publishes regularly in both academic and professional journals, and in key readers and textbooks.

ORCiD

Annette Stride http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7549-8347

Anne Flintoff http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4384-2000

Notes

1 Hamzeh (2012, p. 1) notes her alternating use of the terms Muslim and muslim is a conscious act to reflect the fluidity of cultural expressions found within different communities. She also adds that the italicised version of the word is used to denote a political and analytical category useful in counter hegemonic struggles.

2 Stonefields is a fictitious name given to a large urban conurbation in Yorkshire, England.

3 Student demographic information was obtained through internal school reports and databases that have remained unreferenced here to ensure the school’s anonymity.

4 All names have been changed and the pseudonyms were chosen by the young women.