Leisure and Recreation among Women of Selected Hill-Farming Families in Bangladesh

Abstract

Experience of recreation and leisure among women of some poor hill farming families in Bangladesh has been analyzed. Despite the poverty and hard work, these women enjoy recreation in their own unique ways. It is difficult to analyze their recreational behaviour through the conventional approach to leisure studies which views leisure as “free time” or “non-obligatory activity.” Women's work is of a routine and compulsory nature, and they hardly have any free time. Nevertheless, leisure and recreation seem to be a part of their day-to-day survival strategies. Women have developed the skill to carve out pleasure from their meetings during everyday work, their social visits and festivals, their handicrafts, and their dressing and food preparation. Suggested is that the socio-cultural construction of gender is the “hidden constraint” that shapes women's everyday life and leisure.

KEYWORDS:

• Bangladesh
• leisure
• recreation
• women