“That Was My Power”: The Value of Physical Exercise for Migrant Women Managing Marital Breakdown

Abstract

Divorce is, for many, unsettling and, for some, it can even be traumatic. In rupturing a significant intimate relationship, divorce raises difficult questions regarding one’s sense of self and life path. For migrant wives, separation takes on additional dimensions, disrupting plans for their personal lives along with their migration journeys. Divorced migrant women draw on various resources during separation and yet research has paid scant attention to the role of leisure within this. This article responds to this gap by highlighting how, for thirteen heterosexual and cisgender women who originally migrated for marriage (seven in Hong Kong and six in Melbourne, Australia), physical exercise became key to managing their marital breakdowns. Despite social differences between the women, physical exercise connected them as a group in how it offered time for contemplation; positive bodily engagement; and self-empowerment opportunities, thus revealing it to be a powerful resource for migrants faced with divorce. (150w)

Keywords:

• Divorce
• empowerment
• leisure
• migrant women
• physical exercise

Acknowledgments

To the remarkable women who generously shared their stories with me, thank you for rekindling my own love of exercise and for encouraging me to lace up my runners and climb the many floors of stairs to my Hong Kong apartment. I was inspired by you every step of the way. To the anonymous reviewers of this article, thank you for your exceptional guidance. Your insightful comments have not only greatly improved the quality of this paper; they have also taken my thinking in new, valuable directions.

Disclosure statement

The author reports there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

The author elects to not share data.