Gendered Experiences in the Wild: An Investigation of Constraints to Women’s Progression in Outdoor Recreation

Abstract

Traditional masculine narratives of outdoor recreation participation encourage domination of the natural world, and have supported narrow conceptualizations of outdoor recreationists. This legacy encourages competitive and exclusionary environments that are difficult to navigate, and disproportionately affects individuals with certain socio-demographic characteristics. The benefits derived from these activities are well-documented but continue to remain inaccessible for some people. The social construct of gender plays a particularly important role in the formation of outdoor recreation experiences yet, few qualitative studies have investigated women’s progression within outdoor recreation activities. Women are uniquely positioned to encounter, perceive, and negotiate leisure constraints, which alters their potential to engage in outdoor recreation activities. In adopting an interpretivist paradigm, the purpose of this research was to explore women’s experiences in outdoor recreation activities, and to understand the constraints that influence women’s developmental processes in activity engagement through the recreation specialization framework. Six women from different women’s only outdoor recreation groups in Alberta, Canada participated in the study through two focus groups and three semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis was employed to develop five themes: (a) searching for journey, (b) pivotal moments in one’s journey, (c) deterring and defeating spaces (d) internal influences, and (e) community crafting. Results from this study offer insight about the potential gaps within the recreation specialization framework. This research contributes to the existing body of literature in leisure and recreation that warrants more critical examinations of the role of community to support women’s outdoor recreation journeys.