YOU LEAVE YOUR TROUBLES AT THE GATE - A CASE-STUDY OF THE EXPLOITATION OF OLDER WOMENS LABOR AND LEISURE IN SPORT

Using Connell's theory of gender and power this article explores the gender regime of lawn bowls, which is played predominantly by older people. The sport is characterized by men's exploitation of women's label; heterosexual coupledom and the desexualization of women. A ''woman's place'' both on and off the playing field is clearly delineated in terms of otherness, especially as an altruistic wife, mother and grandmother; consequently men can bowl relatively freely, whereas women's leisure is constrained by their facilitation of men's interests.