An Exploration Of Ugandan Women’s Leisure Constraints And Negotiations

Introduction/Conceptualization - Leisure constraints theory has been constructed and discussed primarily in the context of developed western nations. To understand leisure constraints from a global perspective, there is a critical need to explore leisure and constraints in developing non-western nations. Leisure among Ugandan women has been defined through the framework of perceiving choice, and includes both productive and non-productive activities, in which women freely chose to participate. The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to explore perceived constraints to leisure, and the constraint negotiation process among women in Uganda. Approach/Description - This phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews to explore leisure constraints, and negotiation strategies of 38 Ugandan women. The researchers used a purposive snowball sample to fill a pre-designed matrix accounting for variety in dwelling location (20 rural, 18 urban), age (18-75 years), family stage (16 with no children, 18 with children in the home, 4 with grown children), religion (32 Christian and 6 Muslim) and social economic status. The principal investigator conducted, recorded, and transcribed the interviews and the data were analyzed using the constant comparative method. Themes were developed and the results analyzed through the lenses of perceiving choice, and the hierarchy of leisure constraints. Results - Three main themes related to constraints emerged from the data: 1) Conflicting responsibilities—including employment, cultural obligations, caregiving responsibilities, and housework. 2) Lack of resources—including lack of money, inadequate access to resources such as books to read, infrastructure issues as no electrical wiring to towns, and lack of transportation. 3) Health issues—including chronic pain, low energy, chronic illness, and lack of social support due to other’s health issues. Three negotiation strategies emerged from the data: a) social support, b) identity, and c) independence/compliance in negotiation. It was mentioned the social support in contexts of coworkers covering work obligations, taking friends to activities for safety, combining money to afford trips and using social connections to justify special trips or events. Identity was coded to convey women participating in activities because they grew up participating, and continued to view participation as part of their identity. Finally, independence/compliance was coded to convey if women were working to be independent from or comply with cultural expectations as their negotiated constraints. Considerations - The process of negotiating leisure constraints was closely related to social support, and with the sense of identity as developed in the family of origin, or within the broader culture. Identified constraints did not discretely fit into the hierarchical model, and the manner in which constraints were negotiated appeared to be more important in terms of producing empowerment vs helplessness, than the identified constraints themselves. These findings support past research demonstrating the role of negotiation in either resisting or reifying social norms. Additionally, in this exploratory study, constraints overlapped with public health, human resources and city planning, civil engineering and gender studies. This highlights how leisure constraints can be a valuable framework from which to begin discourse, and to develop further inquiry for issues that affect a wide array of disciplines.