The meanings of competitive sport for female athletes

Abstract

The study of sport´s meanings is one of the most developed subjects within the sociology of sport. However, we have detected an empirical paucity of research that addresses them from a gender and phenomenological perspective. This study explores the meanings that 45 female athletes who live in Córdoba´s province attribute to competitive sports practice from this perspective. Five focus groups were carried out, which were formed according to the type of sport practiced: indoor soccer, individual sports (swimming, athletics and fencing) of the senior category, volleyball, handball and veteran category athletics. The data produced show a multiplicity of meanings such as locating it as his way of life; the tool to organize it, the source of economic sustenance, an escape route from daily obligations, a "float" to hold on to  cope with vital adversities; and a form of vindication of women's rights. The knowledge of their subjectivities in terms of the place they reserve for sport in their lives and, with this, the importance it acquires in terms of identity constitutes one more element to change the perspective adopted by the unequal views and practices that they face in sports venues.