Too tired for exercise? The work and leisure of female cleaners in Denmark

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Verena Lenneis
  • Gertrud Ursula Pfister
The aim of this study was to explore the opportunities and challenges of female cleaners with regard to participation in leisure time physical activity (LTPA). We gained information about their everyday lives via semi-structured interviews with 25 women, most of them from rural Turkey. Drawing on the relevant literature on women’s work–life balance and (migrant) women’s participation in LTPA, we approached their work and leisure from an intersectionality perspective and explored if and how female cleaners engaged in LTPA and which constraints impeded their involvement. The interviewees’ narratives revealed that their everyday lives as unskilled migrant workers had a decisive influence on their opportunities of engaging in LTPA: most women struggled with the demands of a physically exhausting job and an extensive ‘second shift’ at home and therefore had great difficulty finding the time and energy to exercise. However, previous experience of LTPA seemed to have a decisive influence on their current LTPA practices.
Original languageDanish
JournalLeisure Studies
Volume36
Issue number4
Pages (from-to)530-541
Number of pages12
ISSN0261-4367
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

    Research areas

  • Faculty of Science - Gender, Intersectionality, Migrants, Physical activity, Qulitative methods

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