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'Women are just more active'
 — gender as a determining factor in involvement in senior centres
Author(s)Jaroslava Hasmanova Marhankova
Journal titleAgeing and Society, vol 34, no 9, October 2014
PublisherCambridge University Press, October 2014
Pagespp 1482-1504
Sourcejournals.cambridge.org/aso
KeywordsOlder men ; Older women ; Recreation ; Participation ; Day centres ; Participant observation ; Czech Republic.
AnnotationAlthough active ageing is now represented by the state and providers of social services as the universally desirable way of ageing, the significantly smaller numbers of male clients was identified as a marked feature of such organisations. A three-year ethnographic study was conducted at two centres in the Czech Republic which offer seniors-only leisure-time activities strongly grounded in the idea of active ageing. The study used participant observation, and 47 in-depth interviews were conducted with the centres' clients and employees. The higher participation by women in the centres and the role they attribute to such organisations in their lives is analysed in the context of their previous gendered biographies. As well as the idea of active ageing itself, the study highlights the embedding of gender patterns in how daily activities at the senior centres are organised. Despite the seeming invisibility of gender as a principle that structures the way these centres are run, they are in fact gendered organisations, where gender emerges as a basic principle affecting the chances of participating in active ageing as presented by the centres.
Accession NumberCPA-150609002 A
ClassmarkBC: BD: H: TMB: NMC: 3DB: 7AD

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