A sense of entitlement to leisure as constraint and empowerment for women

Abstract A number of leisure researchers have indicated that women believe that they have no right to leisure and this belief places a severe limitation on their construction of time for leisure and their attitudes toward leisure. This conceptual article describes entitlement and related background research, offers some reasons why the sense of a lack of entitlement might be so pervasive among women, concludes through an exploratory pilot study that the priority of leisure in a woman's life may be an important aspect of entitlement, and offers suggestions concerning how women may gain empowerment through a sense of entitlement to leisure within their lives. This article raises questions that require further pursuit by other researchers who are attempting to understand more completely the meaning of leisure for women and the constraints that may prevent a full realization of one's potential for leisure.