Women, cricket and gender relations: A sociological analysis of the experiences of female cricketers

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The sociological study of women and sport, thus far, has focused primarily on females' involvement in football. This can be seen in a variety of sociological studies that have emphasised the persistence of unequal gender relations in the context of football. The purpose of this thesis aims to make a contribution to the literature by providing the first sociological analysis of females' involvement in cricket through a case study involving females' cricketers in a UK county. A figurational framework is adopted throughout the thesis to explore female cricketers' position as outsiders within the context of cricket, which has been predominantly a male preserve. It is suggested within the thesis that female cricketers are a heterogeneous outsider group with internal power relations that affect their outsiders' status. Gender relations as a type of unequal power relation are an integral, enduring part of female cricketers' experiences of the cricket figuration. Furthermore, the testimonies of contemporary female cricketers demonstrate that they remain 'outsiders' in the cricket figuration. That is to say, through a variety of processes, they remain on the margins of male cricket