Herstory: The structuring of the Fitness and Amateur Sport Branch\u27s Women\u27s Program: 1970-1988.

The objective of this thesis was to construct a feminist account of the dynamics that produced the Fitness and Amateur Sport Branch\u27s Women\u27s Program initiatives for the time period 1970-1988. In accordance with the theoretical framework the following sub-problems were investigated: (1) What structures facilitated and/or inhibited the agents\u27 (the women involved in the program) ability to act? (2) How were the agents, in turn, able to alter, produce or reproduce structures affiliated with the program? (3) How did this process alter or maintain the agents themselves? The process utilized to investigate these sub-problems included an examination of federal archive files, interviews with knowledgable academics and researchers, and interviews with the women directly involved in the Women\u27s Program. The interviewers were also asked to review a late draft of the herstory to verify the validity of the researcher\u27s interpretation of their interview responses. Historical and theoretical findings resulted from this research project. Historically, a detailed herstory of the initiatives produced by the Fitness and Amateur Sport Branch\u27s Women\u27s Program for the 1970-1988 was developed. This story is unique in that it is told from a feminist perspective with specific contributions from the women directly involved in the program. Theoretically, a number of possibilities for social change and/or maintenance were developed in accordance with the theoretical framework. The possibilities for change in the unequal power relations between social groups is dependant upon the production, reproduction and/or alteration of structures via agents interaction with them. The managers of Women\u27s Program were able to produce structures that facilitated a change in the social conditions for women in sport. However, the structures that facilitated the underlying power relations within the sport structure were maintained, as was women\u27s secondary status in sport. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Kinesiology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1994 .P66. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 34-02, page: 0624. Adviser: Victoria Paraschak. Thesis (M.H.K.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1995