The Ethic of Care: Leisure Possibilities and Constraints for Women

The purpose of this paper is to provide a review and an interpretive framework for examining the ethic of care as it offers possibilities and constraints for women's leisure. The explanatory implications of the ethic of care are useful in further understanding antecedent and intervening constraints to leisure as well as understanding the empowering possibilities of leisure. The paper addresses the concept of an ethic of care; the ways that the ethic has been embodied in leisure behaviour, primarily within the family; the link between an ethic of care and constraints to leisure; and the possibilities of an ethic of care for enhancing the lives of all individuals.