OLDER WOMEN AND LEISURE IN SINGAPORE

The leisure of older women is subject to prejudices of both ageism and sexism. Gender roles and identities lock women into leisure which is experienced mostly within the confines of the home. The lack of materi al resources also limits their ability to undertake a wider range, as well as a greater number, of leisure activities within the public sphe re outside the home. These conditions become emphasised in the more ma ture years of a woman's life, such that leisure expectations that are assumed for the Third Age seldom materialise. In the study of older wo men in Singapore, it was found that many engaged in home-bound activit ies and where these extended into public spaces, the activities confor med to gender and age expectations and according to material resources . The paper argues that leisure, especially for older women, must be c ontextualised; it requires an understanding of how social ideologies c onstruct gender and age identities and roles, and therefore shape the leisure outcomes and spaces in which they are carried out.