Mother's Taxi

Shona M. Thompson is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at The University of Auckland, New Zealand.

• Acknowledgments1. Introduction2. Being the Mother of a Sports Player3. Being the Wife of a Sports Player4. Being a Sports Player5. Rewards and Rationales6. Gendered Institutions Service Gendered InstitutionsAppendix A. The MethodsAppendix B. Background to Tennis Culture in Western AustraliaAppendix C. The ASCNSRC Survey of Parental SupportAppendix D. Details of the Women InterviewedNotesBibliographySubject IndexName Index

"The study succeeds in its intention to 'make visible' women's labour and gives evidence of how sport in society can be seen to be both constituting and is constituted by hegemonic gendered relations." — International Review for the Sociology of Sport"…a well-written, thoughtful analysis of sport and women's labour … Thompson's strategy of allowing her respondents to develop their own narratives makes for powerful reading … This book is an important addition to feminist research, feminist methods and to the sociology of sport … If you are interested in the intersection between society/women/sport, find a place on your bookshelf for Mother's Taxi—highly recommended." — Journal of Sociology"Based on good qualitative data, Mother's Taxi is a novel approach to gender relations and sport involving a detailed study of tennis players (young people and older males), and the role of women as wives and mothers in supporting sports participation. Those on whom the research is based have ample opportunity to speak for themselves. It's a real contribution to the sociology of sport and to research on household divisions of labor." — Rosemary Deem, Lancaster University"Women's status in sport has been neglected by feminist scholars and most 'malestream' studies have been gender blind and dominated by survey research. This book judiciously combines feminism and qualitative research to provide a rich account of gender relations in sport." — Jim McKay, author of Managing Gender: Affirmative Action and Organizational Power in Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand Sport"The research is sound, solid, and exceptionally interesting. It is by far one of the most fascinating books on women and sport that I have read." — Cheryl L. Cole, University of Illinois