Abstract
This paper examines the influence of social-spatial determinants on the involvement of women in sport. Using the framework of feminist urban sociology, the degree to which sports facilities address the needs and wants of women is analysed. Here, the central issues are how female participation in sports is affected by the location of sports facilities and opportunities for sport in urban areas, as well as by what sport is offered and who offers it.
The relationships between urban living conditions for women and their opportunities for participation in sport are illustrated using the example of the industrial Ruhr Area in Germany. The situation of women in the Ruhr Area is not fundamentally different from that of women in other parts of Germany, but it does have certain features characterised by, amongst other things, its specific economic structure.
The social-ecological perspective chosen here extends, with further differentiation, previous scientific analyses of why women participate less in sport. It opens up starting points for female political strategies on the local-government level by taking the life situation of women more into consideration in both urban and sport development planning.
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