Gender in ice hockey: women in a male territory

This study investigates how female ice hockey players describe and explain their situation within as well as outside their sport. Information was obtained by semi-structured interviews with female ice hockey players. The results were analyzed in a gender perspective where the main starting point was the concepts of different levels of power relations in society developed by Harding and applied to sports by Kolnes (the symbolic, structural, and individual level). The study shows that the players appeared to share the traditional views of men and women. They also described gender differences in terms of financial and structural conditions as well as differences in ice hockey history. Even though the players described structural inequalities, they were quite content with their situation and the differences in conditions were not considered when they explained the gender differences in ice hockey performance. At the individual level, the players considered themselves different from other women and appeared to share the traditional views of femininity and masculinity. It has been suggested that performance of a sport traditionally associated with the other sex might alter the traditional view of men and women; however, our results lend little support to this suggestion.