Leisure practices of Eastern European women in The Netherlands after migration

The decline in quality of life caused Latvian and Polish women to migrate to Western European countries with the hope of securing better employment and a better life. The Netherlands has become a country that has seen a large influx of Polish and Latvians (Central Statistics Bureau of The Netherlands).

The Oxford dictionary defines migration as, “the action of moving from one place or region to live and work in another”. Immigration is the act of coming to a foreign country to live. Throughout history, people have moved from country to country to find better resources, or to avoid repression. According to recent estimates, one out of six individuals (more than one billion people), are moving to another country as migrant workers and that 72 percent are women (www.unpac.ca/economy/g_womenswork.html).

Many Eastern European women are migrating to Western European countries in search of better opportunities. As mentioned in the article “Polish women look after old people at rock-bottom prices in Germany” (www.unpac.ca/economy/g_womenswork.html), these women find simple, low-paying and low-status work, often on the farm or the domestic field. Another reason for migration as found on the Central Bureau of Statistics internet site, The Netherlands has become popular for women from the Soviet Union and Poland to form a family (website, Central Bureau of Statistics Netherlands). Therefore, women migrate for many reasons and depend on the individual motivations and circumstances.

Young Eastern European women immigrants are faced with different physical, social and cultural environments in The Netherlands. By leaving behind the familiar, these migrant women have had to build new social-networks.

Leisure activities help women to find their place and identity within The Netherlands (Kelly et. al., 1992). Thus, leisure is an important aspect of these women’s lives. Changes in leisure behaviour of immigrants can only be explained adequately if other phenomena, such as initiation of new activities, are taken into account as well. Stodolska (2000) applied Jacksons and Dunn’s (1998) combined patterns of starting and ceasing participation by establishing four distinct groups of individuals: (1) quitters, those who had discontinued some activities but not started any new ones; (2) replaces, those who both ceased and started some activities; (3) adders, those who had not ceased any activities but had started new ones; (4) continuers, who had neither ceased or started any activities.

Participating in various leisure activities depends on income and education levels (Te Kloeze, 1998). Eglte (2001) adds to Te Kloeze’s argument regarding the lack of money, by stating that further obstacles to participate in chosen leisure activities are tiredness, lower education level and lack of time management skills. Leisure patterns of highly educated people are more balanced compared to that of less educated individuals (Eglte, 2001). They visit the theatre, read more and are less interested in different forms of entertainment such as the personal computer (PC) games and socializing. Highly educated people prefer to participate in activities that encourage mental stimulation, such as chess and bridge. They are also more likely to participate in more individual sports such as fitness (Eglte, 2001). Other differences noticed among highly educated women are time-management issues involving their free time and their leisure choices differ to their husband’s (Eglte, 2001). The lack of financial resources is another factor that can have an impact on the leisure preferences and time allocated to leisure. Lower social classes participate in cheaper activities in and around their own homes, such as playing games, reading books, watching television (Te Kloeze, 1998).

The lower social classes of Eastern European pay more attention to and show an interest in the arts compared to the Dutch lower classes. Since the end of the 1980s, mass media became more popular for Eastern Europeans. This form of leisure dominates their personal preferences in spending leisure time, even above the arts (Wozniakowa, 1998).

References:

Eglte, Parsla. (2001). Desired leisure activities and obstacles to enjoy them in Latvia For Latvian women Institute of Economics, Latvian Academy of Sciences. http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~cisep/IATUR/Papers/eglite25.PDF

Jacksons, E.L., & Dunn, E. (1999). Integrating ceasing participation with other aspects of leisure behaviour. Journal of Leisure Research. Pp.20, 31-45.

Kloeze, Jan W. te. (1998). Family and leisure in Poland and The Netherlands. Wageningen University.

Stodolska, M.. (2000). “Changes in Leisure Participation Patterns After Immigration”. Found in Leisure Sciences. Vol. 22. pp. 39-63.