Women in Adventure Education

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Women in Adventure Education

• Presenting the Role Women of in Adventure
  Education
• Annie Seep
• ESS 777
• December 8, 2008

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  Introduction The role of Gender in
Adventure Education  

• Adventure Education in the Physical Education
  Curriculum
• Adventure Education is growing in our school
  curriculums
• Importance of targeting females in Adventure
  Education

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Gender What role does it play?

• What is the participation of women in Adventure
  Education?
• What are the benefits/impacts of Adventure
  Education in women?
• Do women perceive participation in outdoor
  recreation as a constraint related to their
  lifestyle?

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Adventure Education a group being put in a
unique or novel setting, creating a sense of
disequalibrium. Teaching the group in these
situations about responsibility and decision
making through movement. Students are held
responsible for the decisions and outcomes of
that groups

• Includes 7 stages of development
• Acquaintance Activities
• Ice Breakers Dehibitizers
• Communication Activities
• Problem-Solving Activities
• Trust Activities
• Low Elements
• High Elements

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Outdoor Education

• Knowledge and skills associated with traveling
  through the natural environment without motorized
  transport. In addition, activities are usually
  non-competitive in nature. Can be on the face of
  a rock, under or over water, or through the air.

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Research and Results

• Evidence shows that participation in outdoor
  education in the 1970s was predominantly males
  however it was reported that 41 of Outward Bound
  participants in 1977 were female.
• James T. Neill presented a paper at the National
  Outdoor Education Conference (1997) for The
  Outdoor Professionals
• Studies suggest that traditional gender
  stereotypes influence the career choices of women
  which therefore suggest that males may focus more
  on technical skills or jobs in comparison to
  females focusing on human relations or people
  skills.

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Research and Results

• Puhl, S. (2000) studied the transference and
  therapeutic value of wilderness related
  lifestyles on women and found research that
  showed a consistent link between leisure
  satisfaction and women in the outdoors.
• This study examines the impact a wilderness
  experience has on feelings of self-sufficiency
  and self-confidence.
• Outcomes focused on a change in perspective,
  connection with others, mental clarity and
  self-sufficiency.
• Her research also confirmed the link of
  wilderness to self-esteem and assertiveness,
  self-control, self identification, transformation
  of body image, clearness of perception, and
  facilitating change through challenge.

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Research and Results

• Sugerman, D. (2005) designed a study showing the
  impact adventure programs had on breast cancer
  survivors.
• Results suggest that participation in adventure
  programs may enhance the connection and social
  support of the woman and her family members.
• Research also shows that those women
  participating in the adventure program had
  improved their quality of life physically,
  psychologically, and psychosocially.

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Research and Results

• Whittington, A. (2006) conducted a study that
  looked at the impact the outdoors had on
  adolescent aged females in a 23-day canoe
  expedition in the northwoods of Maine.
• Findings proved that during the experience, the
  girls gained feelings of perseverance, strength,
  and determination inspired by the physical and
  mental requirements of the program.
• The research indicates that girls of this age
  normally have difficulties building and
  maintaining relationships with other girls, but
  through participation in this program, each girl
  gained a sense of confidence and respect in
  interacting and developing relationships with
  other girls.
• The girls learned how to survive in the outdoors
  without the things they previously relied on as
  wants rather than needs.
• This also helped them to recognize food as a
  source of strength which has implications for
  promoting healthy eating and altering girls view
  on body image.

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The Theme

• Self esteem
• Both adolescent aged and adult women found that
  their self esteem was increased as a result of
  working toward a group goal in an adventure
  setting. As seen on a framework within the
  article written by Puhl, Sarah (2000) explains
  how wilderness recreation can lead to
  transferable outcomes on womens lives and can
  contribute to feelings of self-sufficiency which
  can build confidence in an individual. This
  framework clearly represents the transferable
  outcomes in that data collected. Outcomes
  focused on in this study include change in
  perspective, connection with others, mental
  clarity, as well as self-sufficiency. The
  outcomes were chosen because of their link to
  daily life. Results also confirmed the link of
  wilderness to self-esteem and assertiveness, self
  control, self-identification, transformation of
  body image, clearness of perception, and
  facilitating change through challenge. The study
  supports that participating in wilderness
  recreation may play a part in deconstructing
  gender roles and improving the status of women in
  society.

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Other themes

• Enhanced Self-Concept
• The research indicates that girls of adolescent
  age normally have difficulties in building and
  maintaining relationships with other girls, and
  through the participation of adventure programs,
  adolescent girls gained a sense of confidence in
  interacting and developing relationships with
  other girls. In the research Ive found, the
  girls learned how to survive in the outdoors
  without the things they previously thought were
  needs or be put into a vulnerable environment.
  Through this survival mode, the girls were able
  to focus on building relationships with each
  other and not on the surface things like clothes,
  makeup, and how much money their parents made.
  Experiences like adventure programming or outdoor
  pursuit activities allowed them to recognize food
  as a source of strength and to value their desire
  for food, rather than view eating as a desire
  that must be controlled. These findings have
  implications for promoting healthy eating and
  altering girls views on body image. While the
  girls learned leadership skills, they learned
  that these characteristics of strength,
  determination and perseverance are not masculine
  traits and with the opportunity to experience
  those feelings, they can now rely on the feelings
  they gained when they need reassurance that they
  can accomplish a goal.

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And Self-Awareness.

• According to Neill, J. (1997) who wrote for the
  Outdoor Professionals Conference in Sydney,
  Australia, gender plays a greater part in outdoor
  education than is commonly realized.
  Understanding the influence of gender can provide
  useful insights into broader issues in outdoor
  education. Gender differences are observed in
  the focus of the outdoor education literature
  towards females. This bias is reflected in the
  overall finding that research on outdoor
  education program outcomes shows that higher gain
  scores tend to be found for females.
•  
• Outdoor education can no longer naively carry on
  thinking that optimal personal growth is being
  achieved for males, nor can be said that outdoor
  education is meeting the needs of a wide range of
  females.
• Methodological explanations for the gender
  differences in change scores can be offered.
  Further, differences in males and females
  motivations for taking on the challenges of
  outdoor education may cause the differences in
  outcomes.

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Advantages

• Research indicates that women who participate in
  adventure recreation and can competently and
  successfully participate in outdoor experiences
  have a higher sense of self-sufficiency and
  confidence.
• Leadership skills are developed earlier in life
  for women who participate in adventure or outdoor
  programs.
• A sense of equality is established when presented
  with experiences that may lead to adventure or
  outdoor pursuits.
• Feelings of accomplishment and goal attainment
• Enhanced awareness of self in comparison to the
  effects of their behavior prior to an adventure
  experience
• Increased perception of competence and feelings
  of enhanced physical capabilities
• Impact surroundings had on their everyday lives
  led to feelings of timelessness, relaxation, and
  reflection on themselves without substances or
  outside threats of the world.
• Significant impacts of not having time
  constraints which led to an appreciation for the
  unstructured and distraction free nature.

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Disadvantages

• Stereotypes observed such that male traits are
  those reflecting competence and that female
  traits reflect warmth and expressiveness.
• New design to adventure programming in which both
  hard and soft skills are a focus for both males
  and females.
• Time spent away from family and out of the
  day-to-day norms.

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Recommendations

• Implement Adventure Education and Outdoor
  activities within physical education at the
  elementary, middle, and high school levels.
• Share research with colleagues, professionals in
  your area, administrators, parents, community
  members, as well as your students.
• Continue to look at and further knowledge of
  research done in this area.
• Encourage future research to be done on women in
  Adventure Education.

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References

• Bartley, N. Williams, D. (1988). Gender Issues
  in Outdoor Adventure Programming An Outdoor
  Leadership Model Exploring Gender, Personality
  Soft Skills Training and Leadership Style of
  Outdoor Leaders. The Bradford Papers Annual, 3,
  2-8. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
  ED307091. Retrieved October 20, 2008 from ERIC
  database.
• Caulkins, M., White, D., Russell, K. (2006). The
  Role of Physical Exercise in Wilderness Therapy
  for Troubled Adolescent Women. Journal of
  Experiential Education, 29(1), 18-37.
• Chesler, N., Single, P., Mikic, B. (2003, July).
  On Belay- Peer-Mentoring and Adventure Education
  for Women Faculty in Engineering. Journal of
  Engineering Education, 257-262.
• Estes, C., Ewert, A. Enhancing Mixed-Gender
  Programming Considerations for Experiential
  Educators. Journal of Experiential
  Education,10-19.
• Little, D. (2002). Women and Adventure
  Recreation Reconstructing Leisure Constraints
  and Adventure Experiences to Negotiate Continuing
  Participation. Journal of Leisure Research, 34
  (2) 157-177.
• Johnson, C., Bowker, J., Cordell, H.K.,(2001).
  Outdoor Recreation Constraints An Examination of
  Race, Gender, and Rural Dwelling. Southern Rural
  Sociology,17, 111-133.

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References

• McDermott, L. (2004, July 1). Exploring
  Intersections of Physicality and Female-Only
  Canoeing Experiences. Leisure Studies, 23(3),
  282-301.
• Miranda, W., Yerkes, R. (1996 January 1). The
  History of Camping Women in the
  Professionalization of Experiential Education.
  Journal of Experiential Education, 63-77. (ERIC
  Document Reproduction Service No. ED412041)
  Retrieved October 2, 2008 from ERIC database.
• Neill, J. (1997, January 20-24). Gender How does
  it effect the outdoor education experience.
  National Outdoor Education Conference The
  Outdoor Professionals, 183-192.
• Puhl. S., Borrie, W., Peterson, M. (2000). Women,
  Wilderness, and Everyday Life A Documentation of
  the Connection between Wilderness Recreation and
  Womens Everyday Lives. Journal of Leisure
  Research, 32(4), 1415-434.
• Sugermen, D.(2005). I Am More Than My Cancer
  An Exploratory Examination of Adventure
  Programming and Cancer Survivors. Journal of
  Experiential Education, 28 (1), 71-83.
• Foster-Tangen, J., Foster-Tangen, L. (1998). The
  Caring Capacity A Case for Multi-Age
  Experiential Learning. Electronic Green Journal,
  1, 3-9. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No.
  ED443620) Retrieved October 2, 2008 from ERIC
  database.
• Whittington, A. (2006). Challenging Girls
  Constructions of Femininity in the Outdoors.
  Journal of Experiential Education, 28 (3),
  205-221.