Macrae, Eilidh H.R. (2013) 'Get Fit - Keep Fit'? Exercise in the Female Life- Cycle in Scotland, 1930-1970

Macrae, Eilidh H.R. (2013) 'Get fit - keep fit'? Exercise in the female life- cycle in Scotland, 1930-1970. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/4217/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] ‘Get Fit—Keep Fit’? Exercise in the female life-cycle in Scotland, 1930-1970 Eilidh H R Macrae MA (Hons), MSc Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Economic and Social History School of Social and Political Sciences College of Social Sciences University of Glasgow April 2013 ii Abstract ‗Get Fit—Keep Fit‘? Exercise in the female life-cycle in Scotland, 1930-19701 This thesis looks into the complex relationships which women have had with their bodies throughout the twentieth century. It uses oral history evidence, medical sources, and official government material to examine women‘s experiences of and access to physical recreation and sport throughout the life-cycle. It argues that despite the official view that throughout the twentieth century women‘s sporting bodies were essentially fragile bodies, unsuited to competitive and manly sports, there were a number of alternative discourses available to women during these years. Women who had strong sporting identities, and confidence in their own physical abilities, were able to test the capabilities of their bodies and maintain their exercise participation throughout adolescence, menstruation, pregnancy and during motherhood, despite the advice of state officials, and many doctors, which advised them against participation. This thesis makes a powerful contribution to what at present is a largely uncharted historical landscape of female participation in and experience of physical recreation in Scotland and the UK in the mid-twentieth century. In a global context, it contributes to our understanding of the relationship between the female body and physical activity throughout the physically and culturally guided female life-cycle, and the particular ways in which women interacted with sport and exercise throughout the twentieth century. 1 ‗Get Fit—Keep Fit‘ was the slogan for the 1937 National Fitness Campaign in Britain: this thesis investigates whether women were able to ‗keep-fit‘ throughout every stage of the lifecycle. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank the Economic and Social Research Council for funding this research and providing me with many opportunities to develop my skills as a researcher. Over the past three years I have been overwhelmed by the support and assistance of a number of archivists and independent researchers who have helped me to conduct this research. Iain Thomson—historian and enthusiast of Scottish outdoor recreation— generously provided resources and advice, for which I am very grateful. The part-time archivists of the Scottish Youth Hostels Association were extremely helpful and provided me with access to many interesting and valuable sources, which I hope to return to again someday. I am immensely thankful to the many women who agreed to give me their time and life stories, without which this research would not have been possible. Indeed, the staff of Cardonald Parish Church Hall; Lynn Abrams; and Fiona at the Fitness League, all helped in the process of recruiting interviewees, and to them I am very grateful. My supervisors, Eleanor Gordon and Lynn Abrams, have provided a world of encouragement and expertise: giving very generously of their time. I am especially thankful to Lynn for suggesting that I apply to do a postgraduate degree, something which I had not considered as an undergraduate: without that initial encouragement, and subsequent support, I do not know where I would be now. The many friends I have made throughout my postgraduate research have also helped in the development of this work: the support of the Social History girls and the Historical Perspectives team has helped me to avoid the ‗isolation‘ of the PhD which I had heard so much about. Thank you to Andrew for listening to my historical ramblings over the past few years, and feigning some interest in women‘s sport, and to Mum and Dad for your love and support. iv Contents Abstract . ii Acknowledgements . iii List of Figures . v Author’s Declaration . vi Abbreviations . vii Introduction . 1 Chapter 1 ‗The Young and Growing Organism‘: 42 Facilities for the Young Female Body in Scotland, 1930-1960 Chapter 2 Experiencing exercise as a young woman in Scotland, 1930-1960 78 Chapter 3 Pregnancy, menstruation and the active female body 122 Chapter 4 Access to and experiences of exercise during 170 marriage and motherhood Conclusion . 206 Appendix I . 216 Bibliography . 223 v List of Figures Figure 1.1 Scotland for Fitness (1938), Scottish Screen Archive 32 Figure 1.2 Scotland for Fitness (1938), Scottish Screen Archive 32 Figure 3.1 Before and After the Baby, (1948), Scottish Screen Archive 144 Figure 3.2 Before and After the Baby, (1948), Scottish Screen Archive 144 vi Author’s Declaration I declare that, except where explicit reference is made to the contribution of others, this dissertation is the result of my own work and has not been submitted for any other degree at the University of Glasgow or any other institution. Signature _______________________________ Printed Name ________________________________ vii Abbreviations BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BMJ British Medical Journal CCPR Central Council of Physical Recreation EIS Educational Institute of Scotland EUSC Edinburgh University Special Collections ICI Imperial Chemical Industries MMM Margaret Morris Movement NAS National Archives of Scotland NCT National Childbirth Trust PE Physical Education SCPR Scottish Council of Physical Recreation SED Scottish Education Department STV Scottish Television SYHA Scottish Youth Hostels Association WCG Women‘s Co-operative Guild WLHB Women‘s League of Health and Beauty 1 Introduction Since the mid-nineteenth century Scottish women have had a growing presence in the world of organised sport and physical activity. Participation levels in individual recreational activities such as cycling and climbing increased dramatically between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.1 Yet, throughout these years women frequently had to negotiate their exercise participation to fit within sets of competing medical and social discourses. This thesis will argue that this remained the case for much of the twentieth century. It will show that gendered social and medical discourses framed women‘s experiences of exercise at each stage of the socially and physically guided female life-cycle between 1930 and 1970. By marrying an analysis of official government materials with experiential evidence from oral history testimony, this thesis will argue that medical and official government ideas about women‘s physical exercise needs and capabilities stood in contrast to female exercise experiences on the ground. Educational and public exercise facilities were often largely unsuited to the physical and practical needs of women and girls who wished to make exercise part of their lives. Young adolescent girls—coping with physiological changes and the practicalities of managing their bodies in their early years of menstruation—were seldom practically catered for within Scottish schools, making exercise participation an uncomfortable experience. Many adult women found that they had to have crucial workplace connections, a disposable income, a network of sporty friends, and childcare support, if they hoped to make physical recreation part of their lives as wives and mothers. But despite these practical restrictions on female exercise, there was certainly space for agency within these discursive and practical frameworks. As will be shown throughout the following chapters, ideas of the naturally ‗fragile female body‘—unsuited to vigorous exercise—did not match the strong, competitive sporting selves which many of the female interviewees in this study relayed to me through their interview narratives. Fashions, femininities and fitness Skillen has argued that the emergence of the ‗modern woman‘ or ‗flapper‘ girl in the interwar years—and the changing fashions and ideals which accompanied the arrival of this ‗modern 1 J. Hargreaves, Sporting Females: Critical Issues in the History and Sociology of Women’s Sports (London: Routledge, 1994), p.91, p.118. 2 woman‘—had a substantial impact upon the way in which women‘s sport and exercise was able to develop.2 Flappers popularised new fashions which showed more of the female body than earlier clothing styles: with shorter hemlines and material which draped to reveal the female body and the way it moved.3 These modern fashions encouraged a fresh ideal female body-shape—a slim, ‗boyish‘ figure—which in turn meant that many women wished to sculpt their bodies and their lives to fit with this particular femininity ideal of the young, fun, and active girl: this ‗modern woman‘ body ideal could be attained or maintained through regular exercise. It has been argued that through the rise of this new modern ‗beauty culture‘ and the work of female-friendly fitness groups such as the Women‘s League of Health and Beauty (WLHB) and the Keep Fit Movement, a ‗modern definition of femininity‘ was established in the 1930s which married the terms health and beauty and championed the slender physique: this had major repercussions for women‘s exercise.4 For decades medical professionals had looked upon women‘s bodies primarily as reproductive vessels, and a woman‘s role, or future role, as a mother took precedence over all other life aspirations she might have had.

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