The purpose of this book is to highlight new trends in research on women's leisure. Comparisons drawn between countries at different stages of socioeconomic development demonstrate fascinating similarities and also many differences. Women's leisure is still constrained by traditional ideologies and gender relations, but there is evidence that leisure may also provide the opportunity for liberating effects such as empowerment and autonomy. Leisure may thus act as an agent of positive social change. This book has been developed from a multinational study involving fifteen diverse countries and set up within the framework of the Research Commission of the World Leisure and Recreation Association. A wide range of sociocultural experiences are reported in chapters on Australia, Canada, Colombia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Morocco, Spain, the U.S.A. and U.K.--Amazon.