KARSTEN Children S Use of Public Space

Childhood
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Childrens Use of Public Space: The Gendered World of the Playground

Lia Karsten
Childhood 2003; 10; 457
DOI: 10.1177/0907568203104005
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CHILDRENS USE OF PUBLIC SPACE

The gendered world of the playground
LIA KARSTEN
University of Amsterdam
Key words:
children, gender, playground, resident
behaviour, urban space
Mailing address:
Lia Karsten
Department of Human Geography,
University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe
Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam,
020-5254086, The Netherlands. [email:
c.j.m.karsten@uva.nl]
Childhood Copyright 2003
SAGE Publications. London, Thousand Oaks
and New Delhi, Vol 10(4): 457473.
www.sagepublications.com
[0907-5682 (200311)10:4; 457473;037118]
This article considers the gendered character of the

contemporary playground. Based on observational
studies in eight Amsterdam playgrounds and interviews with users, it is shown how playground participation, activities and micro-geographies are
structured by gender. Furthermore, not only does
the playground function as a gendered space, its
physical and symbolic landscapes also reinforce
this binary divide. In addition, the contested character of this divide is illustrated with examples of girls
and boys challenging traditional gender behaviour.
In its gendered access, the playground is comparable with other public spaces: in contrast, however, it
has not yet been the focus of feminist critique. This
article points out the wider significance of creating
emancipatory public play environments.
Introduction
Children growing up in cities are having to cope with an urban context
which can only be described as deteriorating. The dominance of the car
together with social dangers render urban public space unattractive and dangerous for children (Katz, 1995; Valentine, 1995, 1997; Ward, 1978). As a
consequence, children spend less time playing outside than they used to, and
while outside, they are chaperoned more often (Gaster, 1991; Hillman et al.,
1990; Karsten, 2002; van der Spek and Noyon, 1995). While children of
both genders are restricted, girls, in particular, experience daily constraints
on their freedom of movement (Karsten, 1998; Katz, 1993; Nissen, 1992;
Sebba, 1994).
Playgrounds are intended to compensate for the daily restrictions that
children growing up in urban environments encounter. But are playgrounds
serving girls and boys equally? Studies point out that girls use playgrounds
and other locations for playing less frequently than boys, and, if they do use
them, they tend to go to play areas that are closer to home (Cunningham and
Jones, 1991; Hart, 1979; Moore, 1989; Rijnen, 1984: van Andel, 1985;
Visser, 1991). Furthermore, females occupy less territory for their play
457
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
activities than males (Thorne, 1993). Other studies focus on the different
ways in which girls and boys play: boys activities tend more often to
revolve around physical strength, competition in sports and larger groups
(Karsten and Pel, 2000; Lever, 1978; Sluckin, 1981).
This article explores gender issues in childrens outdoor play in
Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. Can gender be considered as one of the
main organizing principles in the playground, and if so what form does it
take? Do boys outnumber girls? And what can be said about gendered ways
of playing, of using space and of spending time? How does gender interact
with other structuring principles such as ethnicity and class? How do children themselves confirm and contest gender divides? How do the design and
equipment of particular playgrounds enter into the gender dynamics of the
play? The empirical findings presented in this article come from a research
project carried out in multicultural Amsterdam neighbourhoods. Eight different playgrounds have been studied using informal and formal observations,
extensive counting and qualitative interviews with children and parents.
Theoretical concepts
When studying playgrounds in urban environments, access is an important
issue. The public in the playground may or may not be a mirror of the residential child population. In this respect, studying public playgrounds in residential environments is different from studying private playgrounds near
schools, daycare centres and other childrens institutions. When teachers and
other caring adults decide so, all children have to go outside and into the
playground, schoolyard or sports fields. All children have legitimated access,
be it in many different and unequal ways (Thorne, 1993). In contrast, in residential environments, some children will visit the nearby playground, while
others will not be interested, will not dare to do so or will simply be denied
access. Adults interference is minimal. In these ways, public playgrounds
function differently from playgrounds near institutions. In order to fully
understand issues such as access and exclusion, the literature on the use of
urban public space can be helpful.
According to Lofland (1985), inhabitants of big cities are constantly
trying to reduce the complexities of living in a world of strangers. When
urbanites are out in public, they make arrangements to maximize encounters
with the personally known. One such arrangement involves the creation of
home territories. Urbanites try to colonize public spaces. For those who succeed, the urban world becomes safer to explore, easier to understand and
more predictable. An important condition in the process of colonization is
the knowledge people have of their urban place. When a persons knowledge about the social, cultural and physical characteristics of a public
domain increases in details and intimacy, his or her status transforms from
that of just a visitor into that of a resident.
458
KARSTEN: CHILDRENS USE OF PUBLIC SPACE
Residents can be identified by three characteristics (Lofland, 1985:

124). First, they frequently come to their place. Becoming a resident is a
time-consuming business. Residents spend a lot of time over a long period in
their public domain, and in so doing they are building a broad network
among the other visitors. Time and networks are the powerful resources that
residents use to dictate the rules and to defend their territory against outsiders (see also Elias and Scotson, 1965). Second, residents tend to indulge
in backstage language (Goffman, 1959, 1963). Residents make use of
forms of communication difficult for outsiders to understand. It is full of
abbreviations, new words and nicknames. Sometimes it may be offensive,
which is another effective way of keeping others out of the domain. A third
characteristic of residents is that they tend to assert proprietary rights over
the setting, similar to the stance an individual might have towards their own
home. Residents use their public place for all kinds of private purposes: to
meet friends, to eat, to read, to store things and sometimes even to sleep.
Behaving like a resident would, of course, be impossible without at
least tacit consent of the other visitors. In many cases, visitors take the colonizing behaviour for granted as long as they can use the place for a specific
function. Thus, children in the playground will tolerate the culture of the residents as long as they can play themselves. However, the kind of play may
well be influenced by the behaviour of the residents. And the simple presence of a group of residents may prevent other children from visiting a playground.
Lofland does not give special attention to children but her analyses
provide useful insights into the conduct of young urbanites. Children need to
meet, to play and to communicate with other children. It is an essential part
of the process of growing up. However, children living in big cities can have
difficulty finding personally known playmates. The playground may function as a place carved out of the adult world to encounter other children
and to build on social networks. Some children will develop intimate knowledge of their playground. These resident children are the ones who frequently come to the playground and who have a broad network among the other
visitors. As a group they communicate in a specific way (backstage language), which makes their status difficult to contest. They are in a position to
negotiate or even dictate the rules and may behave like private owners of the
playground.
Many studies have examined the gendered use of public spaces
(Cavan, 1966; Frank and Paxson, 1989). Women are underrepresented, and
often threatened, in public spaces (Brooks Gardner, 1995; Madge, 1997;
Koskela, 1997). Studies of this kind may lead to the generalization that resident behaviour in public spaces is traditionally male behaviour. It may, however, not be very fruitful to think in gender dichotomies (Women and
Geography Study Group, 1997). The diversity and differences in childrens
use and experiences of urban space have been addressed in recent studies
459
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
(Aitken, 1994; Evaldsson, 1997; James and Prout, 1990). Diversity is constituted not only by gender but also by other structuring principles, such as age,
class and ethnicity (Karsten et al., 2001). The youngest age category shows
less separation by gender in their (outdoor) play behaviour as do school-age
children (Hart, 1979). Class is an important determining factor in childrens
daily outdoor play and other out-of-school activities (Karsten, 1998; Lareau,
2000). Ethnicity is often referred to in relation to cultural variables, which
influence communication among and between different ethnic groups
(Liden, 1997). Ethnicity may as well have consequences for the inclusion or
exclusion of children in play spaces.
Barrie Thornes (1993) concern that studies of children tend only to
focus on the most visible and dominant groups can be considered as a plea to
situate gender in context, rather than frame it with fixed binary abstractions.
This new mode of analysis is one which feminist geographers are keen to
support. Intensive ethnographic research in different locations and at different times is required to examine how gender actually works and interacts
with other variables. Interactions between individuals and groups as well as
changes over time can best be studied at the places where it all happens.
Gendered identities are no longer considered to be permanent or absolute
categories (Rose, 1993). A direct focus on social processes in daily life gives
insight into the ways in which identities are constantly negotiated, contested
and reinforced.
Thorne (1993) further shows that the dominant rule of girls will be
girls and boys will be boys is often challenged. In this respect, she
describes the deviant identity of tomboys and sissies, two extremes in
the continuum of gender crossing. The concept of tomboy alludes to girls
who behave more or less like boys traditionally do, while sissies is a term
used in the US for boys who engage in behaviour that is traditionally associated with girls. Tomboys are often referred to as strong children, while
sissies are often considered to be weak children. This asymmetry points to
the unequal valuing of male and female behaviour in western societies. Jones
(1999) goes even a step further by arguing that girls are often termed
tomboys when they take part in what is seen as the purest expression of
childhood strolling around in the countryside which makes the natural
gender of childhood apparently male.
Outline of the research project
This analysis of the gender dynamics of childrens behavior in public playgrounds is based on observation studies in eight playgrounds (see Figure 1).
Each of the playgrounds we studied consists of a terrain for ball games and
play equipment, such as gymnastic apparatus, slides and climbing objects.
The playgrounds differ in the social and ethnic context of the surrounding
area, the size, and the number and quality of play objects (see Table 1;
460
Key:
1. Jan Mayen Square
2. Balboa
3. Columbus
4. Mondriaan Square
5. Voorburg Street
6. Bocholt Street
7. Echtenstein
8. Gein
Figure 1 Amsterdam playgrounds included in the study
numbers correspond with Figure 1). The first five playgrounds are located in
multicultural lower class residential environments. Jan Mayen (1), Balboa
(2) and Columbus (3) playgrounds are situated in De Baarsjes (built
192040) and Mondriaan Square (4) and Voorburg Street (5) in Overtoomse
Veld (built 195060). In the neighbourhoods of De Baarsjes and Overtoomse
Veld the majority of the children have a Turkish or Moroccan background.
Echtenstein (7) is situated in the Bijlmer: a neighbourhood with high-rise
residential estates (built 1960 to early 1970s). The child population is characterized by a mixture of many different ethnicities, including a high percentage of children whose parents are from Surinam. The playgrounds in
Bocholt Street (6) and Gein (8) are located in two recently built (1980s and
1990s) middle-class neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Amsterdam. In these
middle-class neighbourhoods the residents also have diverse cultural backgrounds, though Dutch Amsterdam children form the biggest group.
The Jan Mayen, Voorburg Street and Echtenstein playgrounds are
small play spaces; all the other playgrounds are bigger. The amount of play
equipment and climbing objects varies from playground to playground. The
Columbus playground is the biggest play domain and has the most diverse
461
Table 1 Characteristics of the eight playgrounds studied
Main ethnicity
in neighbourhood
Social context
of neighbourhood
Size of
playground
Number of
play objects
Quality of
playground
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Turkish/Moroccan
Turkish/Moroccan
Turkish/Moroccan
Turkish/Moroccan
Turkish/Moroccan
Dutch
Surinamese
Dutch/Surinamese
Lower class
Lower class
Lower class
Lower class
Lower class
Middle class
Lower class
Middle class
+
+
+
+/
+
+/
+/
+/
+
+/
+
+/
+
Jan Mayen
Balboa
Columbus
Mondriaan
Voorburg
Bocholt
Echtenstein
Gein
Size: + more than 300 sq. m.; less than 300 sq. m.
Number of play objects: + 10 or more; +/ between 4 and 9; fewer than 4.
Quality: + good; +/ reasonable; bad.
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
462
Name of the
playground
supply of equipment The overall quality of the playgrounds is very diverse.

We measured quality in three different ways: safety (number of unsafe
objects such as nails sticking out), condition (of the paint, grassed areas and
pavement), and tidiness. Only three of the eight playgrounds are in good
condition: Columbus Square, Gein and Bocholt Street. The Mondriaan
Square playground had a recently renovated ball game area, but its play
equipment was in a bad and unsafe condition. In Echtenstein the situation
was the reverse. Jan Mayen, Balboa and Voorburg Street playgrounds were
in the worst condition and in need of renovation.
The research group consisted of four females, including the writer of
this article. Because of earlier experiences, we were afraid that a male
researcher would have difficulty in gaining the childrens and especially the
parents confidence. The absence of male researchers may have had a negative influence on the willingness of boys to accept the research. However,
we did not get the impression that boys were responding negatively to the
presence of a female researcher.
After being trained in observational and interview techniques, a
researcher was assigned to each location. During the intensive fieldwork we
used different methods: informal and structured observations, countings and
interviews (Burgess, 1982; Lofland and Lofland, 1984; Thorne, 1993).
The informal observations were carried out during the whole period of
research (2 months in early summer): several times a week, we paid short
visits of around half an hour to get fully acquainted with each place. In addition, we observed in the neighbourhood to see where the children came from
and what other play areas they used. All these informal observations were
reported in field notes, including qualitative information about the physical
site, the people, activities, interactions, conflicts and the specificities of the
surrounding environment.
In each playground we introduced ourselves. After a relatively short
period of time the children became used to the presence of the researcher
and even more: they often came to us to talk about various issues relating to
the playground. After a while when we already knew many of the children
by name we started the structured observations. With the help of maps and
schemes, we carried out structured observations in the playground: eight
times in after-school time, during a time span of exactly 2 hours. All persons
present were counted and spatially located, including the ones who were not
actually playing. Activities, interactions and movements were mapped. The
structured observations resulted in comparable figures for all eight locations.
Interviews were held during the informal observations, or before and
after the structured observations. Quite often, children introduced us to their
friends or parents, which led to a high willingness to respond to our questions. Nevertheless, sometimes it was very hectic to report everything we
noticed and it took us several hours after each observation to organize the
information in a way that was accessible to us all.
463
Table 2 Users of the playground (aged 018) by gender and ethnicity
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Jan Mayen
Balboa
Columbus
Mondriaan
Voorburg
Bocholt
Echtenstein
Gein
Total
Girls
Diverse
T/M
S/A
Dutch
immigrant
Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam
Diverse
T/M
S/A
Dutch
immigrant
Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam
93
178
232
264
88
13
2
870
4
18
28
14
2
15
42
33
3
28
44
11
10
84
57
76
135
108
18
1
67
1
3
13
17
7
22
69
4
156
247
136
395
T/M: Turkish and Moroccan;

S/A: Surinamese and Antillian;
Diverse immigrant groups: children from China, Sudan, Ghana, Pakistan, etc.
5
11
28
12
Total
Girls
(%)
40%
31%
40%
29%
15%
33%
20%
40%
33%
10
16
23
6
11
44
5
1
46
3
35
9
9
12
169
330
531
432
126
200
141
174
105
151
43
2103
5
7
1
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
464
Playground
Boys
The representation of girls and boys: the dominant picture

The first question we wanted to answer was: How many children come to
each playground, who are they and how can differences be understood?
Table 2 shows the different number of children visiting each playground.
The number of visitors reflects the quality of the place, the number of children living in the direct environment of the play space and the availability of
other play spaces in the same neighbourhood. The most frequented playground, Columbus Square, is an example of a high quality playground in an
environment with a high density of children and only a few other play spaces
within easy access. Voorburg Street and Echtenstein are the least visited
playgrounds, mainly due to the poor condition they are in.
The ethnic composition of the public visiting the playground not only
reflects the neighbourhood population but ethnic numerical dominance is
further intensified in scale in the playground, with the exception of
Bijlmer/Echtenstein (see also Karsten, 1998). That means that the biggest
ethnic category of a neighbourhood is even more visible in terms of numbers
than we could expect on the basis of the neighbourhood child population.
For example: in Bocholt Street the number of Turkish/Moroccan Amsterdam
children is less than we would have expected given their representation in
the surrounding area, and Dutch Amsterdam children are overrepresented,
while in Balboa Square Turkish/Moroccan Amsterdam children are overrepresented and Dutch Amsterdam children are underrepresented.
The gendered character of Amsterdam childrens use of the public
playground is apparent and most evident with respect to presence, activity,
space and time. In each playground, boys outnumber girls (see Table 2). In
general, girls comprise one-third of all children observed, ranging from 15
percent to 40 percent of users. With increase of age, girls participation
decreases further. Girls with a Surinamese/Antillean (40 percent) or Dutch
(38 percent) background are relatively better represented than
Turkish/Moroccan Amsterdam girls (31 percent). In particular, Turkish and
Moroccan girls aged over 1012 years old were very rarely seen. This no
doubt reflects cultural rules within these ethnic groups. Sometimes, we saw
older girls coming to the playground to pick up their younger sisters and
brothers. We did not get much response when we asked why they did not
come to play themselves, other than: Im too old to play or My parents
dont want me to be in the playground.
The observations and interviews reveal that the physical quality of the
playground greatly influences the gender composition of users. Playgrounds
with very few play objects or playgrounds in bad condition are not considered attractive by girls. Girls are critical of the supply. For many of them,
good quality and challenging play objects (high climbing frames, big
swings) are a precondition to come out to play. Girls make it clear to us that
they dislike dirty and disorderly places.
465
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
Playgrounds in good condition like the Columbus playground attract

more girls than bleak ones like that in Voorburg Street. However, sometimes
factors other than the quality of the playground are significant. The relatively
high number of girls encountered at Jan Mayen Square surprised us since it
is poor in quality. But the Turkish and Moroccan Amsterdam girls living in
the vicinity of this play location had no choice since they were not allowed
to visit better-equipped playgrounds further away. An 8-year-old Moroccan
Amsterdam girl explained: I do not like to play here, but this is the only
place I am allowed to come. My mother wants to keep an eye on us. We
never leave our street to play a few blocks further away. Boys also report
that their parents do not like them to go further afield, but in fact many of
them do so in quite big groups. Several times we encountered boys from the
Jan Mayen neighbourhood in the Columbus playground.
Gendered activities were apparent in all playgrounds. Girls, across
lines of social class and ethnicity, engaged in specific girl activities with
much variation in their daily play (gymnastics, hopscotch, playing on the
swing). They tended to play much more with, at or inside the play objects
than boys. Occasionally, they operated in groups, but quite often there would
be just two or three girls together. The Amsterdam boys predominantly
played soccer. As a consequence, they tended to play in bigger groups and
control much larger spaces than girls did. Gendered activities have a strong
spatial dimension.
Sometimes, it seemed that the playgrounds were divided into separate
boys and girls spaces. The gender of space was most visible when the
defence of gendered territories was at stake. There were many instances
when children wanted to participate in the games of the other gender, but
were prevented from doing so. A Moroccan Amsterdam girl who loves to
play football remarked: I should like to play football with the boys group,
but I am afraid of stupid remarks. That is why I sometimes play football with
my girl friend (Voorburg Street). Interviews with the boys in that playground confirm the gendered exclusion: We cannot use girls. Girls do girl
things and girls are stupid. Defending a gendered territory is very much an
issue in the world of the public playground, especially when there is insufficient space for both genders. Then girls are grouped together at the borders
of the playground or near the few play objects, whereas boys sprawl over the
entire space.
In addition, girls spend less time in the playground than boys. We
often noted groups of boys at the beginning of our observation, who were
still there when we left 2 hours later. Usually girls came to the playgrounds
in small groups, they hung around for a while, performed some gymnastic
displays and left shortly after. However, girls stayed longer in playgrounds
where there was a bigger variety of play equipment, going, for example,
from slide to swing to bars, and staying with a favourite. As we have already
noted, girls of all ethnic backgrounds are far more critical of the physical
466
design of playgrounds than are boys. A Dutch Amsterdam girl at the Balboa
playground told us: I dont come here very often. You cannot do many
things. Only the climbing frame is nice, but now it is broken.
We also found that gender patterns varied with the time of day. At the
end of the afternoon, one girl after another would leave the playground,
while boys tended to continue their play until dark or even later. As one of
the researchers recorded in her field notes: When I arrive at twilight, around
12 boys have just finished their game, another group of four little boys are
still hanging on the climbing frame. Nowhere is a girl to be seen.
The sum total of these gender divisions across presence, activities,
space and time results in the fact that boys obtain more intimate knowledge
of the playground. Compared with girls, boys are highly visible users of public playground space, and they control much larger territories during many
more hours. Boys more frequent presence, duration and visibility mean that
they more often acquire the status of a resident. Resident boys communicate
in their own way. Their (backstage) language, which is difficult for outsiders to understand, is full of football terms (panna), popular Dutch
(drunkel, wreed) and popular Dutch/English (vet, cool), which some of
them alternate with their mother tongue. The hierarchy within male groups is
mainly based on soccer talent.
The greater diversity of girls activities results in many small groups
clustered around specific popular games or ways of playing. It seems that
they do not need much space for these activities and often girls play in relatively hidden corners of the playgrounds. There may well be a girl leader,
but she leads a small group and thus is not very visible. Girls ways of playing reinforce their status as a minority group. For girls, it is difficult to
become a resident without challenging traditional gender divides.
Playing with gender: girls and boys challenging traditional
gender divides
Although the minority position of girls is striking in every playground, as a
group, girls are not entirely absent. Some girls with the status of resident
were encountered in nearly every playground. These girls used the playground daily, they knew everybody and everybody knew them. They did not
have to negotiate their position as they played or the rules they applied. In
the playgrounds where girls were most represented, namely Jan Mayen,
Columbus and Gein, we encountered many examples of girls challenging
traditional gender behaviour. In addition it was apparently clear that becoming a resident girl was most open to females belonging to the dominant ethnicity in the playground (Table 2).
The resident girls in Jan Mayen Square usually played in large mixedgender groups with siblings and friends. These Moroccan Amsterdam girls
(aged 810) were very keen on manipulating younger children for their own
467
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
goals. For example, an observer recorded the following interaction: The

girls are playing elastics.1 There is only one traffic bollard2 they can use (to
loop one end of the skipping elastic over). Obviously, all girls want to play.
Two of them decide that one of the little boys hanging around can be
ordered to play with them. He has to stand in as the bollard. The resident
girls organized the games, dictated the rules and determined who was
allowed to play and who was not. When a resident girl feared that she would
lose a game, it was not uncommon for her to change the rules so she could
stay on the winning side. Parents probably thought that the girls were just
looking after the younger children, but in fact young kids were often warmly
welcomed as easy-to-manipulate playmates. Remarkably, younger kids often
consented, as recorded in the following field notes: The little boys are eager
to help furnishing the porch. They enthusiastically collect all kinds of
rubbish and give this to the girls. The little children (aged 35) appreciated the older girls fantasy way of playing and took their low-status position
for granted.
In the Columbus Square playground, both girls and boys appeared to
have sufficient space. This playground is of a high quality with many different kinds of play equipment, some of them rather unique, such as a climbing-ship (referring to Columbus). Several Moroccan and Turkish Amsterdam
girls groups (aged 610) used this playground very frequently and apparently felt at home. More girls behaved as residents in Columbus Square compared with other playgrounds. The resident girls shouted Hello to other
children, while making remarks about their play. Apparently, they made
appointments to meet there. As one Turkish Amsterdam girl told us: Yes,
my friends know where to find me. Im always here, after school is over . . .
except for Saturday, when I go to the market with my mother. The various
climbing structures in the playground were very popular among girls. They
literally raised themselves above the crowd. In so doing, they controlled the
whole playground, singing, screaming and shouting to everybody below: A
big group of girls is sitting on the top of the climbing-ship. They are singing
popular songs with challenging texts such as I want to have sex on the
beach (field note).
In the Gein playground, we encountered quite a few Dutch and
Surinamese Amsterdam girls playing soccer: In the small grassed area a boy
and a girl start to play soccer. A little further on, on the large central green, I
see another two girls playing soccer with six boys. At the end of my observation time I notice three girl teenagers playing soccer near the tennis table
(field notes). When girls play soccer, a highly masculinized game, they tend
to undermine traditional divisions of gender. In this and other playgrounds,
girls often played soccer discretely in single-gender groups and in locations
somewhat hidden in the green surroundings of the neighbourhood. Only
rarely did one or two girls play with the boys on the centrally located soccer
field. Sometimes girls were tolerated if there was an unequal number of boy
468
players. But there were a few talented girls in Gein who were always accepted and even invited to play. Skill was the main criterion for selection to a
team, a rule applied to both genders.
Some girls were especially gifted in playing with gender, like Ordea
(aged 8) one of the tomboys3 in the Columbus Square playground. She
came to the playground almost every day and stayed until dark, like the
boys. The first time we visited the square she grabbed our attention by
cycling on a bicycle, literally crossing the gender divide between the ball
game territory and the terrain with play equipment. Although Ordea disturbed the football game, no one openly complained. She had a broad network of family and friends, whom she used as a resource, borrowing play
materials (such as the bicycle mentioned) and calling upon for assistance in
the event of conflict. But she did not encounter many conflicts. Ordeas position as one of the residents of the playground was not often challenged. One
of her favourite places was the sand and water corner. She loved to manage
groups, giving orders to build big waterworks.
Boys do not play with gender as much as girls do in playground activities and they less frequently challenge gendered behaviour. The main activity of the boys we observed was playing soccer. However, this was not the
only game they played, nor was it the main activity for all the boys observed.
In playgrounds with a diverse range of play equipment, boys played tag4
around the climbing objects or built sand castles and roller-skated on the
asphalt. While some girls indicated that they wanted to play boys games
with the boys, it was much less common to hear a boy saying that he wanted
to play a girls game, although younger boys sometimes became involved in
girls play as in the example from Jan Mayen Square. On the whole, it seems
to be more attractive for girls to behave like boys than the other way round.
That probably means that traditional female ways of playing will never
become the dominant way. These are for girls only and not even for all girls.
Boys who play with girls in a female way are rare and called watje or eitje
(comparable to sissy), a status no one seems to want.
However, some boys seemed to be rather happy in female company.
Charles was one of them. He was a Dutch Amsterdam boy aged 9 who lived
in Gein and was very friendly with Sandra and Ming (same age, Dutch and
Chinese background respectively). He told us that he loved to play with girls
because girls know a lot of nice games. He was a little afraid of the big
boys, especially one neighbour, Richard, whom he described as a son of a
bitch. With his girl friends, Charles played a wide variety of games. But, as
he admitted, he has a strong preference for games which were not particularly labelled as girls or boys play, such as playing tag, building a hut,
cycling and roller-skating. Some of these activities are only possible in quiet
green surroundings where there are many foot and cycle paths. This may be
one of the reasons that we only encountered boys with female play friends in
Gein and Bocholt Street, where there are easily accessible green surround469
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
ings and many asphalt cycle paths, clearly separated from the roadway.
In Columbus Square, there were some small groups of boys who
apparently did not participate in the dominant boys scene. Dutch
Amsterdam Jan, African Amsterdam Mike and Turkish Amsterdam Ahmed
loved each others company and shared the same ideas about playing nicely. We never saw them playing football on the asphalt. They could hang
about near the play furniture for long times, just talking and looking.
Sometimes, we saw them playing with a ball near the climbing objects. Their
game was similar to hit ball 5 and several girls played with them.
Furthermore, they often frequented the water and sand corner. It is striking
that their games lacked the element of scoring. In that respect, these activities were similar to games that girls tend to play. However, in contrast to
most girls, these boys were not keen on improving their skills. While girls
would be continually trying to improve their performance, i.e. making their
gymnastics more complicated, these boys were not inclined to exercise at all.
Many children experimented with their gendered identities from time
to time. There were examples of girls who played in a very girl-like way,
only to suddenly demonstrate sturdy behaviour; or boys who played football
with the other boys, only to then accept an invitation from their little sister to
push her on the swings. When one first notices these gender deviations,
one is inclined to treat them as exceptional; it was only after more extensive observation at the playgrounds that we came to acknowledge this gender-blending as an essential part of childrens play. Ordea, described earlier,
is not only the stoere meid, or tomboy. Ordea played vigorously, in activities
and with a leadership style more typical of boys. But she also, seemingly
without effort, combined this leadership with caring for her little brothers
and sisters. Sandra, who loved to play with Charles, told us enthusiastically
about figure-skating on ice, a typical female sport. The three boys of
Columbus Square who never played football were ardent supporters of Ajax,
a professional soccer club in Amsterdam; they often talked about Ajax and
wore Ajax shirts. Perhaps they wanted to prove that they were just like the
other boys.
Conclusion
The results of our research on childrens presence and interactions in eight
public playgrounds in Amsterdam both confirm patterns reported in the literature and add new insights. It is useful to distinguish three dimensions of the
gendered character of playground interactions. First, girls are somewhat
marginalized in public playgrounds, assuming the status of a minority
group (Cunningham and Jones, 1991; van Andel, 1985). Turkish and
Moroccan Amsterdam girls, in particular, were underrepresented compared
with their male peers of the same ethnicity. Boys outnumbered girls not only
in frequency of participation but also in duration of time and in the size of
470
the network and territory they controlled (Lever, 1978). This helped boys to
obtain intimate knowledge of the playground which in turn reinforced
their more frequent status of resident. Girls as a group were less visible,
which made it more difficult for them to obtain this status.
Second, while general patterns can be discerned, there is much variety
across space and time and by activity (Holloway and Valentine, 2000).
Gender identities are contextually constructed and reinforced by the physical
characteristics of the location, the time of day and the activity that is undertaken. Physical boundaries also demarcate gendered boundaries (Thorne,
1993). The same applies to time schedules: when twilight arrives in the public domain, it becomes a male domain. And, while some activities are almost
exclusively defined as male (playing soccer) or female (doing gymnastics),
other games are open to both genders (playing tag/cycling) (Lever, 1978).
Third, while both boys and girls challenge traditional gender divides,
girls do it more often. In addition, experimenting with gendered behaviour
occurs most often in locations with a substantial number of girls. In places
where girls are represented in very small numbers a phenomenon which is
related to the spatial configuration of the playground girls and boys do not
experiment very often with crossing the gender divide.
These conclusions underline the importance of urban space for the
gendered development of children. Playgrounds are the first arenas in which
girls and boys learn to negotiate their behaviour in public. Thus far, playground experiences tend to be more negative for girls than for boys. In order
to encourage the full participation of women in the public domain, we may
want to begin by encouraging girls to play outside. It could be worthwhile to
pay more attention to the seemingly trivial issue of childrens leisure
(Messner, 1990) and the quality of public playgrounds.
From this Amsterdam study, some recommendations can be derived
for the design of playgrounds that can serve both boys and girls equally. This
study makes clear that playgrounds have to be big enough to facilitate play
by both boys and girls. That means that the terrain for play equipment
(slides, bars, swings, climbing structures, sand boxes, water places) should
take up as much territory as the area for ball games. To keep girls interested,
there should be high standards of regular maintenance and renovation of
play equipment. Both girls and boys appreciate speeding along on cycles and
skates, playing with sand and water and climbing on high objects. Creating
these play opportunities may help children to cross rigid gender divides as
and when they want.
Acknowledgement
The author gratefully acknowledges the efforts of participating students: Marieke
Geljon, Anne Hofstede and Eva Pel. She would also like to thank Barrie Thorne for
the close reading of this article.
471
CHILDHOOD 10(4)
Notes
1.
Playing elastics entails playing with an elastic cord spanned on either side. Girls play
complex jumping and skipping games with the cord.
2.
For the safety of pedestrians, many small bollards demarcate the line between footpaths
and parking places. There are so many in Amsterdam that they are called Amsterdammertjes
which means literally little Amsterdammers.
3.
The word tomboy does not exactly exist in the Dutch language. Different words are
used for girls such as Ordea: wildebras or stoere meid (big, sturdy girl).
4.
Playing tag entails a tagger chasing and trying to touch (tag) other children. If he or
she succeeds, the one tagged becomes the tagger, and so on.
5.
One of the players has to hit the others with a ball. The one who is hit starts the game
again, and so the game continues.
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