| This study explores gender construction for coaches' wives in American football culture by using cluster criticism to analyze three levels of text. First, football coaches' autobiographies reveal that many coaches expect their wives to sacrifice much by giving care to their families, the football team, recruits, and fans. Football coaches' rhetoric serves to relegate wives to the home or more traditionally feminine sphere unless needed to "fill in" or become a surrogate for the coach at a social function. Second, football coaches' wives' publications come in the form of the American Football Coaches' Wives Association (AFCWA) cookbook and newsletters. These publications reveal that the wives are certainly aware of the negative aspects of their sacrificial lives, but choose to focus more on showing support for one another and for their husbands rather than complaining about the various jobs expected of them. Finally, the coaches' wives' individual interviews demonstrate that many wives will cope with their situation by using the positive term of "independent" to describe themselves, when others would likely use "solitude" to explain coaches' wives' lives. Overall, this study illustrates how prevalent the Victorian Doctrine of "separate spheres" is in the modern world of football. While football coaches' wives are certainly tied to their husbands' careers in many ways, there is still a dividing line, a glass ceiling or wall, that prevents women married to football coaches from being recognized for their contributions to the game. |
