Participation and equity issues

Week 12: “Gender, representation and sport”  Introduction  Participation and equity issues  Strategies for achieving equity and fairness: Title IX  Ideological and cultural issues  Conclusion

Introduction Gender relations in sport focus on two interrelated areas, namely i) questions of fairness and equity and ii) those of ideology, representation and culture. Questions of fairness and equity deal with:

Introduction Issues relating to ideological, representation and cultural issues refer to:

Participation and equity issues Reasons for the increased participation include: 1. new opportunities – prior to the mid-1970s many girls and women did not play sport for the simple reason that teams and programs did not exist.

Participation and equity issues 1. new opportunities – number of Olympic events open to men and women

Participation and equity issues 2. Government and equal rights legislation - policies to promote equal access have had major impact

Participation and equity issues 3. The global women’s rights movement – the

global women’s rights movement over the past 30 years has emphasized that females are enhanced as human beings when they develop their intellectual and physical abilities.

Participation and equity issues 4. The health and fitness movement –

people are more aware now of the health benefits of physical activities. Sport companies in particular have been keen to promote fitness and sports to women and the image of the “athletic female” as a way to increase sales

Participation and equity issues 5. Increased media coverage of women in sports – increased coverage of women’s sports has helped to increase awareness and potentially participation on the part of girls. Despite some mixed messages the coverage of women in sports helps to promote the idea that sports are human activities rather than solely male activities

Participation and equity issues Reasons to be cautious about future participatory trends 1. Budget cutbacks and the privatization of sport programs – sports programs for girls and women are more vulnerable to cuts because they are less well established, have less community support and often have less revenue generating potential – “it seems like the only time womens programs are treated equally is when cuts must be made”

Participation and equity issues 2. Resistance to government regulations - those who benefit from the status quo often have a vested interest in preventing change.

Participation and equity issues 3. Backlash among those who resent changes favoring strong women – strong women challenge the prevailing gender ideology thus such women and the claims they make are seen as a threat to entrenched male interests. Many golf clubs for example have been slow to accept women golfers on an equal basis. •Soccer problem: the women assistant ref was attacked b/c the coach thought she didn’t give them a call So then he goes off on a tirade saying women have no place and he stands behind his sexism

Participation and equity issues 4. Under-representation of women in decision-making positions in sports – following Title IX there was an actual decline in the number and proportion of women head coaches and administrators (soccer being the sole exception).

Participation and equity issues 5. Continued emphasis on “cosmetic fitness” – confusing messages put off young girls concerned with trying to be firm but shapely, strong and feminine, sporty and sexy – “get strong but lose weight”

Participation and equity issues 6. Trivialization of women’s sports – women’s sports, especially those that emphasize balance, grace and coordination are accorded a secondary status Women sports are not taken seriously and of those that are, they are more graceful sports. This awards a second class status

7. Homophobia and the threat of being labeled “lesbian” – parents may discourage their daughters from certain sports for fear of them “becoming lesbian” On bend it like beckham the mother is worried that the daughter is gay b/c she is so close with her teammates

Strategies for achieving equity and fairness: Title IX • •

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Prevents gender discrimination in schools that receive funds from the federal government 1972 Nixon amended the 1964 Civil Rights Act in order to prevent gender discrimination in education - the Education Amendments was passed by Congress In the mid 1980’s Reagan tried to prevent title 9 from applying to sports but was passed with the Civil Rights Restoration Act in 1987.

Strategies for achieving equity and fairness: Title IX •The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights developed a clarification of Title IX’s impact for sport. A school is in compliance if it meets any one of these tests: 1.Proportionality test: womens sports participation must be porportional to the number of full time female students 2.History of progress test: school must have a clear history and continuing practice of expanding its sports programs for female athletes 3.Accommodation of interest: school must demonstrate that its sports program fully accommodates the interests of female students •Between 1971 and 2002 the number of girls playing high school varsity sports increased from 295,000 to about 2.8 million; instead of 1 out of every 27 playing on teams it is now 1 in 3; the numbers of female intercollegiate teams has increased from 32,000 to about 160,000

Ideological and cultural issues Historical constructions of gender ideology: patriarchal views about women as the “weaker sex” were challenged by women’s engagement with sporting activities and leisure pursuits such as cycling. Victorian moralists worried that female cyclists would make them unfeminine who lacked the physical abilities to ride bikes fast and that unchaperoned women would not be trusted around men.

Ideological and cultural issues Historical constructions of gender ideology: Of course, the reality was that there was no scientific basis for such claims. Instead the views of scientists and moralists were actually concerns about the new found freedom that women were enjoying – the restrictions that men tried to impose stemmed from control issues in nature •As Holt notes “Personal transport meant private mobility and the prospect of freedom from surveillance, the right to go out and explore the world, to be in charge of one’s own destiny.” (Holt, 1990, p. 122, Sport

Ideological and cultural issues Contemporary constructions of gender ideology: • the ideological construction of the “fragile female” body discourse continues today. • female athletes are subject to a sexualized discourse whereby such athletes are required by sponsors and associations to look attractive, emphasize their (hetero)sexuality, and are often photographed in softcore pornographic ways. • rather than seeing female athletes as active performers such representational techniques reduce women to submissive sex objects.

Ideological and cultural issues Apart from marginalizing the sporting achievements of female athletes the results of these types of sexualized images and the emphasis on “cosmetic fitness” can have very damaging effects on girls’ and women’s selfperceptions.

Ideological and cultural issues •Such messages can even have an effect on motor performance in sport •As Coakley (2007, p. 247) notes, even as infants, females are handled more gently than boys, boys are encouraged to be more physically active and to use their bodies whilst girls are more closely watched – this affects the motor development of boys and girls •Baby X studies: exactly the same baby was shown to people and told that it was either a female or male. Female was described as ‘fragile, soft, and gentle’ and the male was given balls to play with and described as ‘masculine with a strong grip’

Ideological and cultural issues •When combined with how girls are conditioned to see their bodies though the eyes of others this can have material effects on sports performance •A recent study (Fredrickson and Harrison’s “Throwing like a Girl: Self-objectification predicts adolescent girls” motor performance’, in

showed that adolescent girls tend to self -objectify at higher rates than boys – that is, having a third-person perspective on their own bodies Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 2005)

Ideological and cultural issues •Self-objectification has a number of consequences including an increased form of self-consciousness characterized by vigilant monitoring of the body’s outward appearance which can lead to eating disorders, anxiety, body shame and even depression •Fredrickson and Harrison’s (2005) study shows that there are also physical as well as emotional consequences of women’s self-objectification

Ideological and cultural issues •Fredrickson and Harrison (2005) conclude that “according to this analysis ‘throwing like a girl’ and otherwise failing to make use of one’s body’s spatiality and physical potential reflects girls’ and women’s deep internalization of objectifying cultural attitudes toward the female body”

Ideological and cultural issues Gay and lesbian sporting identities • Gender ideology is based on a binary classification system in which all people are classified as being either male or female (sex) and then expected to have either a masculine or feminine (gender) identity • This fixed binary system does not match the actual complex diversity of the human spectrum • Those who are born with physical traits that do not “fit” within this system are surgically “corrected” and we go to great lengths to artificially create and enhance “natural” gendered distinctions – plastic surgery is often about enhancing sexualized notions of gender difference

Ideological and cultural issues • Lesbian athletes often have to hide their identities • Paradoxically, the pressures on gay men are often greater • Women have less to lose and more to gain if they push boundaries; men have less social permission to express the feelings, attitudes, and actions associated with femininity

Ideological and cultural issues • Latent homo-eroticism in men’s sports? • Men’s sports provide an arena for physical touching, caressing, hugs and kisses. Acts of homosocial intimacy that would normally be forbidden in most other heteronormative arenas – sports might be seen as a ritualistic space for the enactment of male-on-male desire

Celebrating and redefining masculinities •Sports are a domain for the exhibition of hegemonic masculinity •The masculinized culture of sport is often transposed into politics when politicians try to appear “tough”, “macho” and “hard” in order to dominate others and convince the electorate of their “strength”

Celebrating and redefining masculinities •The effects of this can often be damaging to men too – having to “take it like a man” and avoid being seen as “weak” prevents men from admitting to uncertainty. •When transposed to the political arena, this uncertainty can often prove disastrous when politicians refuse to reverse a policy for fear of being called “weak” or indecisive

Female body builders: challenging gender codes? •Many see female body builders as deviant and “unnatural” because they visibly transgress the socially acceptable lines of gender distinctions •Female body builders are no more or less “unnatural” than male bodybuilders – it is our reaction to such images that reveals a certain disdain for strong, powerful women

Conclusion • Gender ideology continues to influence sport in profound ways – how sports are structured; how we view sports, who gets selected to play and hired to coach, and how we understand gender relations more widely • Challenging gender ideology is difficult as i) it is an area where socially constructed differences are naturalized and appear uncontentious and ii) those who benefit from the current arrangements in sport may be unwillingly to give up their privileged position.

Conclusion • The trend towards greater opportunity in sport is not a natural process and is dependent upon continued pressure to make sport more equitable. • “opportunities for women on the professional level will continue to be limited until ideas and beliefs about femininity expand to embrace multiple notions of womanhood.