Gender Equality Through Sports And Gender

Upon starting college, I was done with sports as far as participating on a team. I knew I wanted to be involved wherever I could be. I enrolled in a class titled, “Girls & Women in Sport.” The class was built upon a sociological approach. In this class, I learned the importance of sex versus gender, the role of Title IX in sports, gender roles, as well as the psychological impacts of athletic participation on women.

According to Smith (2010:98), issues of gender are core to social life and this fact makes the concerns of masculinity and femininity essential. Critical feminist theorists have stressed the importance of critiquing and changing the culture and (Pfister and Kristin 2013:208) body (physicality) of sport so that they represent the perspectives and experiences of women as well as men (Maguire 2002:207; Coakley 2001:39) with the aim to expose gender inequalities (Jarvis and Watts

Australia is widely regarded as both characterised and united by sport. Sport has an elevated place in Australia's official and popular national culture, and the country’s reputation for being a 'paradise of sport' has become a largely unquestioned aspect of the Australian way of life. Gender is a social construct that outlines the roles, behaviours, characteristics and actions that a specific society deems appropriate for men and women (WHO, 2014). The established relationship between gender equality and sport is a widely regarded issue in not only Australia, but all around the world. Gender equality is achieved when women and men enjoy the same rights and opportunities across all sectors of society, including sport and physical recreation

How is it fair that a men’s college basketball team is able to be transported on planes and dine on steak, while a women’s team from the same college, travels in a van and eats fast food? It’s not, but this occurs often nowadays even with laws passed preventing this type of discrimination. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, which prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including athletic programs (Kiernan 3). Many schools and colleges have not been able to comply with the Title IX standards mostly because of money. Some of the problems in high schools and colleges consist of insufficient scholarships for girls, not enough coaching jobs, a lack of equipment, and a limited amount of supplies. Not only

Within sport, as throughout society, gender differences exist. The socially constructed phenomenon of gender dictates a dichotomous system whereby females are feminine and males are masculine. Focusing on females specifically, society determines the feminine traits and roles ascribed to this gender. Being domesticated, slender, passive and heterosexual are a part of the desirable appearance that society has formed surrounding femininity (Wolf, 1991). On the other side of the dichotomy is the masculine realm that sport plays into. Sport is fuelled by muscle, power and aggressiveness, which are behaviours and images associated to masculinity. Sport therefore, defies all existing female gender ideals. It would be assumed that females have no place within this institution due to the gender clash. However, female athletes do exist, and many are very successful. For this to work, sport has established and reinforced the social constructions of gender that exist in society. Female athletes are viewed as inferior and are pushed into gender appropriate sports. Furthermore, they are often labeled as masculine until they can prove otherwise, and so great attempts are made to reassert femininity. The stigma associated to being masculine or homosexual for female athletes is so great that many have become irrationally fearful of this label. The sexualisation of the female body and overt displays of heterosexuality are used in

Sweating Off Oppression A brave girl once said, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back” (Yousafzai qtd. in “Internationally Unrelated”). This quote from Yousafzai basically describes women's oppression. In sports, women are held back because they do not have the same opportunities.

The documentary discusses how media coverage of women's sport works to reinforce the traditional stereotypes of both masculinity and femininity. There has been both widespread acceptance and movement of women in sports but at the same time there has been an increase in backlash about women's success and their presence. The documentary states that sports and sports media are traditionally masculine domains and the media coverage keeps them that way by marginalizing the increased power and presence of women in the media world of

How is it fair that a men's college basketball team is able to be transported on planes and dine on steak, while a women's team from the same college, travels in a van and eats fast food? It's not, but this occurs often nowadays even with laws passed preventing this type of discrimination. In 1972, Congress passed Title IX, which prohibits discrimination against girls and women in federally funded education, including athletic programs (Kiernan 3). Many schools and colleges have not been able to comply with the Title IX standards mostly because of money. Some of the problems in high schools and colleges consist of insufficient scholarships for girls, not enough coaching jobs, a lack of equipment, and a limited amount of supplies. Not only

In highschool girls are treated differently in sports than boys. This is not fair for girls, we deserve as much attention as boys and the support that they get from the school. Us girl work are butts off as much as the guys and get nothing. This makes young athletic girls not want to pertisipate in any school sports. Women’s equality rights are still far from being achieved.

Over the course of time, sports have come to signify masculinity; athletics such as football and basketball easily having come to deem where one fits in terms of societal norms regarding gendered bodies. One could argue that sports, in a modern context, have come to be synonymous with the idea of athletic and/or muscular bodies, which are those that are not regarded as the bodies of ideologically feminine ones given the intense and high pressure nature. In “Sports and Male Domination: The Female Athlete as Contested Ideological Terrain” written by Michael A. Messner in 1988 sheds light on the idea that traditional images of femininity have come to solidify male privilege through the construction and naturalization of gendered characteristics regarding women such as weakness, fragility and dependency .

One significant facet throughout history, sports has been constructed to be a gendered activity. My understanding of sports has changed because of the real life information provided throughout the course. The disparities between gender, unequal treatment and rules that apply differently for different groups was made evident. In an article by Michael A. Messner (2010) researched and compared televised coverage of men’s and women's athletic events. The study followed the amount of men

Despite the popular belief that gender norms and inequalities are no longer an issue in today’s times, these outdated perceptions are still evident and hinder growth in societies. Many Americans are familiar with the phrase, “All men are created equal,” a phrase that may augment one’s patriotism because it can be located in The Constitution. However, this phrase unintentionally sets men higher than women in social status and should be rewritten to “All men AND women are created equal” which erases the barrier in gender inequality once created by our Founding Fathers. Gender norms are also still apparent. When one thinks of a sport such as wrestling, the thought of a female participant may cause one to question why the female in wonder

In the last one hundred years women have made tremendous inroads in many facets of life. Of that there can be little doubt. Women may now hold jobs, own property and participate in professional sports. Today women can compete in sports, once a vestige of male domination; there is now room for women in that arena. But even today women in sports are not portrayed in the same light as their male counterparts. To a large degree this is because of today's cultural ideal of women.

Women. Men. They are both a unique and special being that is on earth. In a perfect society, men and women would have the same physical strength and they would be completely equal. The idea of women and men being able to play against each other is wonderful but realistically it might not work out as great. Of course, women can do anything men can do, but in a competitive situation like this, the results of this change could bring forth more negative impacts than positive ones. In professional sports, women and men should be kept separate due to being biologically different and because of the possibility of the quality of the performances in the sports decreasing.

Women have always been the minority in the world even today: that is in the work force or even in sports. Title IX, an act that was made by the United States Congress in 1972, said that no one should be denied to play, receive financial aid, or discriminate to any education program or activity that pertains to only one sex (Senne 1). This act was a step towards improving female participation and lessening discrimination, but the stereotypes that most of society believes in still exist. This is one of the main reasons why women are discriminated when it comes to sports; by limited payroll, limited media coverage, and stereotypes.