3 Inequalities in sport
In the previous section you reflected on your own experiences of gender discrimination. Now, let’s look at how some of these inequalities are evident in top-level sport by examining global sporting events. You will start by examining gender at the Olympic Games.
Activity 4 Have we come a long way?
Timing: Allow 1 hour
At the first modern Olympics in Athens in 1896, no women were allowed to compete. In this activity you will examine the progress that has been made in women’s sport since that time.
- Look at Table 1, which shows the gender balance at each of the Olympic Games up to 2012. What pattern do you notice since 1908 in relation to the three London Olympics held, and does this type of analysis give us the full picture of gender in sport?
- Read the journal article ‘Female athletes, women’s sport, and the sport media commercial complex: have we really “come a long way, baby”?’ by Janet Fink [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] . As you read, answer the following questions:
- a.What is the purpose of this article?
- b.What are the key points arising from the article?
- c.What is the purpose of a review paper?
- Take a look at the following article ‘#GenderEqualOlympics: celebrating full gender parity on the field of play at Paris 2024’. Then consider the following question: what changes can you spot in terms of gender equality?
| Year | Place | Countries represented | Male athletes | Female athletes | Percentage female |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Athens | 14 | 241 | 0 | 0.0 |
| 1900 | Paris | 24 | 975 | 22 | 2.2 |
| 1904 | St Louis | 12 | 645 | 6 | 0.9 |
| 1908 | London | 22 | 1971 | 37 | 1.8 |
| 1912 | Stockholm | 28 | 2359 | 48 | 2.0 |
| 1916 | Olympics scheduled for Berlin cancelled (First World War) | ||||
| 1920 | Antwerp | 29 | 2561 | 63 | 2.5 |
| 1924 | Paris | 44 | 2954 | 135 | 4.4 |
| 1928 | Amsterdam | 46 | 2606 | 277 | 9.6 |
| 1932 | Los Angeles | 37 | 1206 | 126 | 9.5 |
| 1936 | Berlin | 49 | 3632 | 331 | 8.4 |
| 1940 | Olympics scheduled for Tokyo cancelled (Second World War) | ||||
| 1944 | Olympics cancelled (Second World War) | ||||
| 1948 | London | 59 | 3714 | 390 | 9.5 |
| 1952 | Helsinki | 69 | 4436 | 519 | 10.5 |
| 1956 | Melbourne | 72 | 2938 | 376 | 11.3 |
| 1960 | Rome | 83 | 4727 | 611 | 11.4 |
| 1964 | Tokyo | 93 | 4473 | 678 | 13.2 |
| 1968 | Mexico City | 112 | 4735 | 781 | 14.2 |
| 1972 | Munich | 122 | 6075 | 1059 | 14.8 |
| 1976 | Montreal | 92 | 4824 | 1260 | 20.7 |
| 1980 | Moscow | 81 | 4064 | 1115 | 21.5 |
| 1984 | Los Angeles | 140 | 5263 | 1566 | 22.9 |
| 1988 | Seoul | 159 | 6197 | 2194 | 26.1 |
| 1992 | Barcelona | 169 | 6652 | 2704 | 28.9 |
| 1996 | Atlanta | 197 | 6806 | 3512 | 34.0 |
| 2000 | Sydney | 199 | 6582 | 4069 | 38.2 |
| 2004 | Athens | 201 | 6452 | 4329 | 40.9 |
| 2008 | Beijing | 204 | 6450 | 4637 | 41.8 |
| 2012 | London | 205 | 6068 | 4835 | 44.3 |
(Coakley and Pike, 2009, p. 241)
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Discussion
- If you compare the percentages of female competitors at the three London Olympics, you can see that there has been a substantial improvement, with an increase from 1.8% in 1908 to 9.5% in 1948 and to 44.3% in 2012. This suggests that great strides towards gender equality have been taken, but does this show us the full picture? The data from the 2012 Olympics suggests that we have almost reached gender equality. However, the recognisability of women in sport is still less than that of men, so perhaps gender equality is further away than the participation data would suggest.
- a.The purpose of the article is to raise awareness of the unequal representation of women in sport. This shows that participation data (such as that shown in Table 1) does not give us the full picture.
- b.Fink notes that while there is an increasing number of women in sport, there is unequal media coverage. Furthermore, she analyses how female athletes are represented in the media. For example, she uses the term ‘gender marking’ when suggesting that male athletes and men’s sport are seen as ‘the norm’, rendering women and women’s sporting competition as secondary. Additionally, she highlights ‘infantilising’, which is when female athletes who are highly accomplished are referred to as ‘girls’ or ‘young ladies’. Skilled male athletes are rarely referred to as ‘boys’. She argues that the media focus on sex appeal, femininity and female athletes’ roles as wives, girlfriends and mothers instead of focusing on their accomplishments.
- c.The purpose of a review paper is to provide a concise and coherent account of what is known in the particular field. The aim is to position the research into context, identifying strengths and weaknesses, questioning the design of the existing research and suggesting future areas of research to investigate.
- On the IOC website, they report 50:50 full gender parity for the first time in history. They report that this gives a gender-balanced schedule and provides journalists with the opportunity to better balance the media coverage. Another change they have made for the 2024 Olympics Games is to schedule the women’s marathon after the men’s marathon; this event will conclude the athletics programme on 11 August 2024 during the Closing Ceremony. For many years, the men’s marathon has held this spot, as a culminating event to bring the Olympic fortnight to a close. This change is aimed at reversing the order and showcasing women’s achievements and performances. At the time of writing, the event has not taken place; use this time as an opportunity to explore some of the media coverage and assess whether gender parity helped improve women’s ‘place’ in sport. As Fink argues, does participatory data show the whole picture?
Although participation in the Olympics shows gender parity in 2024 in terms of participation rates, evidence suggests that gender discrimination does still occur in sport (Fink, 2014; McGinty et al., 2023). In order to explore this further you will examine the experience of women’s sport.
Activity 5 Gender discrimination debates in sport
Timing: Allow 30 minutes
Watch the video below which shows a clip taken from the Channel 5 programme Jeremy Vine, aired in 2019, and complete the questions/tasks that follow.
- In the video, there are two main arguments made in reference to what makes sport sexist. Identify the two debates explored in this programme.
- How can you link an example back to Fink’s (2014) paper in the previous activity?
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Comment
- Some of the arguments made in the programme were:
- a.gender pay
- b.media exposure
- Fink’s (2014) work enables you to understand the differences in the way women and men are treated in sport, as well as providing understandings for why this is.
Hopefully Activities 4 and 5 have helped you to understand that equality means more than just equal numbers of women and men in sport.
In the next section you will investigate the idea of gender ideologies in sport. Gender ideologies are a set of beliefs typical of how men and women are expected to behave and be treated. Key to these beliefs is the culture of masculinity, which you will also explore in the next section.