1. CHAPTER 8 SPORTS AND GENDER: Does Equity Require Ideological Changes?
SPORTS IN SOCIETY: SOCIOLOGICAL ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES
SPORTS IN SOCIETY: ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
CHAPTER 8
SPORTS AND GENDER:
Does Equity Require Ideological Changes?
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

2. Participation and Equity Issues
Participation by girls and women has increased dramatically since the mid 1970s due to:
new opportunities
government equal rights legislation
global women’s rights movement
health and fitness movement
increased media coverage of women’s sports.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

3. The Sociology of Equal Opportunity Law
Number of girls playing sport in Australia and New Zealand has increased.
All laws depend upon popular support and commitment to enforce them.
Histories of certain laws involve struggles.
Sport continues to be organised in ways that privilege boys and men over women and girls.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

4. Reasons To Be Cautious When Predicting Future Participation
Budget cutbacks and the privatisation of sport programs.
Resistance to government regulations.
Backlash among those who resent changes that threaten dominant gender ideology.
Under-representation of women in decision-making positions in sport programs.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

5. Reasons To Be Cautious When Predicting Future Participation (cont.)
Continued emphasis on ‘cosmetic fitness’.
Trivialisation of women’s sports.
Homophobia and the threat of being labelled ‘lesbian’.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

6. Participation Opportunities: Organised and Mainstream Sports
Most people agree that women and girls should have opportunities to play sports.
However, both ideological and structural factors continue to stall equity in participation
These factors are based on:
webs of ideas and beliefs about what is and isn’t appropriate for girls and women to do
the organisation of opportunities and the distribution of resources to take advantage of opportunities.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

7. Figure 8-1
*In 2008 there were 10 events which were mixed or open to both men and women. These 10 have been added to both totals for men and women. This procedure of adding mixed events to the total events for women and men was also used for each of the other Olympics in this graph.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

8. Participation Opportunities: Informal and Alternative Sports
Gender inequities also exist in player controlled sports:
Girls and women may face greater access challenges than are faced by boys and men.
Boys and men often control access to these sports, and they control access on their terms.
Question: Do the XGames reflect or perpetuate inequities related to access in these sports?
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

9. Coaching and Administration: Reasons for Under-representation
Women have fewer established connections and networks in elite programs.
Subjective evaluative criteria are used by search committees.
Support systems and professional development opportunities for women have been scarce.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

10. Coaching and Administration: Reasons for Under-representation (cont.)
Many women do not see spaces for them in corporate cultures of sport programs.
Sport organisations are seldom sensitive to family responsibilities among coaches and administrators.
Women may anticipate sexual harassment and more demanding standards than those used to judge men.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

11. Girls and Women As Agents of Change
Sport participation can empower women but:
this does not occur automatically
personal empowerment is not necessarily associated with an awareness of the need for gender transformation in society as a whole
elite competitors are seldom active agents of change when it comes to gender ideology.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

12. Boys and Men As Agents of Change
Gender equity is also a men’s issue:
equity involves creating options for men to play sports that are not based exclusively on a power and performance model
equity emphasises relationships based on cooperation rather than conquest and domination.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

13. Changes in Gender Ideology: A Prerequisite for Gender Equity
Gender is a fundamental organising principle of social life.
Gender ideology varies from culture to culture.
Gender ideology influences how we:
think of ourselves
define and relate to others
present ourselves to others
think about and plan for our future.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

14. Gender Ideology in Society
Gender ideology is based on a
simple binary classification system that:
assumes two mutually exclusive categories: heterosexual male and heterosexual female
encourages these categories to be perceived in terms of difference, and as ‘opposites’
leaves no space for those who do not fit into either of the two categories
involves inequities when it comes to power and access to power.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

15. Facts about Gender Ideology
It is defined in ways that:
give some men more access to power while restricting the range of behaviour among all men
marginalise gays and lesbians by categorising them as being out of normative bounds
lead women to be more apt to push gender boundaries while men are more apt to police gender boundaries for themselves and women.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

16. Gender Ideology in Sports
Gender is not fixed in nature, so people often use sports to maintain dominant definitions.
Sports often are sites for celebrating traditional ideas about masculinity.
Sport images and language often glorify a heroic manhood based on being a warrior.
When sports celebrate masculinity, female competitors often are defined as invaders.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

17. Girls and Women As Invaders
Girls and women in sports often threaten the preservation of traditional ideas about gender.
Through history, myths have been used to discourage participation by girls and women.
Encouragement varies by sport, and whether the sport emphasises grace or power.
Being a ‘tomboy’ is okay as long as traditional ‘femininity cues’ are presented.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

18. Female Bodybuilders: Expanding Definitions of Femininity?
Competitive bodybuilding for women did not exist before the 1970s.
There is a clear tension between muscularity and ideas about femininity in women’s bodybuilding.
Women bodybuilders may be perceived as deviant in terms of gender definitions.
Women bodybuilders challenge traditional definitions of gender, despite commercial images that highlight heterosexual attractiveness.
Women bodybuilders use femininity insignias to avoid being marginalised as they push boundaries.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

19. The Challenge of Being Gay or Lesbian in Sports
Popular discourse erases the existence of gay men and lesbians in sports.
Gay men and lesbians do not have the freedom that heterosexuals have in expressing their sexuality.
Being ‘out’ in sports creates challenges:
women risk losing social acceptance
men risk physical safety and losing social acceptance.
Most people in sports support a ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy about homosexuality.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd

20. Strategies for Changing Ideology and Culture
There is a need for :
Alternative definitions of masculinity
Critically question violent and destructive behaviour
Alternative definitions of femininity
Becoming ‘like men’ is not the goal
Changing the ways we do sports
Focus on lifetime participation, supportive vocabularies, gender equity, and bringing boys and girls and men and women together to share sport experiences.
PPTs to accompany Sports in Society 2e by Coakley, Hallinan and MacDonald
© 2011 McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd