Gender is a social
construct that defines the roles, behaviour and activities of men and women. Social
perception plays an important role in deciding the behaviour of social beings
in various situations and in various activities. Sport is not an exception. The
participation in sport is also determined by the social norms. Sport is a field
where the demonstration of strength, aggression and power is a must. According
to the existing social norms, these are the characteristics of male and
therefore the participation of male in sporting activities is considered to be ‘natural’.
On the contrary, the female participation in sports is not encouraged due to
the social definition of ‘femininity’. The physical and psychological
attributes, which are essential to attain success in sports, may conflict with
the society’s sanctioned definition of ‘femininity’. Thus, if a woman tries to
achieve excellence in sports, she may risk an exclusion from the social
definition of being ‘normal’. This perception of the society discourages women
from participating in sports.
Gender equity is a term
used to describe the principle and practice of fair and equitable allocation of
resources, and opportunities for, both men and women. It is nothing but the
assurance that gender is a neutral factor in terms of resource allocation,
rights and opportunities. The need for gender equity is given importance in all
major development policies, including the Millennium Development Goal.
The ‘gender- divide’ in
sport directs the sporting organizations to allocate majority of the resource
for the development of male sports. This difference is not only confined in
sports participation, but can also be seen in other areas of sports, including
coaching, management and administration. The gender division in sports can be
observed in the Olympic Games, where the participation of women was not
encouraged for a long time.
In the ancient Olympic
Games, Hera Games was the only event in which married women could participate. There
was no such event available for the unmarried girls. This trend was followed
during the initial years of the modern Olympic Games. The dominance of male
athletes in the Olympic Games during this period acted as a deterrent to equity
of access and opportunity.
Hergeaves divided the
women’s participation in the modern Olympic Games in three different phases. The
first phase was between 1896 and 1928, which was the period of exclusion of
women from sports. Efforts were made to resist this dismal exclusion. The
second phase was between 1928 and 1952 when the socially acceptable events were
included for the participation of women. The last phase was between 1952 till
present when the women athletes constantly challenge the ‘masculine hegemony’ of
the games.
Sport is the birthright
of every individual. Sport gives an opportunity to the human beings to set own
goals and accomplish them, whether to run a mile in a given time or to jump a
given height. However, at the revival of world’s most important sporting event,
the Olympic Games, half of the humanity was excluded.
The founder of the
Modern Olympic Games, Barron Pierre de Coubertin, was not in favour of the
participation of women in the Olympic Games. In the Olympic Review in 1912,
Coubertin explained the games as, “the solemn and periodic exaltation of the
male athleticism, with internationalism as a base, loyalty as a means, art for
its setting, and female applause as reward”. He believed that “a woman’s glory
rightfully came through the number and quality of children she produced, and
that as far as sports were concerned, her greatest accomplishment was to
encourage her sons to excel rather than to seek records for herself”. Due to
this strong feeling of de Coubertin, women were excluded from the first Modern
Olympic Games in 1896.
Women participation in
the Modern Olympic Games was first observed in 1900 in golf and tennis. Archery
was added for women in 1904 in the St. Louis Games. Women took part in yachting
and figure skating in the 1908 Olympic Games.
The story of track and
field is interesting in this regard. In reply to the exclusion of women from
track and field event in the Olympic Games, Alice Milliat of France set up the
Federation Feminine Sportive de France (FFSF) in 1917 to conduct the national
women’s athletic competition. After four years, she founded the Federation
Sportive Feminine Internationale (FSFI) with the objective of conducting
international competitions. The FSFI organized the first Women’s Olympic Games
in 1922 in Paris.
Due to the immense
popularity of the Women’s Olympic Games, the International Amateur Athletic
Federation (IAAF) showed interested in absorbing the FSFI. The IAAF managed to
absorb the FSFI by 1936 and promised increased participation opportunity and
organizational support for women’s sports at all levels. However, they were
slow in keeping their promise. Only in 1960 in Rome women were given the
permission to take part in the 800 meters race. In 1964 in Tokyo, the 400
meters race was included and in 1972 the 1500 meters race was added. In 1988 in
Seoul, the 10,000 meters race walk was accepted on the women’s programme. The
10,000 meters race walk first took place in 1992 in Barcelona. The triple jump and
5,000 meters race were added in Atlanta. In this regard, it is important to
mention that it has taken almost 70 years for the women to gain equability in
terms of the number of events in track and field, from 5 events in 1928 to 20
events at the XXVI Olympic Games which was held in Atlanta in 1996.
The entry of the Soviet
Block into the Olympic Games, with their political medal agenda, triggered the
female participation in the games. It was irrelevant to the governments of the
Soviet Block whether their medals were won by the male athletes or female
athletes.
According
to Philips, the women sports persons during the initial period of the modern
Olympic Games tried to achieve two different objectives. First, was to avoid
exclusion and second, was to ensure meaningful presence. In 1924, de Coubertin
suggested that the female athletes should not be allowed in the Olympic Games.
However, the IOC did not accept this proposal. In 1925, at the Olympic
Congress, which was held in Prague, he again claimed that the participation of
women in the Olympic Games was illegal.
The
official report of the Games in Stockholm states, “An Olympiad with females
would be impractical, uninteresting, un-aesthetic and improper”. This report
was backed by de Coubertin. In 1928, in the IOC Bulletin (3rd year,
page-5), de Coubertin reconfirmed his position by stating, “As to admission of
the women to the Games, I remain strongly against it. It was against my will
that they were admitted to a growing number of competitions.” On 27th
August 1936, a year before his death, de Coubertin wrote in Le Journal of
Paris, “The only real Olympic hero, as I said, is the individual adult male.
Therefore, no women or team sports”.
De
Coubertin expressed his thoughts about the women as, “The role of the women
remains what it has always been: she is above all man’s companion, the future
mother: and must be educated with that unchanging future of mind.” It may be argued that Coubertin’s restriction
on women’s sports competitions are less of physiological nature, but more of
psychological nature.
Due
to this kind of resistance from the officials of the International Olympic
Committee, a new organization, called the ‘Federation Sportive Feminine
Internationale’ (FSFI), was set up to facilitate the participation of women
athletes in the Olympic Games.
From
the above discussion, it is clear that the female athletes, in the early days
of the modern Olympic Games faced resistance from a part of the officials of
the IOC which was due to the negative perception of the society on the
participation of women in the sporting activities. The result was lack of
organizational support. Women faced similar resistance in their attempt to take
part in other areas of sports, including administration and coaching.
