Voluntary participants, accessibility is a challenge for those compelled to play under policies and doctor’s recommendation. Fringe benefits Even though participants are influenced by several factors to play sports, the unforeseen benefits associated playing serve as additional motivation to engage in physical activity. These fringe benefits include: controlling deviant behaviors, addressing transgender issues, creating opportunities (jobs, networking), saving lives and academic benefits. Sports is used as an effective discipline and control tool for deviant behavior for special needs (Down syndrome) children/people requiring more attention.
Engaging in sports make such participants happy. The happier they are, the easier it is to control them. Achieving such control and the ability to discipline them has been described by participants as “priceless”. For the transgendered participants, engaging in sports provides an atmosphere of acceptance. They see sports as a site that addresses transgender discrimination and stigmatisation. Involvement in sports makes it possible to gain socio-cultural acceptance, integration and inclusion. Transgendered participants regard these gains as huge and end up empowering, boosting the morale, and confidence of such participants.
Transgendered participants find the sports field, a very appropriate place to be, because unlike society, they are not judged by their choices but by their skill set and leadership abilities. These participants use the play field to acquire happiness doing what they like to do without being stereotyped. Playing sports creates opportunities for employment and networking. More consideration is given to sports participants employers have a preference for people who engage in sports over non participants in sports. Insisting on the proper way to train, play and use equipment leads to extremely low injury rate of participants.
Good coaches and managers insist on using the right equipment, gear and apparel before, during and after play. The discipline acquired on the field of play on doing the right thing the right way is also transferred to other spheres of life. Athletes who swim, had their skill set come in handy during the Calgary floods in June 2013, where participants swam to safety to avoid drowning. Furthermore, in the case of students involved in physically demanding activities like excavation and climbing rocks for samples, being in good physical shape is a pre-requisite to succeed.
Playing sports enhances their physique which facilitates their work by aiding the effective execution of fieldwork. Challenging Gender Norms There are arguments that sports reinforces the current gender order Curry et al 2002). Sports like gymnastics which is associated with beauty and grace, is regarded as feminine whiles sports like football and boxing with elements of violence, aggression and physical contact are regarded as masculine (Koivula 2001). However, findings of this study contrast suggest the opposite.
The study has discovered that many women to play soccer/football and other contact/aggressive sports. This findings in my study agree with UEFA (2014-15:14) which posits that there has been exponential increase in the number of female players in soccer from between 600% to 900% between 2010-2014. Soccer serves as one of the sites that has challenge the ideology of what has been labelled as feminine sports. In this study, soccer is among the top three preferred sports for women. Inequalities The introduction of legislation to create gender equality in sports participation has not yielded the desired effect.
High levels of inequalities have discouraged many women from pursuing careers in sports. All stakeholders have not fully embraced the concept of women as equal sport participants with men. The levels of hegemony and homophobia in society directly influences the extent of women involvement. Inequalities like salaries/pay, sponsorship, funding, viewership/ attendance/spectatorship, and sports consumption exist. For example, female coaches and other professional athletes are paid less than their male counterparts.
Additionally, there are both structural and ideological inequalities. Some communities make it easier, okay, and support men to play while the opposite holds for women. Ideological and structural issues varies from culture to culture and occurs in many societies. This explains the differences in participation gap in women sports. Issues of stereotypes, stigma, restricted stakeholder involvement, limited opportunity (employment, pay, leadership, research, management, administrative), and unequal resource allocation, has a negative impact on women participation in sports.
Performance and involvement of women in sports will improve if there is a guarantee of equality of treatment and equitable distribution of resources. This is shown in sports like tennis where they have achieved some amount of equality, there has been increased interest, sponsorship and high performance for the women tennis. Further, there is a huge inequality in terms of media coverage of women sports. Mainstream media has more interest in men sports than they do for women sports and this reflects in the amount of coverage they give to men sports.
The main interest and priority of sports commentators, analyst, journalist and presenters is normally concentrated on men sports. Even if women possess higher qualification, their likelihood of remaining in sports as administrators, managers, coaches or leaders are slim because of unfair/unequal treatment and opportunities. Women are not put in-charge of high profile sports events, organisation and institutions even when they were as qualified, experienced and competent. There are inequalities and stereotypes associated with female coaches that make such make them quit or change focus.
The inequalities these coaches face are in the areas of pay and employment. Female of equal pedigree are paid less compared to their male counterparts. Also, in terms of employment opportunity, there is a higher demand and preference for male coaches. Even when they are less qualified and experienced. For example, at the elite level, there is a very slim chance for a female to be the head coach of a national or college teams. In statistical terms, there is a 20% chance that she will be the head coach of a national women’s team and 3% chance for the men’s team.
There is a 50% chance for women to be appointed as the physical education teacher at the junior and senior high schools. Again the recreational level, parents prefer to hire male coaches. The limited focus of mainstream media on female sports has a corresponding impact on their sports involvement. Most of the critical sports positions in the media are held by men. There is only a few of them who focus on the abilities of female athletes and encourage their participation in sports at all levels. In most cases, male sports journalist and media sportscasters undermine women sports abilities.
They stereotype the physical appearance of female athletes describing them in derogatory ways such as “butch, man-woman, manly”. They also stereotype the kind of clothes they wear. There is large representation of women in the areas of commercials on sports clothing line, feeding into the narrative of women being feminised in the media. It is hard for women to get into mainstream sports media. They present women as sexual objects and athletes with weaker and inferior abilities (even their performance is at par with the men).
The few women in sports media serve as role models for other women. Their success stories provide hope, inspire and serve as stimulus for more women to participation in sports. As of now, there are also few journalist who advocates for equal opportunity for women to play sports. However, there is more room for improvement. RECOMMENDATIONS Policy To enhance women sports participation, the focus of sports stakeholders should be on the motives for their participation in sports. This will offer an insight on the policy direction to take.
For the effectiveness and success of these policies, more women should be included in the policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes. It is also important to eliminate the prevailing inequalities, by modifying unfavorable local and global policies. Policies must be considerate of sociocultural differences. In male dominated societies policies should target creating an equal and equitable opportunity for women to engage in physical activities and exercise according to their interest and ability. Policy should criminalise any form of discrimination and stigmatisation.
Policies should target Parents and especially more mothers if there is the desire to increase women participation in sports. (Mums mostly play with their family and serve as role models to their daughters and nieces). Sponsorship/Scholarship To maintain and accelerate growth in women’s sports engagement. For example, at the global level, there should be an increase in opportunity for leadership positions from 20% (IOC 2016 factsheet) to 50% to increase female representation and encourage participation. An increase in scholarships for female athletes will encourage more parents to allow their daughters to play sports.
Professionalism required from the Sports Media Industry It is important that media practitioners and associations be more objective and professional doing their jobs. Sports commentators should hold both men and women to the same standard. Focus should be on the performance and competence of athletes, and void of prejudices and stereotype. More airtime should be concentrated on women sports participation. Media commentators must focus on the athlete’s abilities or performance and desist from making derogatory remarks. To ensure this, the various media houses and associations should embark on
