The relationship between gender and sport is a very interesting and inspiring topic. Women have had to struggle to find their space within the sporting games and especially to compete at high levels (think, for example, of the Olympics) because of social order and decency issues. Some sources even states that in the past people believed that it was harmful for women to exercise. For example, cycling was considered dangerous because it was believed it could lead to infertility. Moreover, another obstacle for women's participation in sport was their clothes, heavy clothing (underwear could weigh up to six kilos) and tight bodices hindered the practice of sport. Italian TV RAI produced an interesting documentary on the relationship between gender and sport in history: Passato e presente, Donne e sport (2023).
a female cyclist wears bloomers, trousers that women used specifically for cycling and strongly criticised by contemporaries.Foto source: NationalGeographic.it [Bridgerman/AGI]
Sport has traditionally been a male-dominated field and the progress made in gender equality in this field is held back by social conceptions of femininity and masculinity, which often associate sport with ‘masculine’ characteristics such as physical strength and endurance, speed and a very competitive spirit. To this regard, the entry of women into certain sports considered typically ‘male’ such as wrestling and boxing which had their first women's Olympic competitions in 2004 and 2012 respectively.
The boxeur Nicola Adams celebrates her gold medal for GB in 2012. Foto source: mirror.co.uk [Getty]
Another very interesting point regards the struggles for equal pay within sports positions, in case of athletes who wants to pursue a career in sport. Gender pay gap in the sport field sees women in constant inferiority to their male colleagues and, furthermore, female athletes have no rights and protections since they are not classified as professionals but as mere amateurs, forced to make do with a private contract that, in fact, does not guarantee adequate security. Women also do not have the freedom to go on maternity leave because most agreements do not provide for it. To this regard, Europe has set diverse goals to achieve gender equality, but the path is still full of obstacles and, among them, there are stereotypes.
The Olympics are also working hard for gender equality: in Paris 2024, for the first time in history, full gender parity was achieved, with 50% male and 50% female athletes. However, the path to total and widespread gender equality is still a long way off in civil society as well as in sport. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iraq had less than 20 per cent female athletes in their delegations.
Sometimes, especially with recent events in sport, it seems increasingly important to state that sport can be one of the most powerful platforms for promoting gender equality and emancipation of women and girls in the world. Indeed, discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity persists in most disciplines and in the world of sport in general, creating a hostile and divisive environment for LGBTQI+ athletes and constituting a barrier to access. In this framework, a very interesting documentary that has been promoted lately is We all play (2024), from the director Pablo De La Chica, awarded the Goya prize.
A snapshot from the documentary We play. Photo source: mymovies.it