Gender ideology is a set of interrelated ideas about masculinity and femininity and relationships between men and women and gender ideology supports the philosophy that sport is a male-established convention that promotes traditional gender roles and advances male supremacy and dominance.
In the western hemisphere, traditional gender role expectations encouraged girls and women to be passive, gentle, delicate and submissive.
Their participation in sporting activities have historically been resigned to those that promoted aesthetically delicate movements (ice skating, gymnastics and horseback riding) and those that were void of body contact (archery, badminton, golf and tennis).
Today, females are torn between involvement in sports and the maintenance of their traditional femininity. If they do participate in sports outside of the traditional gender stereotypes, they face the risk of being perceived and labelled as masculine, which can impact on their self-esteem. It is a passage many young girls are not mentally prepared to navigate.
The perception of gender bias is also evident in many other areas of the sporting arena. The distribution of the jobs within this field (coaches, managers, officials, administrators and sports journalist) is highly skewed towards men and has adversely impacted on the advancement of females in sport. Even though women are currently making inroads in these spaces, they are far from obtaining equity, since access is controlled by males.
One can also suggest that the media contributes to the perpetuation of the male ideology that dominates the sporting arena. Male sporting events are given prominence over female sports and research has shown that on average, 85 per cent of the sports coverage is biased towards male sports.
Additionally, there seems to be favouritism towards male staffing of sport desks in media houses, with the result that women in the media are left with minimal voice in shaping their sport policies.
This biased media coverage did not develop overnight but has been impacted by the historical patriarchal value system of societies which have devalued the concept of women athletes by proclaiming them as inferior to men.
This lack of coverage given to women can lead impressionable young females to believe that women’s participation in sport is not of the same quality as that of men and it can have a long-lasting cyclic effect, thus making change almost impossible.
Sport is a high-profile and high earning commercial activity. However, there exists a huge inequity in salaries between male and female athletes.
Many argue that this disparity exists because men’s sport receives greater media coverage, endorsements, sponsorship deals and television licenses, and, thus, has a larger revenue flow.
In addition, men play in more lucrative leagues that have a global audience, especially at the elite level.
Combined, hundreds of millions of dollars flow through men’s sport compared to women’s sport, hence the reason why they are paid higher salaries. To many, this may look like a reasonable assumption. However, the issue itself is a very complex one that raises concerns such as return on investment, discrimination against women, including lack of visibility, low demand for women’s sport, as well as limited opportunities available to them, which in effect makes it easier for them to be exploited as they have reduced negotiating power.
Despite the inequalities that exist, there have been some improvements, though glacial in nature. The sport of tennis must be admired for the introduction of equal prize money for both male and female winners of their Grand Slam tournaments. Volleyball too, since 2015, has instituted equal earnings for its competition winners. This, however, is not the case with many other sports.
One may suggest that such disparity exists because the disproportion in wages has become institutionalised over the years.
For example, FIFA rewards female World Cup Winners with prize money that is 40 times less than what their male counterparts receive. In cricket, ICC pays the male World Cup winners seven times more than what they pay their female winners.
As world governing sporting bodies, these leading institutions have the power to effect changes that provide all-round equity between the genders. Change can come about, but the ideology behind sport must also change.
Within the last thirty to forty years, women have challenged the gender ideology in sport and increased the participation of women athletes in sport. Despite this, however, the visibility of women athletes remains low and careers associated with the downstream of sports are still male-dominated. Men and boys are significant gatekeepers for gender equality and whether they are willing to open the gates for major reforms is an important strategic question.
It means, therefore, that the possibility of equity changes can come about, but it relies heavily on the overwhelming support of males.
Kenny Kitsingh is an MPhil/PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Sport
