Gender Bias in the World of Sports:Stop Discrimination for a Better Nation

 “…chhori hain samajh k ladiyo….bas choori samajh ke na ladiyo”

 (…she is a girl fight carefully….but fight without any gender bias attitude)

                                      -Mahavir Singh Phogat

Sport is one such area where the concept of gender disparity is quite evident. A vast disparity has been prevailing between men and women in the provision of training facilities, coaching staff, availability of adequate equipment and proper funding. Opportunities for women to participate in sports have been curtailed because of an overall conservative socio-psychological attitude that girls discontinue playing after marriage or they are not as skilled players as boys. Female players are also exposed to various forms of harassments, verbal taunts, and discrimination which limit their opportunities as long term players.

The movies like Dangal, Mary Kom and Chak De! India have stirred several debates by raising the gender dispute in sports in India. The social and cultural setup of India discourages women from participating in sports. The liberty for women to partake in sports comes with a heavy price. 

They are subjected to various forms of maltreatment, coercion and maladjustment. In the movie, Mary Kom we see Mary was discouraged by her father to take-up a male-dominated game such as boxing. She faced several verbal taunts from her neighbours for taking up boxing as a career. 

She proved herself by winning several medals and busted the age-old myth that boxing is a man’s sport. The iconic Haryanvi sisters in the movie Dangal fulfilled their father’s dream by becoming a world-class wrestler and representing India at International sports events. Another movie Chak De! India brought into light the various degrees of discriminations, sexism and family expectations faced by women. These movies are an accurate representation of the kind of disparities faced by women in the world of sports with the sole motive to vandalise the orthodox gender prejudices reserved for men and women in sports.

Various sports sociologist have pointed out that the representation of women in news and sports channels have linked women’s athleticism with family planning and femininity. A male sportsman is rarely questioned regarding his family planning endeavours. A male sportsman vacation gets more media coverage than the achievements brought in by a women’s cricket team. 

Media plays a very important role in framing dominant ideologies, practices and power structures in the society. It is again shameful to report that if a child is asked to name a female cricketer he or she would be hesitant to name one but on the other hand, if he or she is asked to name a male cricketer his or her response would be quick. Sports latently are a symbolic representation of gender powers and the media serves as a tool to implement such notions of gender bias attitude. The women’s achievements in sports are often underreported and unrecognized. The media coverage in sports contains numerous sexist commentaries that internalise the general outlook of women partaking in sports. The repercussions of such internalisations serve as a hindrance to the path of women athletes. By presenting women achievements in sports limitedly, media highlights gender power relations thereby limiting women’s full potential in the field of sports.

Adverse economic conditions and institutional barriers have limited the participation of women in sports. Many women cannot avail proper training or purchase sports equipment due to monetary hindrance. Money is required for attending events where spectators are separated on grounds of how much you can pay for tickets. Economic deprivation robs women of their chances to play their sport of liking. Families choose to feed mouths rather than spend money on sports. The Indian government has various athletic scholarship programmes for the girl child but quiet unfairly such programmes often go unnoticed or the amount is too meagre when compared to the present-day expense of taking sports as a career option. This is one of the bitter truths in sports concerning economic inequality. A woman willing to participate in sports is doubly marginalized. Firstly, because she is a woman and she is expected to conform to the various institutionalised views regarding womanhood. Secondly, the harsh economic conditions often limit the dreams and aspirations of many poor girls in our country. Moreover, women also discontinue playing because of sexual harassment from their coaches and teammates. Most cases of sexual harassments simply go unnoticed and women choose to stay indoors and discontinue with their practice.

Child-rearing, homemaking and earning a livelihood hinder many women from participating in sports. When a married woman with a child decides to join a cricket team that schedules practice late in the evening, she may induce taunts and hindrance from her family members. Resistance will be there if she had served the role of a chef, tutor and a care-taker. On the other hand, married men hardly face such hindrances if they choose to play a soccer match after work hours. Women, especially in the low-income family group, are tied to the constraints of looking after their child and attending to the needs of their family members. Without money to pay for domestic help, child-care and sports expenses these women simply don’t have opportunities to continue their training. They simply sacrifice their dreams for the benefit of their family members. Women often lose their identity and individuality in the myriads roles that they are expected to play. She steps into the role of an ideal daughter, an ideal mother, an ideal wife and an ideal daughter-in-law. At the end of the day, do we fully acknowledge their sacrifice for the benefit of the family? Society has normalized the notion that women are bound to make sacrifices. It is as if their fate to compromise with their dreams and aspirations in life.Let us now examine how the beauty myth influences women participation in sports. If we take bodybuilding for men and aerobics for women and study it carefully we can see that aerobics is often encouraged more because it is associated with the notion of beauty as it helps to lose body.fat and tone the body. On the other, if we take bodybuilding which is make the body more muscular and stronger, is quite unacceptable because it is against the notion of femininity. 

Women players who participate in “men’s sport” are often considered unnatural. In Indian society, women who cross gender boundaries by taking part in “men’s sport” are considered masculine. Such players face a lot of socio-psychological pressures from the family and the people they come across. Gender should not determine one’s choice of sport. People should be more accepting of women’s choice of sport. If a woman is willing and capable of partaking in a sport which requires her to undertake training to increase her strength, she should be encouraged to do so. If Mary Kom had listened to her father and her neighbours, she would have taken a wrong call. She had faith in herself and trained hard to reach her goals. But then again, how many Mary Koms do we know? If Mahavir Singh Phogat had listened to his neighbour and married off his daughters early, India would have lost outstanding female wrestlers. Mahavir Singh Phogat trained his daughters just as he would train his sons. He proved himself to the nation that gender should not restrict individuals from taking part in sports. Quoting from the movie Dangal in the voice of the character Mahavir Singh Phogat ---

“Main hamesha yeh socchta rota raha ki chhora hota toh desh ke liye gold lata.Yoh baat mere samajh mein naa aayi ki gold toh gold hota hai,chorra laave ya chhori.”

(I have always wondered that a boy is capable of winning gold medal for his country but now I have realised that winning gold is gender neutral,whether it is won by a son or daughter.).