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Gender
Sports
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Abstract
As long ago as 396 BC, Kyniska’s victory at the Olympic Games came as nothing short of a revelation in a world marked by gender inequality and misogyny. It announced to the world that sporting events and competition are not strictly male domains. Nonetheless, the 1900 Paris Olympics had only 2 per cent women participants. As coincidence, the same city of Paris, in 2024, became host to first modern Olympic games fulfilling the much-awaited goal of ‘gender parity’. But, is it enough? Is gender parity in terms of representation sufficient? Almost all major international declarations and conferences have placed emphasis on increasing women’s representation in international sporting events. As a result, the number of women participants and women sporting icons has risen in recent times. However, due to patriarchal norms that still form the basis of our social structure gender equality in sports is far from achieved. One reason for this could be our predilection with inequality. Hence, beginning with a literature review relating current social norms on sports with ancient world, the study looks to analyze data on gender parity for sport federations in India. A statistical comparison of the strength of executive members classified by gender in India’s sport federations reveals that decision-making within India’s sporting world is skewed in favour of men. Thus, the study recommends that more women be included in decision-making positions in India’s sport federations with a view to transforming the society as a whole. The effort ought to be made at two levels: (i) the public with a positive use of the media ensuring increased awareness in this regard, and (ii) the policy level guaranteeing the change.
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