Gender representation in sports politics
Gender representation in sports politics takes a look at issues bordering how men and women engage in the same sporting event without short-changing any of the sexes. The major consideration in on women and their low turnouts in most sporting events. This write-up tends to address the issue.
Representation in politics
Despite an increase in the number of women involved in sports in recent times, there remains low representation of women in sports executive bodies and inadequate policies which will positively impact equal participation.[1]
A major sports event, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa highlighted an issue of lack of women participation in the decision making process of sports organisations, the event was mainly organized and managed by men while the women who did participate did not play any major role and were not recognized by the media. According to United Nations 2007 gender discrimination is still inherent in sports, only 23 percent of women were represented in leadership positions. Most of the women played minor roles and served as assistants and receptionists.[2][3]
Efforts to balance Gender in sports has had moments of success as well as failures. An example of a shortcoming was the Equal Pay Act of 1963 passed by the United States Congress to bridge the Gender pay gap. This failed to address the issue due to the complexity of the language used. The act used 'same establishment' clause which failed to separate different ownership of male and female teams, thereby make its effort to balance pay ineffective.[4]
Some success of the efforts to bridge gender inequality in representation can be traced to Norway and Germany which produced the first female representative in international football organisations. Norway had an equal status council which put a committee in place to encourage more women to take part in the management structure of sports organisations. the committee had a goal of equal men and women participation in sports organisations in the nearest future. The election of Nsekera Lydia from Burundi into the executive committee of FIFA is a major success in respect to equal Gender participation in sports leadership.[5]
References
- ^ "Gender inequalities in polish and international sports organisations". Baltic Journal of Health and Physical Activity. 5: 290. 2013.
- ^ Clark, Cassandra (2011). "Leading or losing? Women challenging male hegemony in South African football and the FIFA World Cup". Soccer & Society. 12 (6): 834–849. doi:10.1080/14660970.2011.609683.
- ^ "Nature and effects of women's participation in sporting decision-making structures in the context of the 2010 FIFA World Cup". Agenda. 24 (85): 62–75. January 2010. doi:10.1080/10130950.2010.9676324 (inactive 2020-01-25).
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2020 (link) - ^ "Addressing gender based wage-discrimination in professional sports". Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review. 38 (2): 229–259. 2018.
- ^ Strittmatter, Anna-Maria; Skirstad, Berit (2017). "Managing football organizations: A man's world? Comparing women in decision-making positions in Germany and Norway and their international influence: A contextual approach". Soccer & Society. 18: 81–101. doi:10.1080/14660970.2014.980733.
