text: Irina Voiculescu

illustration: Radoaica Cristina

 

When was the last time you saw more female performance in sports promoted? Or, how often have you heard around you that sports are for boys?
If you're also frustrated by the answers to the above questions, then you've come to the right place! In the lines below, we're going to dissect the sports industry and the sexism that accompanies it, and debunk all the myths surrounding women and sports.

 

The sports industry is, at its core, sexist

Just glancing over some statistics, we will notice, first of all, that women tend to earn 80-83% of a man's average salary (for example, NBA players are paid about 100 times more than WNBA players). Moreover, the performance conditions are also reduced, with girls having about 1.3 million fewer opportunities sports in high school than boys, and in institutions of higher education that offer sports scholarships, only 24% of the budget is allocated to women's sports and the funds for them are about $179 million less compared to men's. Nor with the representation in leadership positions we are not doing well, among the qualified coaches only 18% are women and 9% of the senior ones, and in the boards of the national governing bodies financed by public funds women are in a percentage of less than 25%.

Olympic Games, one of the biggest sporting events in the world, have a whole history of discrimination and a lot of problems on this topic even today. As a brief history lesson, it is important to know that they began in 1896 and only in 1900 women's participation was also allowed, until then it was considered "inappropriate". Things did not change much, however, as only 22 of the 997 athletes were women and were only allowed to participate in certain sports. In the 1968, a new rule was implemented, mandatory gender testing of participants, after many women were accused of looking "too masculine" (it was abolished 30 years later, in 1998). The more recent period doesn't look too good either; at the London Games 2012 swimmer Ye Shiwen of China won gold and set a world record, but because she was faster than Ryan Lochte, who held the record 10 times, she was suspected of doping. More recently, in 2020, clothing became an issue in the Olympics. British Paralympic athlete Olivia Breen was recently told her pants were "too short", while Norway's women's beach handball team was threatened with disqualification and fined $1,500 for refusing to wear a bikini (ironically, not ?). Racism was not slow to emerge either, with the International Swimming Federation banning the use of swimming helmets specially designed for natural Afro hair on the grounds that they "do not respect the natural shape of the head".

 

The obstacles a woman faces in a sports career

Unfortunately, as in almost any field, sexual harassment it is also very often present in sports, both in the case of athletes and sports reporters. Worse, cases are generally covered up or ignored, which discourages victims from speaking out. In a BBC study, 651 TP3T female participants experienced sexism in sport, but only 101 TP3T reported it, with the majority saying they either didn't know who to talk to or were afraid they would be caught seriously, or even that their careers will be affected.

It's hard to develop a passion for sports when sexual harassment starts as early as school, with experiences like sports class being shared very often in anonymous testimonials.

Once inside the sports industry, however, the story remains the same. Several anonymous statements talk about inappropriate sexual "jokes" they receive during the game, coaches focusing only on men in joint training, clubs refusing to provide them with hygiene facilities or food after the match, and especially , frequency of abuse of power, many male trainers radically changing their attitude when their advances are turned down.

Another major problem is societal pressure and thus, bullying from the mass media. Back to the statistics, women who practice performance sports are 8.3 times more likely to suffer from anorexia and 14.5 times more likely to suffer from bulimia than other women. Of course, these cases can be the result of a strict diet, but no job should put your health at risk for conforming to unrealistic body standards imposed by other people.

Gaps also appear in the support of mothers who want to balance career with family life. Also at the Olympics, several breastfeeding mothers faced being banned from bringing their babies to Tokyo due to health restrictions, although the same restrictions were not applied to sponsors, international media or spectators in Japan. The only compromise that was made was for the little ones to be brought to Tokyo, but to stay in a different location than the Olympic Games area, which for many mothers did not represent a solution to the problem at all.

 

Let's also talk more about the performance of women in sports

In an attempt to find as much material as possible for this part, I had the sad surprise (or maybe it wasn't really a surprise) to discover that on the big Romanian news pages in sports it is very difficult to find mention of women, besides, of course, in which "rare poses" have they posed in a bathing suit or how many marriage proposals have they received. This just confirms to me once again that we are pretty bad at promoting women as more than just bodies dependent on men's attention.

In order not to end this article on a totally negative note, I have also collected some examples of recent female sports performance, from Romania, which should be brought to the attention of the general public more often.

Regarding tennis, we can't help but think about SIMON Aleppo, and they are joined by other names, such as Irina Beg, among the most recent achievements being the fact that she remained the only Romanian in the top eight at Roland Garros 2022, Soran b, who during her career, defeated 13 players from the top 10, or GABRIEL Russian, whose recent achievement was her first WTA title at Hamburg 2021.

Nor at handball we are not lower: Cristin Black, at 33 years old, is the captain of the Romanian national team and made history by winning the IHF (International Handball Federation) title of the best player in the world 4 times, and Denis deducted was voted the best handball player of the year in 2019, by the Romanian Handball Federation.

From the latest performances in gymnastics is also counted Larisa Iordache, quadruple world medalist and 16-time European medalist, becoming the country's most decorated gymnast at the European Championships, then receiving the title of Athlete of the Year 2020 ("The most outstanding performance was recorded in female gymnastics and belonged to Larisa Iordache").

Ancuta Bodnar and SIMON Radis they won gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics at rowing, in the women's double rowing event, also setting the best Olympic time, and at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 the women's team of fencing brought the gold medal for Romania.

The list can go on, because what I have written here represents only a part of the name of women's sports.

I think the important takeaway from all of the above is that while barriers imposed by society will never stop the ambition, work and talent of female players, neither should the existence of these barriers be normalized. Such a deeply entrenched mentality can only be changed by advocacy, by blaming what is to blame and by informing.

I believe that sport is a tool that should unite us, develop us physically and mentally, discipline us and create a community around a common passion. Discrimination of any kind has no place in this description.

Sources:

https://www.vogue.com/article/olympics-bikini-sexism
https://feminisminindia.com/2021/08/06/poster-series-a-brief-history-of-sexism-in-the-olympics/
https://goalfive.com/blogs/news/sexism-in-sport-statistics
https://www.bbc.com/sport/53593465
https://www.vice.com/ro/article/gvg8vb/amenintari-cu-viol-in-sport
https://www.rri.ro/ro_ro/sportivul_anului_2020_gimnasta_larisa_iordache-2629039
https://frscrima.ro/romania-a-castigat-medaliile-de-aur-in-proba-de-spada-feminin-echipe-la-jocurile-olimpice-de-la-rio-2016/
https://gateprocess.org/news/the-olympics-and-sexism-in-the-world-of-sports/