Addressing inequalities in society
Gender in sport
Youth sports constitute a space where women and girls are engaged in ways that may reinforce the performance of ‘gender’ in normative and socially ingrained patterns. How youth may choose to challenge the relational norms of gendered masculinities and femininities is an important step to recognizing leadership in both youth sports and the broader structures of gendered power and inequality.
Female students negotiating gendered power imbalances within school reflect a hidden power dynamic in Physical Education (PE) which maintains a ‘relational gender order’ where the identity of ‘women and girls’ is upheld as biological and fixed, and girls are required to participate in ways which are not meaningful, empowering, or culturally relevant, particularly for ethnic minority females. For men and boys, their hegemonic masculinity in PE and sports is typically affirmed and inscribed through gender norms, assumptions, and stereotypes.
This raises important questions about sport as a culture that typically empowers and embraces male participants. To this point, we find evidence in PE, physical activity (PA), sports and recreation settings as historically been dominated by masculine practices, such as valuing competition and physicality.
The culture of sports
Further, Ann Hall (1996) proposed that sports practices are historically produced, socially constructed and defined by the parameters of the powerful groups in society. In the United States, this is understood to represent white male culture, evident by the overwhelming majority of youth sport coaches and people in positions of power who identify as white men. In this system, women typically engage in more logistical support.
Due to this history of sports, it makes it hard for populations that do not identify as white or male to enter and maintain sport participation. These particular differences in experience between women or girls and men or boys is significant and should be noted as a form of oppression.
Sport as a vehicle for change
However, sport has served and should continue to uphold its position as a vehicle for change. By supporting those that are at the margins of youth sports, women and girls can be normalized in positions of leadership and engaged in meaningful, empowering, or culturally relevant ways. Sports organizations can take leadership by engaging youth, girls, LGBTQ+ and women, for example, to design culturally relevant curricula and practices as a means to gain understanding of what their populations need in order to combat social and gender inequalities.
Going beyond the essentials of inclusive representation, partnerships and recruitment, sports organizations need to hire coaches, uplift youth and identify sport leaders that represent non-dominant cultures to provide a more welcoming and accepting environment for underrepresented populations.
Other ideas may include partnering with local institutions and organizations that specialize in gender studies to assist with coach education and curriculum construction; utilization of mental health specialists or counselors to assist those who have experienced violence (i.e., trauma informed education); or the creation of alliances with local school counselors and social workers to recruit youth who have been victims of gender-based violence.
The TPSR model
Models like ‘Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility’ (TPSR) in sports advocate for the development of girls as leaders by facilitating sports as a space for increasing their responsibility and by carefully shifting a significant portion of decision-making responsibilities to them. TPSR promotes self and social responsibility by empowering participants to take more responsibility for their actions and lives and by teaching them to be concerned about their rights and feelings, as well as the needs of others. The model strives to facilitate girls and others in sports to feel empowered, experience making commitments to themselves and others, live by a set of principles, and be concerned about their own well-being and that of others.
The TPSR model emphasizes effort and self-direction as critical to the achievement of personal well-being. Respecting rights, feelings, and caring shifts the masculine paradigm of sports to one that is about the achievement of social well-being.
An exemplar program that utilizes sport as a way to combat violence is School of Hard Knocks, a rugby program located in South Africa that utilizes the TPSR model as well as mental health coaches to combat gender-based violence. School of Hard Knocks partners with local institutions to create gender conscious role models and an intentional sport curriculum that helps address gender-based violence. Through community partnerships, conscientious leadership, and purposeful recruitment, sport can challenge and address gender-based violence.
Such frameworks in sports challenge gender norms and give youth an opportunity to engage in difficult conversation such as violence against women and girls. By empowering women and girls, sports culture can be a positive learning environment that enriches the lives of youth, both within the school, community, and in society.
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Santos Flores is a PhD candidate in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.
Brittany Pinkerton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology at Augusta University.
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