INTRODUCTION:

In the male-female dichotomy, a woman is often in the marginalized position. It is no more different when it comes to sports. A woman’s role revolves around her home and family, leaving a slim chance for her to pursue her dream. Thus in the process of socializing girls, they are often discouraged on the grounds that they are weak and sports is after all, a man’s domain. Hence, we see few women in sports like wrestling, weight-lifting, boxing etc. while those who do pursue a career in sports have to encounter numerous challenges and roadblocks.

This paper aims at highlighting the various kinds of discrimination that women face in the field of sports and the fact that sports can play a strong role to bring about gender equality in its true sense. Girl children are often not encouraged to take up sports as a career. The reasons are many. They include cultural pressure regarding the attire required for Sports i.e. short and/or tight clothes, which in the Indian context is difficult to accept and the uncertainty that is involved in taking up sports as a profession.

Besides this, due to the rigorous training and occasional steroids/ hormonal treatment, which are administered with the aim of ensuring success, could result in various physical changes making the sportswoman appear more masculine. They, being in a male-dominated space are vulnerable. Her integrity and character are called into question since she travels to different parts of the country and even the world in mixed gender groups. Parents also feel concerned about such a girl’s chances of getting a suitable match. Even if she does get married the fact that she would not be able to devote all her attention, time and energy will prick her conscience and make her feel guilty that she is not there for her family as much as she would like. While some families make it difficult for a sportsperson by complaining of her non-availability, others are fortunate in having caring spouses who offer unconditional love and support, e.g. Mary Kom.

However, some brave girls take up the challenge of making sports their career only to find that discrimination is rampant in their chosen career. They might even achieve accolades and make India proud only to discover that female discrimination is very common in the field of sports. They may find that even the genuinely talented may be sidelined due to internal politics, favouritism and nepotism. In the words of Susan K. Cahn, there are signs of resistance both institutional and ideological, to sportswomen. According to her, men are the recipients of far more resources than women and this leaves female athletes, very little choice to compete in sporting organizations which are often male-dominated and influenced by corporations who base their decisions on profits rather than on fairness.²

In addition to the above, sportswomen get less media coverage and publicity resulting in less viewership which in turn affects the sponsorship and impacts the pay they receive. As in other fields here also women face inequality in terms of opportunities and pay. How many of us are even familiar with the names of female cricketers like Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur or Gauhar Sultana? However, when it comes to male cricketers, even a child knows names of Sachin, Virat or Dhoni. Leena Kundnani refers to Diana David’s comment that men are undoubtedly treated better than women in cricket. For every Ranji game, women are paid extremely less perhaps 10 per cent of what the men get. Most sportswomen play for the love of the game.³

Women are subjected to discrimination everywhere and the sports field is no exception. In the article “100 Women: Is the gender pay gap in sport really closing?” Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games, according to Valeria Perasso, considered women's sport to be an "unaesthetic sight" for the human eye. He was of the opinion that their participation would make the competition "impractical, uninteresting" and "improper”.⁴A woman’s stamina is often considered to be lesser than that of men and hence thought to be weaker to participate in sports. The biological differences are highlighted much to her disadvantage. In spite of that there have been pioneers in women’s sports. During Independence, leaders like Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, who herself was a tennis player, realised the importance of encouraging women in sports and started the Rajkumari Sports Coaching Scheme and also became the President of the National Sports Club of India. We need more people like Amrit Kaur who would dedicate their lives to ensure that they are given the credit and attention they are due. As Mother Teresa stated, “I alone cannot change the world but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.”

Gender equality in sports is a powerful tool for the sustainable development of women. India has world class facilities in sports however; these are available only in selected areas due to which the parents of aspiring sportswomen are hesitant to send their wards to places which are far from their native place. Besides this, there are fewer female coaches and also few sports education centers. Issues of security are also among their many concerns. Sports persons need special diet however, in some cases girl children’s nutritional needs are hardly taken care of, perhaps due to financial reasons or due to the mentality of giving priority to the male child rather than to the girl child.

One roadblock is that as sportspersons their career spans are short unlike other occupations which promise longer employment tenure. In addition to this, sports commitments at times interfere with completing their formal education. It should be noted that in case they do not reach great heights professionally, they might find it difficult to find a job without the support of the conventional degrees that they could depend on. Even the post of a coach requires one to have a bachelor’s degree.

However, there is another dimension to be considered when a woman athlete has to prove her femaleness at different levels in spite of her social identity as a woman. There is in fact less awareness regarding how maleness or femaleness is not restricted to stable biological visible features. A simple gender test is not enough to call one a man or woman. This happens due to ‘atypical chromosomal variations.’ Difference in the level of hormones is a vital issue on the basis of which women athletes often face discrimination and injustice. The Sports authority of India follows a policy that says female athletes with high levels of natural testosterone (a condition known as female hyper-androgenism) possesses an unfair advantage over other female competitors. With high level of testosterone they have stronger muscle powers, endurance and speed and this is considered a ‘benefit’ when it comes to sports.

A woman athlete who naturally produces above-normal level of testosterone faces discrimination whereas a man with naturally high testosterone is considered gifted. No one bothers if that gives some men an advantage over others. Women are victimized due to the sexist paradox in sports. A female athlete is penalized for no fault of her own and is forced to undergo medical interventions so that she can continue her career as an athlete. We have many cases of such discrimination in the field of sports.

Santhi Soundarajan is one of India’s accomplished track and field athletes. Born into a Dalit family in Kathakkurichi of Pudukkottal (Tamil Nadu) Shanthi, the first Tamil woman to win at Asian games is the winner of 12 international medals for India and around 50 medals for her home state of Tamil Nadu.Yet when she won the women’s 800 meters race in the 2006 Asian Games held at Doha, her very identity of being a woman was questioned. She was forced to undergo a sex test and was later stripped of her silver medal as she was diagnosed with AIS or Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. People born under such conditions may possess external physical traits of a woman but they are genetically male. In Santhi’s case also at her birth she was identified as a girl. When her sex identity was revealed she was not only forced to give up her medal but she was also banned from competing. The trauma and humiliation was compounded when her local community treated her as an outcast. The pain was so unbearable that in 2007 she attempted suicide by consuming poison but fortunately, survived. Courageously, she made a new beginning by setting up her own coaching academy with 68 students however, sadly, she was not able to bear the family expenses as she lacked permanent employment.

In January 2007, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi awarded Soundarajan a cash prize for her Doha Games effort, despite the fact that she had failed a gender test. However, very magnanimously she spent her reward money on her students whom she trained without any fee. For financial sustenance, Soundarajan wanted to become a coach however this was not possible since a coach was required to have a bachelor’s degree which she lacked. However, in 2015, the Madras High Court directed the State government to consider Soundarajan’s plea for relaxation in educational qualifications to facilitate the process of becoming a coach at the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDATN) It was only in December 2016 that Soundarajan was appointed as a permanent athletic coach under Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT). Referring to this long and arduous journey, Santhi Soundarajan stated that her legacy would remain not just with her medals but with the determination and hope to overcome her past torment and present struggles. It was her wish to live her dream through her students.

Another sportsperson who faced similar discrimination was Dutee Chand, an Indian professional sprinter from Odhisa who became a national champion in 2012 in the under-18 category. She reached the 100 metres final in the 2013 World Youth Championship. In 2014 she was preparing for her first big international event --the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. However, her physique raised suspicion and was asked by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to take the gender verification test. The result showed that hers was a case of hyper-androgenism as a result of which she was banned from participating as a female athlete. Consequently she was excluded from the Indian contingent for the 2014 Asian Games.

Santhi Soundarajan was pained by the handling of the Dutee Chand case. She felt that Dutee Chand had been tested her at the last minute, humiliated and left broken-hearted. She wished that the matter had been dealt with more discreetly. (The Hindu, August 2, 2014, par.7)⁵ Dutee Chand sought legal help and challenged the guidelines at the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), in Lausanne, Switzerland. In July 2015, the court suspended the governing IAAF’s regulations regarding hyper-androgenism due to lack of sufficient scientific evidence. IAAF was asked to create a procedure where athletes are allowed to compete either in the female or male categories. No athlete could be excluded due to hormonal, chromosomal or physical differences. Overcoming her humiliating experience due to the gender-verification she proved herself to be a brave soul and appeared in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Though she did not win there, her very participation was enough to generate hope in other athletes who faced similar discrimination due to their intersex identity which impacted their sports career.

Sports have the potential for bringing about a social and economical betterment challenging narrow-minded attitudes and prejudice. Referring to OGLESBY, 2008; Tucker Centre for Research on Girls and Women in Sport, 2007; United nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2008) Satpal Kaur points out that sports is a valuable source of empowerment for women; their basic human rights are restricted when their access to competitive sporting opportunities and leadership roles like those provided by international sporting competitions such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games is limited.⁶

Women like Mary Kom, pugilist, who has won 6 gold medals on the international stage or Karnam Malleswari weight-lifter through their achievements display that women are not always the weaker sex. These women who have excelled in sports prove that participation in sports can not only break down gender stereo types but also enhance women’s self-esteem, altering the way in which a woman sees herself and others see her as well. The achievements of Mithali Raj (Captain, Indian Women’s Cricket Team) or Ngangom Bala Devi (Captain – Indian Women’s Football team) throw light on the fact that sports also contribute to the development of leadership skills.

Some women in the Indian context come into sports as they come from an underprivileged background and joining sports might be a tool to a better life: it might be instrumental in getting a university seat reserved for sports people and later if they bring laurels to the country, they might be given a government job, lands/house/car as well as prize money. In India where cricket is the most popular game, it is interesting to note that the sports women are winning laurels not merely in one but rather in an array of sports, some of which were until recently male bastions like boxing, wrestling, tennis, archery, kabaddi just to name a few. Names like Mary Kom in boxing, Phogat sisters in wresting, Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu in Badminton, Sania Mirza in Tennis, Deepika Kumari in archery, Mamta Poojary in Kabaddy, Deepa Karmakar in Gymnastics serve to be the role models for those who aspire to achieve success in sports and in life itself. In this connection, we can recall the words of Mary Kom “People used to say that boxing is for men and not for women and I thought I will show them some day. I promised myself and proved myself.” Even tragedies and disabilities could not deter these women of grit and determination from achieving their dreams for example, Deepa Malik, the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games.

The Olympics of the modern era started as an all-male event, but since 1991, any new sport seeking to join the Olympic programme must have women’s competitions. It is a happy sign that women are far more visible in sports today than at any previous point in history. These days an attempt is made through meaningful cinemas to celebrate the inner and physical stamina of those sportswomen who had an extraordinary journey. Movies like Dangal, Mary Kom, Chak De etc impacted the attitudes and perceptions of the viewers and made a conscious effort to bring about a Positive change. In spite of this women in sports face challenges. What is needed is a change in attitude, a little sensitivity and encouragement -- these would help them to combat gender stereotypes and prove to be the wind beneath their wings on their journey towards empowerment.

REFERENCES:

1. Puri, Laksmi. “Sport has huge potential to empower women and girls”. The Value of Hosting Mega Sport Events as a Social, Economic and Environmental Sustainable Development Tool Event. 16 February, 2016. UN Headquarters, New York.

2. Cahn, Susan K. Coming on Strong: Gender and Sexuality in Women’s Sport. 2^nd Ed. University of Illinois Press. 2015. USA. P.258.

3. Kundnani, Leena. Gender Discrimination in Sports, Indian Sports women: Gender Discrimination against Women Sportspersons. https://www.naaree.com/tag/gender-discrimination-in-sports/ July 12, 2012. Accessed 28 November2008.

4. Perasso, Valeria. 100 Women: Is the gender pay gap in sport really closing? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-41685042. 23 October, 2017. Accessed 28 November2008.

5. Sharma Kalpana. “Boy, girl or super athlete?" The Hindu. August 2, 2014.

6. Kaur, Capt. Dr. (Mrs.) Satpal Glimpse of Women in Sport. Laxmi Book Publication. 2015. Solapur.

Received on 30.11.2018 Modified on 25.01.2019

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2019; 7(1):75-78.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2687.2019.00005.4