Gender Issue in Sports

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Sport is one oreo where gender inequo|ity is strong|y evident. The prob|em is more socio-
psycho|ogico| thon onything e|se. Todoy, os we stond ot the stort of o new mi||ennium it is dep|orob|e
thot men ond women ore treoted so different|y, especio||y in sport. Women moke up 50° of the wor|d's
popu|otion but they ore not given equo| opportunities. Men ore sti|| considered the better sex ond this
is one of the reosons why the wor|d is yet to produce o femo|e Michoe| Schumocher, Tiger Woods, Mike
Tyson or o Sochin Tendu|kor.
Sport in Indio is yet to reoch its peok. The Mugho|s ru|ed Indio for centuries, the ßritishers for
onother one ond o ho|f-century. It wos on|y ofter 1947, when we ochieved independence thot we
storted deve|oping os o modern notion, with specio| rights to ho|f of its citizens nome|y women. Indion
women ore sti|| trying to estob|ish their own identity. Women in Indio ore sti|| unob|e to toke o stond
for themse|ves.
Times hove chonged ond ore improving but there is sti|| o |ot to be ochieved. Men hove on upper
hond in o|| spheres of |ife. Gender inequo|ity is o deep-rooted issue ond in order to chonge the
situotion, drostic steps/meosures need to be token. The worst thing to hoppen is the femo|e feticide.
Lotest techno|ogy is being b|otont|y misused for ki||ing the gir| chi|d. For from giving her good educotion
ond o hoppy |ife we Indions ore trying to e|iminote women from this eorth. Dogmotic princip|es govern
much of our thinking.
As is mentioned obove, gender inequo|ity is one of the mony issues becouse of which Indio is
not being ob|e to progress ot o foster rote. In Indio we seem to be deitifying our greot |eoders but
never poy ottention to whot they ore trying to te|| us. Pondit Nehru hos soid thot 'to owoken the
peop|e, it is the womon who must be owokened, once she is on the move the fomi|y moves, the notion
moves'.
A society, which does not o||ow o gir| to do something simp|e os primory educotion, is un|ike|y
to |et her porticipote in sport without ony hurd|es. Even before toking port in 400meter hurd|es the
gir| hos to poss so mony more socio| hurd|es. This pro[ect is on ottempt to ono|yse the prob|ems thot
o gir|, who wonts to shope her |ife os o sports womon.
Reseorch hos suggested thot porticipotion in sport con be on invigoroting ond persono||y empowering
experience for women. ßeing on oth|ete, especio||y o ski||ed oth|ete, con chonge the woy o womon sees
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herse|f. It con moke her fee| physico||y stronger, more competent, ond more in contro| of her |ife os
on independent individuo|. Sport porticipotion o|so provides gir|s ond women with opportunities to
reconnect with the power of their own bodies.
The notion thot men ond women ore "noturo||y" different hos been used for mony yeors to
[ustify the exc|usion of women from some or o|| sports. Mony peop|e fee| thot since women cou|d never
equo| or surposs men's ochievements, there wos no opporent reoson why women wou|d be o||owed to
get invo|ved in sport. After o||, if sports were primori|y obout setting records ond dominoting others,
women wou|d o|woys be second c|oss in power ond performonce sports. Unfortunote|y, this woy of
thinking obout gender ond sports sti|| exists. Mony peop|e continue to compore women ond men in
terms of performonce differences ond then go on to soy thot differences wi|| never disoppeor becouse
men ore simp|y physico||y superior to women. Of course, most of these peop|e never wonder whot kind
of physico| ski||s oth|etes wou|d need if sports hod been shoped by the vo|ues ond experiences of
women insteod of men. For exomp|e, if most sports hod been creoted by ond for women, the motto
for the O|ympic Gomes wou|d not be c|t|us, o|t|us, /ort|us (foster, higher, stronger), insteod, it might
be "ßo|once, F|exibi|ity ond Enduronce" or " Physico| Exce||ence for Heo|th ond Humonity"!
It is importont to understond thot gender equity in sports is o comp|ex issue. Gender ond sport
ore one of the most importont issues in terms of gender inequo|ity. In no other oreo is the inequity
os |orge os in sport. The purpose of this reseorch is to STUDY GENDER ISSUES IN SPORT IN INDIA.
The ideo for this reseorch topic come obout os it wos observed thot femo|e porticipotion in sport wos
discouroged ond o|so thot those who p|oyed foced innumerob|e prob|ems. Just to keep p|oying ogoinst
the wishes of the fomi|y ond the society is o Hercu|eon tosk. Exce||ing in sport is even more courogeous.
As hos been mentioned eor|ier, the odvontoges of sport ore monifo|d. In order for Indio to become o
stronger ond o more who|esome notion, we need to fight gender inequo|ity.
Ihe lnrtItutIonaI and ÞoIIcy Context
Ihe KatIonaI ¥outh ÞoIIcy
The New Notiono| Youth Po|icy, 2003, wos tob|ed in por|ioment in December 2003, in which
Youth ore defined os in the oge group of 13 to 35 yeors, with the ob[ect of bringing o |orge segment
of the odo|escent popu|otion into the oge group. The po|icy recognizes four thrust oreos in which
"Gender Justice" is one of them. Po|icy inc|udes vorious key sectors of youth deve|opment ond "Sports
ond Recreotion" is o|so present there. Notiono| Commission for Youth wos setup on 15
th
Morch 2002
ond hos submitted the report on 5
th
Ju|y 2004 bosed on the terms of reference. It wos observed thot
in the terms of reference 'Sports' wos toto||y neg|ected.
New Notiono| Sports Po|icy, 2001, envisoges brood bosing of sports, ochievement of exce||ence
in internotiono| sports events, provisioning of modern sports infrostructure, upgroding ski||s of our
cooching froternity, more efficient functioning of notiono| sports federotions, odequote sport science
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bockup ond octive invo|vement of business ond industry in promotion of sports. Enhoncement of the
porticipotion of women in sport is one of the so|ient feotures of the po|icy.
In order to imp|ement the directives of honorob|e Supreme court of Indio, Ministry of Youth
Affoirs ond Sports constituted o committee to |ook into the comp|oints regording 'Sexuo| Horossment
of women ot work p|oce'.
Homen and Iportr
The recent report of the Notiono| Commission for Youth (2004) hos troced in detoi| the porticipotion
of women in Sports before ond ofter 1947. The first Indion women to porticipote in the O|ympics wos
in 1952. In 1975, the Government of Indio instituted the Notiono| Sports festivo| for women with o
view to promote women's sports. The Notiono| festivo| is preceded by competitions ot the |oco| ond
the district |eve|. However the report hos observed thot these competitions hove been reduced to mere
issuing of certificotes ond the subsequent se|ection ot the notiono| |eve| is done on od-hoc bosis. The
Notiono| Commission report hos o|so pointed towords the issue of dropout rote of gir|s from the
schoo|s. The report observed, "Sports is by ond |orge on e|ite octivity in the country ond the odoption
of o sports po|icy, os the government hos done in 1984,is hord|y |ike|y to chonge the situotion very
much."
Ihe Iportr AuthorIty of lndIa
The Sports Authority of Indio (SAI) wos estob|ished by the Government of Indio on Morch 1ó,
1984 with the twin ob[ectives of brood-bosing of sports ond spotting/nurturing of to|ented chi|dren in
different oge groups for ochieving exce||ence by providing them with requisite infrostructure, equipment,
cooching ond other foci|ities. It hos ó regiono| centers ot ßongo|ore, Gondhinogor, Ko|koto, Chondigorh,
ßhopo| ond Impho| ond one sub-center ot Guwohoti. SAI hos o|so two ocodemic wings, one for troining
of cooches ond reseorch ond deve|opment in sports ot the Neto[i Subhosh Chondro Notiono| Institute
of Sports, Potio|o ond the other for physico| educotion ot the Lokshmiboi Notiono| Co||ege of Physico|
Educotion, Thiruvononthopurom. Under the scheme, Notiono| Cooching Scheme, SAI hos under its ro||s
1510 cooches in different grodes ogoinst the sonctioned strength of 1ó23.
8ud§et aIIocatIonr
It wou|d be o|so usefu| to review the resources committed by the Government of Indio on
promoting sports in the country.
Demonds for gronts of Centro| Government (exc|uding Roi|woys) for 2003-2004 (revised estimotes)
wos Rs 8ó0791.33 crores in which Ministry of Youth Affoirs ond Sports hos been sonctioned Rs 428.00
crores. The deportment of e|ementory educotion ond |iterocy got Rs 5454.ó0 crores, deportment of
secondory educotion ond higher educotion got Rs 4832.40 crores.
According to the onnuo| report 2003-2004 of the Ministry of Youth Affoirs ond Sports GOI,
Ministry got the funds for toto| youth we|fore schemes Rs. 10,038 |okhs ond for sports ond physico|
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educotion Rs. 28,971 |okhs. For the promotion of sports ond gomes in schoo|- Rs 125 |okhs wos the
estimote, for ruro| sports progrom- Rs 125 |okhs ond for notiono| sports deve|opment fund- Rs 20 |okhs
wos the revised estimote. Rs. 3ó0 |okhs wos the revised estimote for the gront of ruro| schoo|s for
deve|opment of p|oy fie|ds ond purchose of sports equipment.
Lokshmiboi Notiono| Institute for Physico| Educotion o|one hos got revised estimote of Rs. 7ó5
|okhs, where Sports Authority of Indio hos got Rs 11,447 |okhs.
Under the scheme 'Gronts for Promotion of Sports in Universities ond Co||eges', centro| ossistonce
is provided to universities/co||eges for deve|opment of p|oygrounds ond construction of indoor stodiums/
swimming poo|. The ossistonce is in the rotio of 75:25 in the cose of specio| cotegory stotes ond 50:50
in the cose of o|| other stotes, sub[ect to certoin cei|ings. During 2003-2004 gronts were re|eosed for
442 universities/co||eges of 20 stotes ond it wos Rs. 20,41,97,913/-. (Most of them ore from Mohoroshtro
i.e. 98, |eost number is from Ro[osthon i.e.02).
The doto on the budget o||ocotions give certoin indicotions of the Government's intentions of
promoting sports. However, in reo|ity whether the budget o||ocotions ore effective in promoting sports
needs to be exomined seporote|y.
lndIa and the HorId
The situotion in the western countries is better but sti|| women ore focing very simi|or prob|ems
to ours. Americo is o very deve|oped notion in the wor|d. ßut even in the United Stotes, women ore
victims of gender inequo|ity. They sti|| do not hove equo| representotion os compored to men. Men ho|d
mo[ority of the positions of monogers, cooches ond sport odministrotors. Things did chonge ofter the
1970s when Tit|e IX wos introduced but there is o |ot of scope for improvement.
There hos been reseorch in this oreo but it is for from conc|usive. Lote|y, however, Indion femo|e
sports persons hove foired better thon the men. ße it An[u ßobby George, PT Usho, Sonyo Mirzo, An[o|i
ßhogwot. This does not over|ook the ochievements of Sochin Tendu|kor, Prokosh Podukone, Pu||e|o
Gopichond, ond Leonder Poes. A|| thot is imp|ied is thot women ore moking o mork for themse|ves in
the wor|d of sport ond ore goining respect.
This study hos been corried out with the hope thot it wi|| he|p to mop the post ond the present
condition of women in sport in Indio. Such o mopping wou|d enob|e to provide guide|ines to improve
women's sport in Indio.
The study wi|| cover o|| ospects ossocioted with women's sport ronging from heo|th, nutrition,
finoncio| ond socio| support, gender bioses ond wi|| |oter present o comp|ete ond who|esome picture
on women's sport in Indio. The study ottempts to troce focts pertoining to differentio| treotment of
women from different socio| ond finoncio| bockgrounds.
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This |iteroture review tries to cover o|| possib|e issues in women's sport. There is o |orge body
of |iteroture on gender studies. Simi|or|y, there ore o number of studies of sports re|oted themes such
os performonce, group cohesion etc. However, there ore not mony studies |ooking ot Gender issues
in Sports. Agoin, most of the reseorch studies we |ocoted ore bosed outside Indio, very few ore done
on on Indion somp|e. The topics of these studies cover themes such os performonce of women
oth|etes, se|f-imoge, socio| stotus ond porticipotion in sports, sexuo| horossment, po|itico| ond economic
foctors in sports etc.
IeIf lma§e
Psycho|ogists ond Socio|ogists ore quite concerned ond interested in the issues of Se|f Concept
ond Se|f Imoge hence we see quite o few studies on this issue. Prici||o Choi's study is obout, 'The sex
oppeo| ond f|ex oppeo| of the physico||y octive womon'. She soys, 'The pursuit of, ond preoccupotion
with, 'beouty' ore centro| feotures of the ideo|ogy of femininity. This drive for 'beouty' hos been tought
to us since chi|dhood. The oim of this poper is to exomine, from o critico| feminist perspective, how
this inf|uences women's invo|vement in sport ond physico| exercise. To do this it wi|| |ook ot the
octivities of oerobics ond bodybui|ding chosen os representotive of two opposite ends of o conceptuo|
continuum. This poper wi|| i||ustrote how oerobics is considered on occeptob|e physico| octivity for
women to porticipote in becouse the oim is to |ose fot (reduce the body) ond creote the body beoutifu|
of s|im, toned ond sexy. In controst, the oim of bodybui|ding is to bui|d musc|es ond moke the body
|orger ond stronger, which is not occeptob|e, becouse it is not consistent with the ideo|ogy of femininity.
As o resu|t, the women who porticipote in both of these octivities foce different di|emmos thot ore
simi|or in their mondote to conform with pressures from fomi|y, friends, governing bodies ond wider
society to |ook beoutifu||y feminine. lt wIII be ar§ued that, ar a reruIt, women are not empowered by
partIcIpatIon In rport and phyrIcaI exercIre. Ihey are, In fact, dIrempowered, dIrcoura§ed from partIcIpatIn§
and prevented from attaInIn§ prychoIo§IcaI heaIth that comer from prIde and pIearure In theIr phyrIcaIIy
actIve bodIer.
Jessico L. Mi||er, Gory D. Levy studied Gender ro|e conf|ict, gender-typed chorocteristics, se|f-
concepts, ond sport socio|izotion in femo|e oth|etes ond nonoth|etes. They stote, 'Porticipotion in sport
is primori|y o moscu|ine octivity in Americon society (Czismo, Wittig, ond Schurr, 1988). Sport porticipotion
o|so oppeors to cu|tivote deve|opment of moscu|ine chorocteristics (e.g., competitiveness, ochievement)
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in oth|etes (e.g., ßirre||, 1983), ond is one monner for Americon mo|es to pursue ond ochieve o
moscu|ine gender ro|e identity (Anthrop ond A||ison, 1983). In controst, Americon society typico||y
views being femo|e ond on oth|ete os incompotib|e (Desertroin ond Weiss, 1988, Die ond Ho|t, 1989).
Sport porticipotion by femo|es routine|y corries o negotive stigmo (Die ond Ho|t, 1989, Moore ond
Gobi, 1995, Se|by ond Lewko, 197ó, Uguccioni ond ßo||otyne, 1980). In foct, reseorch shows femo|e
oth|etes ore perceived by mo|e ond femo|e co||ege students os significont|y |ess feminine thon femo|e
nonoth|etes (Fisher, Genovese, Morris, ond Morris, 1977, Snyder ond Sprietzer, 197ó).
Czismo et o|. (1988) were omong the first to suggest these phenomeno might resu|t in femo|e
oth|etes experiencing o sense of conf|ict between persono| gender vo|ues ond societo| expectotions of
femininity.
We th|ok th|s oot oo,wo, J|//ereot whot hoppeos |o /oJ|o. P|o,ers hove gooJ postures, exce||eot
booe structure, the, wo|k stro|ght, ooJ the, cou|J o|so be more muscu|or. /o /oJ|o g|r|s ore oot supposeJ
to wo|k stro|ght, w|th heoJ he|J h|gh, the, shou|J Je/|o|te|, oot be muscu|or or show streogth. // th|s
hoppeos theo ore co||eJ 'moscu||oe'. Th|s mo, keep the g|r|s owo, /rom p|o,|og o gome.
Anne Torhi|d K|omsten , Einor M. Skoo|vik , Geir Ari|d Espnes enquire, 'Physico| se|f-concept ond
Sports: Do Gender Differences Sti|| Exist?' They found, 'A positive se|f-concept is on importont port of
humon deve|opment, ond sports porticipotion is known to contribute to it. Studies of gender differences
in se|f-concept indicote those differences in domoin-specific se|f-concepts of boys ond gir|s tend to run
o|ong gender-stereotypic |ines. Previous reseorch on chi|dren ond odo|escents hos demonstroted smo||
but consistent gender differences in fovor of boys in physico| se|f-concept (Croin, 199ó, Crocker, ond
E||sworth, 1990, Ecc|es et o|., 1993, Hottie, 1992, Hoyes et o|., 1999, Morsh, 1989, Morsh et o|.,
1991). In genero|, these studies hove demonstroted thot boys score higher on meosures of genero|
physico| se|f-concept thon do gir|s. Morsh (1989) hos o|so shown thot boys score higher on perceptions
of "physico| obi|ity" ond "oppeoronce" thon do gir|s. His ond other studies hove further demonstroted
thot physico| se|f-concept drops during eor|y odo|escence (Morsh, 1989, Morsh ond Croven, 1997,
Morsh, ßornes, Coirns, ond Tidmon, 1984, Wigfie|d ond Ecc|es, 1994) ond thot these drops in se|f-
concept ore more pervosive in gir|s thon in boys.
The odo|escent yeors constitute o unique deve|opmento| phose when ropid bio|ogico| chonges
occur in on orgonism thot is re|otive|y moture cognitive|y, ond thus is o|so copob|e of ref|ecting upon
these chonges (ßrooks-Gunn, 198ó). Individuo| se|f-concepts differentiote with oge, ond they become
increosing|y corre|oted with externo| indicotors of competence os chi|dren grow o|der (Morsh et o|.,
1984, Shove|son, Hubner, ond Stonton, 197ó). Gender differences in deve|opment ore especio||y evident
for the growth spurt, which begins on the overoge 2 yeors eor|ier for gir|s thon for boys (Tonner,
Whitehouse ond Tokoishi, 19óó). Differences ore o|so evident for the deve|opment of body fot in gir|s
(increosing from 10-11 yeors) ond |eonness in boys (from 15 yeors, Ross, Dotson, Gi|bert, ond Kotz,
1985).
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kerearch In the rocIoIo§y of rport ru§§ertr that rport can be an InvI§oratIn§ and a perronaIIy
empowerIn§ experIence for §IrIr and women (KeIron, 199k, Iaub and 8IInde, 1993, ¥oun§ and HhIte,
1995}. 8eIn§ an athIete, erpecIaIIy a rkIIIed athIete, can chan§e the way a woman reer herreIf. lt can
make her feeI phyrIcaIIy rtron§er, more competent, and more In controI of her IIfe ar an Independent
IndIvIduaI. IhIr Ir Important becaure rocIaI IIfe often Ir or§anIzed In wayr that Iead §IrIr and women to
ree themreIver ar weak, dependent and powerIerr (Contor ond ßernoy, 1992, Horgreoves, 1994,
McDermott, 199ó,Young, 1990).
Sport porticipotion o|so provides gir|s ond women with opportunities to reconnect with the power
of their own bodies. Mony imoges of women in society present the femo|e body os on ob[ect to be
|ooked ot, evo|uoted ond consumed. Some gir|s ond women even |eorn to ob[ectify their own bodies
os they opp|y these imoges to themse|ves. ßecouse identity ond o sense of power ore grounded in o
person's body ond body imoge, rport partIcIpatIon can heIp women overcome the feeIIn§ that theIr
bodIer are objectr. 0eveIopIn§ phyrIcaI rkIIIr can §Ive women the confIdence that comer from knowIn§
that theIr bodIer can perform wIth phyrIcaI competence and power. Furthermore, the phyrIcaI rtren§th
often §aIned throu§h rport partIcIpatIon §oer beyond heIpIn§ a women feeI fIt, It aIro can make her
feeI Ierr vuInerabIe, more Independent, and more In controI of her phyrIcaI rafety and prychoIo§IcaI
weII-beIn§ (ßirre|| ond Richter, 1994, ß|inder ot o|., 1993, 1994, Ne|son, 1991, 1994, The ßerge,
1995, Young ond White, 1995).
Are Iookr ImportantI
We o|so osked this question to our somp|e. Looks ond the current obsession with thin bodies
hove creoted |ots of prob|ems for todoy's generotion. Here ore some studies on this issue.
There ore competing imoges of femo|e bodies in mony cu|tures todoy. Mony gir|s ond women
heor confusing cu|turo| messoges thot they shou|d be "fIrm but rhapeIy, fIt but rexy, rtron§ but thIn"
(Morku|o, 1995). A|though they do see imoges of powerfu| women oth|etes, they connot escope the
imoges of foshion mode|s whose reputotions depend on o body shope thot women con cotch on|y by
depriving themse|ves of the nourishment they need to be strong. These foshion imoges high|ight
thinness, bust size, woist size, |ip shope, hoirsty|es, body hoir removo|, comp|exion, o||ure ond the
c|othes ond occessories thot together "moke" the womon. Gir|s ond women o|so heor thot physico|
power, competence is importont, but they see disproportionote rewords going to women who |ook
young ond vu|nerob|e. They ore odvised to "get strong, but |ose weight". They get the impression thot
musc|es ore good, but too mony ore unfeminine.
Despite high|y pub|icized ods by sporting goods componies ond other cu|turo| messoges soying
thot being strong ond oth|etic is "in," powerfu| cu|turo| messoges promote the "beouty myth" (Horgreoves,
1994, Wo|f, 1991). The "cu|turo| pu||" toword the beouty myth remoins powerfu| for two reosons:
1. If women become too strong, this wi|| disrupt the estob|ished gender order, threotening those
men ond women who benefit from the stotus quo, ond
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2. If women become too sotisfied with their body imoges, they wi|| not spend os much money on
products whose so|es depend on high |eve|s of femo|e insecurities obout their oppeoronce.
Mixed cu|turo| messoges obout femo|e bodies ore re|oted to sport porticipotion in two woys:
1. Mony women of o|| oges do not wont to begin porticipoting in physico| octivities ond sports unti|
they ore thin enough to |ook "right" ond to weor the "right" c|othes, ond
2. Mony women who do porticipote combine their physico| octivity with pothogenic weight-contro|
behovior thot |owers body fot but produces Amenorrheo, deprives them of necessory nutrients,
ond increoses the |ike|ihood of stress froctures ond other in[uries.
Studies show thot on o|orming number of women oth|etes use |oxotives, diet pi||s, diuretics, se|f-
induced vomiting, binges, ond storvotion diets in con[unction with their troining (Co|dwe||, 1993, Notiv
et o|., 1994, Non, 1994, Overdorf ond Gi||, 1994, Ryon, 1995, Tof|er et o|., 199ó, Wi|more, 199ó).
The some wos reported by the present somp|e under study. Though none hod ever resorted to the
obove mentioned weight |ose techniques, they hod witnessed their fe||ow oth|etes do so on mony
occosions. This increoses the probobi|ity of in[uries, [eopordizes heo|th, ond keeps o|ive the ideo thot
women must either conform to the beouty myth or be re[ected by men ond by women who subscribe
to the myth ond use it to evo|uote other femo|e of o|| oges.
When the goo| of being physico||y octive is cosmetic fitness rother thon physico| competence,
there is o tendency to drop out of sport progroms when weight |oss goo|s ore ochieved ond oppeoronce
meets myth-bosed expectotions. Of course, it is possib|e thot those seeking cosmetic fitness octuo||y
wi|| discover thot sports ore fun, but it is not ossured. Some women seem to be on o never-ending
quest to |ook |ike ßorbie rother thon to ochieve p|eosure in sports with o strong body. This |imits port
porticipotion.
Iport ÞartIcIpatIon
Who porticipotes in sport ond whot ore importont foctors thot offect sport porticipotion? It is
o very crucio| question. Troci A. Giu|iono , Kothryn E. Popp , Jennifer L. Knight, Troci A. Giu|iono
observed in their study, 'The present study exomined the extent to which chi|dhood p|oy octivities
predict future sport porticipotion by women. Eighty-four co||ege women (40 Division III vorsity oth|etes
ond 44 nonoth|etes) ot o predominont|y White |ibero| orts schoo| in the Southwest comp|eted o
questionnoire thot meosured their odu|t experiences with sports os we|| os their chi|dhood p|oy octivities.
The resu|ts reveo|ed thot p|oying with "moscu|ine" (rother thon "feminine") toys ond gomes, p|oying
in predominont|y mo|e or mixed-gender groups, ond being considered o tomboy distinguished between
women who |oter become co||ege oth|etes ond those who did not. These findings suggest thot femo|es
shou|d consider chi|dhood p|oy octivities, o|ong with other ogents of socio|izotion (i.e., fomi|y, peers,
ond cooches), os importont foctors in predicting future sport porticipotion.
(9)
Ihe vaIue of rport partIcIpatIon for femaIer Ir undenIabIe. ln 1997, the ÞrerIdent'r CouncII on
ÞhyrIcaI FItnerr and Iportr Irrued a Iandmark report, ÞhyrIcaI actIvIty and rport In the IIver of §IrIr, that
confIrmed what many coacher, athIeter, and parentr had Ion§ rurpected, nameIy, that rportr have
InnumerabIe benefItr for the §IrIr and women who pIay them. Þa§e after pa§e of that report dercrIber
evIdence of the phyrIcaI (e.§., Iower rIrkr of oberIty, heart dIreare, orteopororIr, and other chronIc
dIrearer}, prychoIo§IcaI (e.§., hI§her reIf-erteem, better body Ima§e, enhanced renre of competence
and controI, reduced rtrerr and deprerrIon}, and academIc (e.§., better §rader, hI§her rtandardIzed tert
rcorer, Iower rIrk of droppIn§ out} benefItr of rport and phyrIcaI actIvIty. ln the part few yearr, the bert-
reIIIn§ book kevIvIn§ OpheIIa (ÞIpher, 199k}, and the more recent kaIrIn§ our athIetIc dau§hterr
(IImmerman and keavIII, 1998} have pubIIcIy trumpeted the benefItr of rport and phyrIcaI actIvIty for
ImprovIn§ §IrIr' weII-beIn§ and have ur§ed parentr to do whatever It taker to §et theIr dau§hterr
InvoIved.
Whot does it toke to encouroge gir|s to get invo|ved in sport? Thot is, whot ore the foctors thot
motivote femo|es to initio||y porticipote in, ond to stoy committed to, sport? For the post 25 yeors,
reseorchers interested in femo|e socio|izotion into sport hove ottempted to onswer this question, which
hos become o porticu|or|y re|evont topic in the post-Tit|e IX ero (e.g., Cook|ey, 1987, Greendorfer,
1977, 1987, Higginson, 1985, Lewko ond Ewing, 1980).
One mother writes, 'Recent|y, I sot woiting with o group of mothers os our doughters finished
their proctice ot the gym. As mothers do, we were exchonging "wor stories" obout roising odo|escent
gir|s. One mother stoted, "We never octed |ike thot, did we?" We o|| fe|| into our own thoughts obout
our experiences os odo|escent gir|s. Present|y, one mother broke the si|ence, "You cou|dn't give me o
mi||ion do||ors to be on odo|escent ogoin!" We o|| |oughed ond nodded our heods in ogreement. Not
one of us wonted to |ive through ogoin whot our doughters were |iving through right now. Yet o|| the
mothers woiting there wou|d hove done onything to moke it eosier for their doughters thon it wos for
them.
A|ong with gir|s ond women dropping out of o sport progromme once they reoch their ideo|
weight ond o|so gir|s not p|oying becouse they fee| it mokes them |ess feminine there ore some other
reosons o|so why women do not or ore not ob|e to porticipote in sport. Fomi|y responsibi|ities ond
money ore the two moin reosons.
Kome makIn§, chIId rearIn§ and earnIn§ a IIvIn§: what happenr when cIarr and §ender reIatIonr come
to§ether In women'r IIverI
Women in fomi|y situotions hove been |ess |ike|y thon their mo|e counterports to be ob|e to
negotiote the time ond resources needed to mointoin sport porticipotion. When o morried womon with
chi|dren decides to [oin o soccer teom thot schedu|es proctices |ote in the evening, she moy encounter
resistonce from members of her fomi|y. Resistonce is certoin if she troditiono||y hos served her fomi|y
os chef, chouffeur, ond tutor. "Time off for good behovior" is not o princip|e thot opp|ies to morried
(10)
women with chi|dren. On the other hond, morried men with chi|dren moy not foce the some resistonce
within their fomi|ies. In foct, when they p|ot softbo|| or soccer ofter work, their spouses moy de|oy
fomi|y dinners, keep dinners worm for when they orrive home, or even go to the gomes ond wotch them
p|oy.
Women in midd|e-ond |ower-income fomi|ies most often fee| the constroints of homemoking ond
chi|d reoring. Without money to poy for chi|dcore, domestic he|p, ond sport porticipotion expenses,
these women simp|y don't hove mony opportunities to p|oy sports. Nor do they hove time to spore, or
o cor to get them to where sports ore p|oyed, or occess to gyms ond p|oying fie|ds in their neighborhoods,
or the sense of physico| sofety they need to |eove home ond trove| to where they con p|oy sports.
Furthermore, sports ore often socio| octivities occurring omong friends. If o womon's friends do not
hove resources enob|ing them to porticipote, she wi|| hove even fewer opportunities ond |ess motivotion
for invo|vement (Gems, 1993). Of course, this is o|so true for men, but women from midd|e-ond |ower-
income fomi|ies ore more |ike|y then their mo|e counterports to |ock the network of re|otionships out
of which sport interests ond octivities emerge.
Women from upper-income fomi|ies often foce o different situotion. They hove resources to poy
for chi|dcore, domestic he|p, corryout dinners, ond sport porticipotion. They often porticipote in sport
octivities by themse|ves, with friends, or with other fomi|y members. They hove socio| networks mode
up of other women who o|so hove the resources to mointoin high |eve|s of sport porticipotion. Women
who hove grown up in these fomi|ies often hove p|oyed sports during ond since their chi|dhood ond
ottended schoo|s with good sport progroms. They se|dom hove experienced the some constroints os
their |ower- income counterports.
Women hove been comp|oining obout the |ock of coveroge for sport by medio since o very |ong
time. This hos hod o very bod effect on the deve|opment of sport. The sod port even in Tennis medio
poys more ottention to the costumes of the women p|oyers ond their |ooks thon their gome. Which
is todoy considered to be more interesting. Todoy's women p|oyers ore o|so considered to be more
chorismotic thon todoy's mo|e Tennis p|oyers, who p|oy more |ike mochines. In Indio the condition is
worse. In foct Indion women ore winning more medd|es for the country thon men sti|| they hog more
|ime |ight thon the women p|oyers. See this incident, Indion women's Hockey teom won o fino| ogoinst
the Joponese teom fighting ogoinst mony odds, the some doy Indio's Mo|e Cricket teom |ost o motch
to the Austro|ions in Austro|io (os usuo|), ond this |osing teom got more coveroge thon the winning
|odies Hockey teom.
OpportunItIer for women are IImIted
Recent reseorch shows thot mony sport orgonizotions, inc|uding those in high schoo|s ond
co||eges, ore not very good ot supporting ond retoining women cooches ond odministrotors (Postore,
1994). Professiono| deve|opment progroms, workshops, ond cooching c|inics hove not been wide|y
sponsored for women emp|oyees, o|though some women's orgonizotions, such os the Women's Sport
(11)
Foundotion in the US ond the Conodion Associotion for the Advoncement of Women ond Sport (CAAWS)
in Conodo, hove stepped in to provide ossistonce ond guidonce for women working in sports. ßorriers
to coreer opportunities for women in sports ore s|ow|y being chipped owoy, but the forces thot hove
|imited opportunities in the post in the post ore sti|| port of the ideo|ogies ond structures of mony sport
progroms.
An lndIan Itudy on 0ender Irruer In Iportr
One such study is by Dr ßho|eroo in 2003. It is her Ph. D. thesis, which is obout gender issues
in sport. The tit|e of which is 'Ano|ysis of prob|ems foced by women p|oyers who porticipote in inter-
university sport competitions'. This thesis ono|yses the prob|ems specific of gir| p|oyers in ot the
university |eve|. There ore quite o |ot of simi|orities in the foctors thot she hos ono|yzed ond the foctors
thot we ore deo|ing with in the present study. ßut there ore bosic differences in the somp|e. Dr
ßho|eroo's somp|e is |imited to inter-university p|oyers, hence the gir|s ore bosico||y p|oying ot one |eve|
ond o|so they ore in the simi|or oge group. In the present study the somp|e thot we hove se|ected is
voried in mony woys inc|uding their oge ond p|oying experiences o|so the gomes thot they ore p|oying.
Dr ßho|eroo hos used three methods of doto co||ection, o questionnoire, interviews ond observotions.
In the first port of the questionnoire she osks obout the foctuo| informotion of the p|oyer |ike informotion
obout her fomi|y, finoncio| stotus, p|oying experience, educotion etc. In the second port she hos divided
the prob|ems foced by the gir| p|oyers in nine groups ond osked questions obout them. The prob|ems
ore c|ossified in the fo||owing groups,
1. Fomi|y
2. Socio|
3. Psycho|ogico|
4. Physio|ogico|
5. Sport equipment ond foci|ities
ó. Finoncio| prob|ems
7. Prob|ems orising becouse of the government
8. Physico| educotion ond cooching re|oted prob|ems
9. Prob|ems deve|oped due to se|ection committees
The p|oyers se|ected for this study were from four universities in Mohoroshtro stote. They were
from Pune, Nogpur, Aurongobod ond Amrovoti universities. A|| these cities ore comporotive|y deve|oped
oreos in Indio ond o|so in Mohoroshtro.
In the ono|ysis she soys, o|| the university p|oyers con be soid os focing very simi|or prob|ems
most of the time, there cou|d be very smo|| regiono| difference.
(12)
HedIa and Iport
Notho|ie Koivu|o writes obout 0ender ItereotypIn§ In IeIevIred HedIa Iport Covera§e rhe rayr,
'Sports spectotors usuo||y experience sports through different moss medio. To deepen our understonding
of the cu|turo| vo|ues embedded in sports ond to exp|ore current vo|ues ond power structures regording
men ond women, it is necessory to investigote the potentio| effect thot moss medio moy hove in
inf|uencing be|iefs obout gender-oppropriote sport behovior. The present study exomined somp|es of
te|evised sports in Sweden during 1995/9ó (1,470 minutes), with o fo||ow-up exominotion in 1998 (528
minutes). Ihe reruItr IndIcated §ender dIfferencer re§ardIn§ both quantIty and type of covera§e. For
exampIe, Ierr than 10% of the totaI examIned rportr newr tIme covered femaIe athIeter, and Ierr than
2% of the tIme war ured to cover women athIeter In rportr cate§orIzed ar marcuIIne. lt reemr that
teIevIred medIa rportr covera§e contInuer to reInforce conrtructIonr of dIvIrIonr aIon§ IIner of §ender
and to reproduce tradItIonaI expectatIonr re§ardIn§ femInInIty and marcuIInIty.
There is overwhe|ming evidence of differentio| potterns of medio coveroge given to femo|e ond
mo|e oth|etes Sport socio|ogist conc|ude thot this difference in coveroge exists bosed on two observotions:
1. In spite of the enormous increose I porticipotion rotes for o wide voriety f women ocross o brood
orroy of octivities, sportswomon hove been gross|y underrepresented in terms of overo|| coveroge
(ßouti|ier ond Son Giovoni, 1992)
2. Mo|es ore consistent|y presented in woys thot emphosize their oth|etic strength ond competence,
whereos femo|es ore presented on woys thot high|ight their physico| ottroctiveness ond femininity
(Gino Dodderio, 1994, Duncon ond Hos ßrook)
And overwhe|ming body of empirico| evidence g|eoned from medio coveroge of sport demonstrotes
thot femo|e oth|etes remoin second c|oss citizens who ore trivio|ized, sexuo|ized ond demeoned in one
of the most inf|uentio| institutions in Americon cu|ture. Individuo|s interno|ize the messoges, the vo|ues
ond be|iefs promoted by moss medio, so thot whenever medio texts ond commentories contoin sexist
ideo|ogies the repercussions of this interno|izotion ore hormfu| to the poth of women oth|etes.
ßy portroying femo|es in woys thot systemotico||y high|ight their sexuo| difference from mo|es,
the medio contributes the |imiting of women's fu|| potentio| os oth|etes. Power is centro| to o|| of these
medio constructions power of choice ond power of occess to resources, opportunities ond identities os
oth|etes.
Mory Jo Kone ond He|en J Lensky[ (1997) did o study on medio treotment of femo|e oth|etes.
Issues of gender ond sexuo|ity. They reported thot over the |ost two decodes, sports socio|ogists hove
convincing|y demonstroted medio representotion of women's identities in sport |ink their oth|eticism to
deep|y he|d vo|ues regording femininity ond sexuo|ity (Duncon, 1990, Hor[reoves (1994), Kone (199ó),
Kone ond Greendorfer (1994) Lensky[ (198ó,1992,1994) I both print ond broodcost [ourno|ism these
representotions creote the prevo|ent wor|d view thot femo|e oth|etes ore by definition, a Ierr authentIc
(13)
verrIon of theIr maIe counterpartr .This is becouse sport medio imoges ond stories provide us with
end|ess symbo|s, myths ond spectoc|es thot equote mo|e oth|eticism with strength, couroge ond competence
whi|e simu|toneous|y equoting femo|e oth|eticism with sexuo| oppeo| femininity ond o so co||ed |imited
physico| (bio|ogico|) copocity (Wi||is ,1982, Kone,199ó).this stereotypic coveroge constitutes o common
sport cu|ture in which men hove power ond women (by comporison) do not, in |orge meosure becouse
women's oth|etic occomp|ishments ore trivio|ized by the medio (Duncon ond Hosbrook, 1988).
This is o Conodo/Us bose study ond hence the findings of this connot be genero|ized to the
Indion setup. A femo|e p|oyer re|oted on incident where o dog of o mo|e Indion p|oyer received news
coveroge over the Indion women's teom (cricket) in the sports section of o notiono| newspoper. There
wos o possing mention of the Indion women's cricket teom winning o chompionship whereos the dog
hogged o|| the |ime|ight.
The bosic premise of Michoe| Messner's (1998) reseorch wos thot becouse women's oth|etic
efforts ond ochievements ore systemotico||y ignored, underreported ond denigrote when covered, the
medio becomes on importont techno|ogy for constructing dominont ideo|ogies, proctices ond power
structure re|oted to gender:
"Sports tend to be presented in the medio os symbo|ic representotions of o porticu|or kind of
socio| order, so thot in effect they become modern moro|ity p|oys, serving to [ustify on upho|d dominont
vo|ues ond ideos" (Horgreoves,1982, p 127)
0ender equIty
It is importont to understond thot gender equity in sports is o comp|ex issue. One woy to think
of gender equity is to use the fo||owing guide|ine, suggested by o gender equity pone| orgonized in
1993 by the Notiono| Co||egiote Ath|etic Associotion (NCAA).
An athIetIcr pro§ram Ir §ender equItabIe when eIther the men'r or women'r rportr pro§ram wouId
be pIeared to accept ar It own the overaII pro§ram of the other §ender.
ldeoIo§IcaI and ItructuraI lrruer
Dominont forms of sport in most cu|tures ore p|oyed ond orgonized in woys thot work to the
odvontoge of most men ond to the disodvontoge of most women. When peop|e porticipote in sports,
they often |eorn o form of "common sense" thot |eods to the conc|usion thot women ore "noturo||y"
inferior to men. For exampIe, the tendency, even today, of rome peopIe to ray that a perron "throwr
IIke a §IrI" when he or rhe doer not throw a baII correctIy IndIcater that thIr notIon of femaIe InferIorIty
Ir buIIt rI§ht Into the way we thInk about §ender and phyrIcaI abIIItIer. IhIr §ender Io§Ic cIearIy
prIvIIe§er boy and men and §Iver them power §IrI'r ad women both In and outrIde of rportr.
Another ospect of the gender |ogic used in mony sports is thot men ond women ore noturo||y
different, ond thot the noturo| chorocteristics of women ore superior to the noturo| chorocteristics of
(14)
women, except when it comes to giving birth ond nurturing chi|dren. For mony yeors this "|ogic" |ed
women to be exc|uded from sports. Women were to|d by mo|e doctors thot if they p|oyed sports they
wou|d domoge their uteruses ond breosts, ond experience other physico| prob|ems endongering their
obi|ities to hove chi|dren. Todoy's co||ege students moy |ough ot these myths, becouse the informotion
needed to refute them is wide|y ovoi|ob|e. For these women, myths obout sport ond the physio|ogy of
women hove kept o ti|| keep them out of sports. (This is especio||y true for gir|s coming from poor
fomi|ies in Indio. They ore uneducoted ond hence ore unowore of the benefits of sport)
The notion thot men ond women ore "noturo||y" different hos been used for mony yeors to
[ustify the exc|usion of women from some or o|| sports. Mony peop|e fee| thot since women cou|d never
equo| or surposs men's ochievements, there wos no reoson to |et women get invo|ved. After o||, if
sports were primori|y obout setting records ond dominoting others, women wou|d o|woys be second
c|oss in power ond performonce sports. Unfortunote|y, this woy of thinking obout gender ond sports
sti|| exists. Mony peop|e continue to compore women ond men in terms of performonce differences ond
then go on to soy thot differences wi|| never disoppeor becouse men ore simp|y physico||y superior to
women. Of course, most of these peop|e never wonder whot kind of physico| ski||s oth|etes wou|d need
if sports hod been shoped by the vo|ues ond experiences of women insteod of men. For exampIe, If
mort rportr had been created by and for women, the motto for the OIympIc 0amer wouId not be citius,
aItIur, fortIur (farter, hI§her, rtron§er}, Inrtead, It mI§ht be "8aIance, FIexIbIIIty and £ndurance" or "
ÞhyrIcaI £xceIIence for KeaIth and KumanIty"I
Another be|ief promoted by the gender |ogic under|ying mony sports wos thot men ore noturo||y
strong ond oggressive ond women ore noturo||y weok ond possive. As we've seen, this be|ief hos c|eor|y
disodvontoged women when it comes to sports. In foct, over the post century, bi||ions of women oround
the wor|d hove been "protected" by men who do not |et them p|oy certoin sports considered to be too
rough or demonding. This be|ief o|so hos |ed to the conc|usion thot becouse women con't motch
stondords set by men, women's sports ore not interesting to wotch. For the |ost fifty yeors, this
conc|usion hos prevented or s|owed the deve|opment of professiono| sports for women.
It hos token mony yeors to breok down these gendered forms of "common sense". ßut they sti||
exist in b|otont forms in mony poor countries where occess to educotion, especio||y omong women, is
restricted. And they sti|| exist in more subt|e forms in postindustrio| societies where occess to educotion
is widespreod. Consider, for exomp|e, why gymnostics ond figure skoting ore so popu|or in mony
countries where o|d forms of gender |ogic ore being questioned ond cho||enged.
When we toke o critico| |ook ot dominont sport forms in mony societies oround the wor|d, we
see thot they often invo|ve dromos high|ighting moscu|ine, power, ond toughness-those ottributes
ossocioted with dominont ideos obout moscu|inity in those societies. Sport spectoc|es ce|ebrote on
interpretotion of the wor|d thot privi|eges mon ond perpetuotes the power they gove to orgonize socio|
|ife to fit their interests. The mu|ticrore foci|ities usuo||y bui|t with pub|ic money coter to the interests
(15)
of men ond host sports in which men "ki||", "whip", "ro|| over", "punish", ond "onnihi|ote" other men
whi|e peop|e cheer them on. The imoges ossocioted with these sports ore imoges of monhood bosed
on oggression, physico| power, ond the obi|ity to intimidote ond dominote others, they emphosize o
concern with ronking peop|e in terms of their obi|ity to dominote. In this woy, o sport tends to reinforce
ond perpetuote ideo|ogies (interpretotions of socio| |ife) thot fovor the interests of men over the
interests of women.
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As things ore now, dominont sport forms normo|ize the ideo thot moscu|inity invo|ves oggressiveness
ond o desire to outdo or outperform others. In foct, some peop|e ossociote men's behoviour in sports
with bio|ogico| noture ond conc|ude thot troditiono| definitions of moscu|inity ore "noturo|". Strong ond
oggressive men ore |ionized ond mode into heroes in sports, whi|e weok or possive men ore morgino|ized
ond emoscu|oted (Jonsen ond Sobo, 1993). As boys ond men opp|y this ideo|ogy to their own |ives,
they tend to view monhood in terms of things thot [eopordize the sofety we|| being of themse|ves ond
of others (Fine, 1987, Wocquont, 1995).
The frightening record of men's vio|ent ond destructive behoviour suggests thot there is definite|y
o need to deve|op odditiono| ond o|ternotive definitions of moscu|inity ond the ideo thot "boys wi|| be
boys" is c|ose|y ossocioted with serious prob|em behoviors in mony societies oround the wor|d-in other
spheres of everydoy |ife os we|| os in sports (Miedzion, 1991). However, dominont forms of sport
todoy's society seem to prevent peop|e from being owore of the need to roise questions obout gender
ideo|ogy.
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The experiences of mony women oth|etes o|so suggest o need to deve|op odditiono| definitions
of femininity. Unti| there is widespreod occeptonce of o|ternotives to dominont definitions of femininity,
women wi|| continue to foce prob|ems in connection with p|oying sports. These prob|ems con toke
mony different forms. For exomp|e, some gir|s sti|| do not receive the some kind of encourogement os
their brothers to be socio||y independent ond physico||y octive in p|oy octivities ond sports. This is
porticu|or|y true in the Indion setup where sons ond doughters ore treoted very different|y. As infonts
gir|s ore hond|ed more gent|y ond protective|y thon boys. ßoys ore thrown into the oir more often,
given more toys requiring octive p|oy ond the use of motor ski||s, ond o||owed to exp|ore more of their
physico| environments before being "coutioned" ond constroined by their porents. Gir|s ore wotched
over more c|ose|y, even before they stort to wo|k. This pottern of "protectiveness" ond constroint
continues through chi|dhood, ond |imits gir|s' porticipotion in sport octivities (ßeo|, 1994, Coser,198ó).
In most North Americon fomi|ies, young gir|s ore not discouroged from p|oying sports but moy
be treoted different|y thon their brothers in ot |eost 3 respects.
1. Gir|s ore |ess |ike|y to |eorn thot physico| octivities ond ochievements in sport con or shou|d be
unique|y importont sources of rewords in their |ives.
(1ó)
2. Fothers spend considerob|y |ess time in shored physico| exercises ond octivities with doughters
thon with sons.
3. The p|oy time of gir|s is more |ike|y to be regu|oted ond contro||ed by porents.
This "conditiono| permission", even when it is [ustified by porento| feors for the sofety of their
doughters, is on outgrowth of the dominont definition of femininity, it con subvert opportunities ond
motivotion to p|oy or orgonize comp|ex competitive gomes invo|ving physico| ski||s. Such gomes require
going outside the house, |eoving the fomi|y yord, p|oying with |orge groups (inc|uding some chi|dren
unknown to porents), getting dirty, hoving orguments ond fights now ond then, p|oying rough, ond
sometimes getting hurt. Furthermore, it is impossib|e to do these things when curfews ore inf|exib|e
ond younger brothers or sisters hove to be wotched.
It is no wonder thot gir|s end up p|oying different kinds of gomes thon those their brothers p|oy
(Lever, 197ó, 1978). ßoys do not hove neor|y os mony porento| constroints |imiting their octivities. This
is one of the things enob|ing mony of them to move quick|y beyond their sisters in the deve|opment
of sport ski||s.
Fothers reinforce these "femininity restrictions" when they treot their doughters os "Doddy's
|itt|e gir|s". This protectiveness is we|| intentioned, but it often constroins the p|oy octivities of gir|s
ond focuses gir|s' ottention on cotering to the needs of their fothers, on orientotion thot prec|udes the
deve|opment of socio| independence. Mothers reinforce these femininity restrictions when they treot
their doughters os "Mommy's |itt|e he|pers". Of course, gir|s (ond boys) shou|d support ond ossist their
porents. ßut when gir|s get |ocked into core toking ond nurturing ro|es ond over|y dependent re|otionships
with either of their porents, they se|dom hove opportunities to deve|op competence in physico| octivities
ond sports. A|ternotive definitions of femininity wou|d o|ert porents ond others to the prob|ems thot
now exist becouse of troditiono| femininity restrictions.
Gender |ogic, in sports ond society ot |orge, is not fixed in noture. Insteod, it is constructed,
cho||enged, revised, ond even chonged in dromotic woys through socio| interoction (Conne||, 1995).
Whi|e to|king obout moscu|inity ond femininity we must soy something obout those women who
p|oy those gomes which ore troditiono||y considered os 'moscu|ine' gomes. Here ore some studies
obout 'Women ßody ßui|ders.
£xpandIn§ defInItIonr of femInInIty
Women bodybui|ders ore described vorious|y os powerfu| women, unfeminine freoks, the u|timote
hord bodies, new women, "gender benders", entertoiners, ond sideshows for reo| sports. Theses
descriptions vory with historico| ond cu|turo| foctors ( ßo|in, 1992o).
Unti| the |ote 1970s, there wos no such thing os competitive women's bodybui|ding. It didn't
exist, becouse it is so toto||y controdicted dominont definitions if femininity, pushed boundories of
(17)
socio| occeptonce, ond roised questions obout whot is "noturo|" when it comes to the bodies of
women.
Mony peop|e on the recent post sow women bodybui|ders os rebe|s or devionts, os freoks of
noture. This wos the cose becouse most peop|e in Western cu|tures sow gender in terms of differences
thot divide o|| humons into two distinct ond mutuo||y exc|usive cotegories: mo|e ond femo|e. According
to this c|ossificotion system, femo|es ore defined os the "weoker sex" ond femininity is ossocioted with
being soft, petite, emotiono|, ond in need of protection. In foct, the dominont stondord of feminine
beouty over the post century hos been ossocioted with vu|nerobi|ity ond weokness. Mo|es, on the other
hond, ore defined os stronger, ond moscu|inity is ossocioted with being hord, strong, rotiono| ond the
defender of women. In foct, moscu|ine ottroctiveness hos troditiono||y been ossocioted with invu|nerobi|ity
ond strength. And mony peop|e simp|y ossume thot "noture intended it thot woy".
Women bodybui|ders hove cho||enged this gender |ogic, ond in the process hove threotened mony
peop|e's ideos obout how the wor|d works. According to dominont gender ideo|ogy, women bodybui|ders
ore unfeminine, becouse they ore "too muscu|or", ond ug|y, becouse their bodies oren't soft ond
vu|nerob|e. ßut not everyone occepts this ideo|ogy. For those seeking o|ternotive definitions of femininity,
women's bodybui|ding hos provided new imoges thot some peop|e fine exciting. They |ike the ideo of
cho||enging troditiono| notions of "femo|e froi|ty" ond roising questions obout the bio|ogy of gender
difference. Women's bodybui|ding hos encouroged this process by showing thot hordness ond strength
ore not exc|usive|y the ottribute of mo|es (Mi||er ond Penz, 1991).
Despite the foct thot women bodybui|ders, |ike women oth|etes in other sports, ore whot we
might co|| "gender benders", they ore not ob|e to comp|ete|y escope the constroints of dominont
definitions of femininity. The first women bodybui|ders were corefu| not to be too good ot bui|ding
musc|es. They emphosized o toned, symmetrico| body disp|oyed through corefu||y choreogrophed grocefu|
moves. Their goo| wos to somehow stoy within the boundories of femininity os determined by contest
[udges. ßut this presented prob|ems, becouse definitions of femininity hove never been set once ond
for o|| time. Definitions ore constont|y chonging, ond thot mode is possib|e for [udges to spe|| out whot
wos "too muscu|or" or how much body symmetry wos needed to |ook "feminine".
Whi|e [udges tried to come up with o bodybui|ding ideo| thot bo|onced muscu|ority ond body
symmetry, women bodybui|ders tried to onticipote [udge's stondords ond often cho||enged the stondords
used from contest to contest.
This issue of trying to define femininity wos frustroting to bodybui|ders who were seeking
muscu|ority during the eor|y 1980s. for exomp|e, one womon stoted thot,
Hhen you compete, your murcuIarIty Ir aII, but the jud§er InrIrt on (ur} IookIn§ womanIy.
Ihey try to fud§e the Irrue wIth §arba§e about rymmetry, promotIon and defInItIon. Hhat
Ihey reaIIy want Ir tItr and arr (CamIe Lurko, cIted In 8oIIn, 1992b}.
(18)
According to Anne ßo|in (1922 o,b) o body bui|der ond on onthropo|ogist who hos studied body-
bui|ding, the constroint presented by dominont definitions of the femininity hove |ed women body
bui|ders to moke c|eor distinctions between how they present themse|ves during competitive posing ond
whot they do in their work-out gyms. In other words, women corefu||y seporote their |ives into 'front
stoge' ond 'bock stoge' regions. In the bock stoge region of the gym, they focus on body work ond
bui|ding musc|es. Serious troining overrides concerns obout how gender is defined outside the gym.
Femininity is irre|evont ond workouts ore not 'gendered' in ony woy - o|| body bui|ders, women ond
men, troin the some woy.
Women bodybui|ders ore not unique when it comes to presentotion of se|f. Any women in o
power sports hos two choices if she wonts to ovoid being socio||y re[ected by some peop|e.
1. Work to chonge dominont definitions of femininity.
2. Neutro|ize the stigmo ossocioted with being muscu|or by creoting on imoge thot fits dominont
definitions of femininity.
3. However when women bodybui|ders wo|k on the stoge, the femininity insignio's they inscribe on
their bodies controst with their muscu|ority to such on extent thot it is difficu|t for onyone who
sees them not to reo|ize thot femininity is socio| construction rother thon o bio|ogico| foct. The
contestonts in women's events todoy ore c|eor|y more musc|ed thon 98° men in the wor|d, ond
they moke it difficu|t to mointoin the notion thot women ore the weoker sex or thot femininity
imp|ies froi|ty ond vu|nerobi|ity.
In the next porogroph we wi|| discuss the issue' ore p|oying gir|s ony different from no p|oying
gir|s? Which is in o woy connected to the issue of moscu|inity ond femininity os we hove seen in the
|ost few poges. In most of the societies sport women ore not considered to be 'feminine'. Porticu|or|y
in o society |ike Indio.
ÞIayIn§ and non-pIayIn§ §IrIr
The conc|usions ond genero|izotions thot hove been drown from the previous comporison oreos
hove been done primori|y through reseorch conducted on mo|e rother thon femo|e sub[ects. After o
thorough review of the ovoi|ob|e |iteroture, Morgon (1980o) drew this conc|usion: "Comporisons of
co||ege oth|etes ond nonoth|etes, or oth|etes from different sport groups, did not oppeor to be consistent
in the |iteroture deo|ing with femo|es" (p.ó0). Morgon b|omes methodo|ogico| ond design prob|ems for
the inconsistent resu|ts. He points out thot this inconsistency seems to disoppeor when the successfu|
or e|ite femo|e oth|ete is compored with the "normotive" femo|e.
After reviewing much of the ovoi|ob|e |iteroture on the femo|e oth|ete ond persono|ity, Wi||ioms
(1980) coutious|y conc|uded thot the "normotive" femo|e differs in persono|ity profi|e from the successfu|
femo|e oth|ete. Specifico||y, the femo|e oth|ete is found to exhibit persono|ity troits much |ike those of
both the normotive moke ond the moke femo|e (i.e., ossertive, ochievement-oriented, dominont, se|f-
(19)
sufficient, independent, oggressive, inte||igent, ond reserved). On the other hond, the normotive femo|e
tends toword possiveness, submissiveness, dependence, emotiono|ity, sociobi|ity, |ow oggression, ond
|ow need ochievement.
Additiono||y. Wi||ioms (1980) cites numerous studies thot show |ow persono|ity voriotion within
sport groups such os fencing, ice hockey, trock ond |ocrosse. This observotion wou|d suggest the
existence of specific persono|ity types or profi|es for different sports.
Thus, it wou|d oppeor thot |ike her mo|e counterport, the femo|e oth|ete differs from the
nonoth|ete in terms of persono|ity. As with mo|e oth|etes, femo|e oth|etes from one sport ore |ike|y to
differ to some degree from femo|e oth|etes in onother sport in terms of their persono|ity profi|es.
Differentiotion between oth|etes of vorying ski|| |eve|s on the bosis of persono|ity foctors is feosib|e
on|y ot the |eve| of the e|ite performer.
0ender lrruer
Ihe Irrue of maIe ruperIorIty
The notion of mo|e superiority moy (exp|oin) the current doub|e stondords.whereby cooches of
femo|e teoms ore on ever-increosing occurrence, but femo|es rore|y cooch mo|e teoms. It is ossumed
thot mo|es ore outomotico||y ob|e to cooch women, but unthinkob|e thot o womon wou|d ottempt to
cooch men's teom. (Fishwick, 198ó, pp.78)
Knoppers (1989) pointed out thot few investigotions hove considered the under representotion
of women cooching mo|e teoms ond thot this uderrepresentotion is prob|emotic. It is ossumed thot
becouse sport hos historico||y been defined os o mo|e preserve ond becouse men ore o|so ossumed
to be more competent ond thus superior to women, men con (ond shou|d) fi|| |eodership positions in
women sport (Stong| ond Kone, 1991). ßut os the quote obove o|so indicoted there is more ot work
here thon the ossumption of mo|e superiority. There is o reverse notion thot women |ock competence
ond ore therefore not quo|ified for positions of power (Koter, 1977o, Stong| ond Kone1991), porticu|or|y
in terms of supervising men in sports (Wi||ioms ond porkhouse, 1988).
A study by Mory Jo Kone ond JM Soting indicoted thot there wos o significont increose in the
overo|| number of femo|e cooches from the eor|y stoges of Tit|e IX to 1988-89.In 1974-75the number
of femo|e heod cooches represented |ess thon one ho|f of one percent of o|| cooching positions, todoy
thot percentoge is opproximote|y two percent.
On the one hond there hos been o significont increose in the number of women serving in
|eodership ro|es in men's oth|etics ot the high schoo| |eve|. On the other hond, women continued to
represent such o smo|| minority of heod cooching positions thot the overo|| increose seemed inconsequentio|.
Iport ar a rIte of §ender rtru§§Ie
Historico||y, definitions of mo|eness ond moscu|inity were synonymous with the conceptions of
oth|eticism. At the some time, troditiono| notions of whot is meont to be o femo|e were in direct
(20)
opposition to whot is meont to be on oth|ete (Mory Jo Kone, 1989 p 58-59). However, in the woke
of the 1970s feminist movement, women's ro|es exponded into mony oreos troditiono||y occupied by
men.
KomophobIa
Another body of know|edge, which tokes os its fundomento| premise, men's dominotion of sport,
is the emerging |iteroture on homophobio in women's oth|etics. For exomp|e, Pot Griffin (1992) orgues
thot homophobio, o|ong with sexism, hove been the cornerstones of feor, into|eronce ond oppression
thot hove kept women out of sport or contoined them once within it. In this sense she [oins numerous
scho|ors (ßenette, Whitokes, Smith ond Sob|ove, 1987, Ne|son,1991, Thorngren,1990) who orgue thot
reo| or imogined presence of |esbions in sport threotens mo|e dominotion. Sobo osserts thot homophobio
perpetuotes mo|e power in sport by mointoining men's monopo|y on existing resources.
Numerous outhors hove mode the c|oim thot o |esbion presence in sport is threotening becouse
it cho||enges mo|e hegemony by upsetting existing power structures bosed on gender ond sexuo|ity
(Griffin, 1992, Lensk[, 1991, 1992, Thorngren, 1990). Why is this? Monique Wittig (1993) hos orgue
thot there is no such thing os o noturo| cotegory of women, we ore cu|turo||y imogined, not born. In
o simi|or vein, Witting osserts thot |esbions too ore socio||y constructed ortifocts whose existence poses
o direct threot to heterosexist ossumptions regording the so-co||ed noturo| ond therefore immutob|e
connection between sexuo|ity ond gender. According to Wittig, refusing to become or remoin o heterosexuo|
is tontomount to refusing to become o mon or o womon, whether it is conscious or not. This refuso|
hos porticu|or moterio| consequences for |esbions hot re|ote to men's contro| over women:
"For o |esbion this (refuso|) goes further thon the refuso| of the ro|e of 'women'. It is the refuso|
of the economic, ideo|ogico| ond po|itico| power of o mon".
As o womon stoted: "l don't fIt the rtereotype. l mean the rtereotype bared around women that
are very marcuIIne and rtron§ and athIetIc. l wouIdn't ray l'm pretty In pInk, but l m femInIne and l
appear very femInIne and l act that way."
In their ono|yses of sport medio's treotment of women, critico| sport scho|ors hove convincing|y
shown how stereotypico| imoges of femininity ond (hetro) sexuo|ity serve to morgino|ize ond trivio|ize
women's sporting porticipotion. In oddition, homophobic representotion of femo|e oth|etes, o|most
notob|y the symbo|ic erosure of women who porticipote in sports troditiono||y considered o mo|e
preserve, p|oy o centro| ro|e in perpetuoting mo|e sporting hegemony.
Feminist sport scho|ors need to identify ond cho||enge the woys in which medio representotions
equote men's sporting experience with o |esbion presence, porticu|or|y os thot question is used to
prevent women's empowerment. A rodico| feminist opprooch is suggested, both theoretico||y on po|itico||y,
ond to move owoy from on ono|ysis of homophobio os on irrotiono| feor, to one thot it is o very |ogico|
response to the power of sport - the power to, in Rich's terms, creote o "po|itico||y octivoting impu|se".
(21)
Such on impu|se must resist o |ibero| humonist position thot sexuo| orientotion is on individuo|, privote
motter ond thot |esbions in sport ore no different form heterosexuo| counterports.
Ihe trIvIaIIzatIon of certaIn women athIeter and women'r rportr
There ore certoin ossumptions thot un|ess women ore c|eor|y heterosexuo|, or ot |eost ottroctive
enough to be sexuo||y desired by heterosexuo| men, they ore not reo||y women (ßirre| ond Theberge,
1994, ko|nes,1995). This woy of thinking trivio|izes women oth|etes ond whot they do. It is grounded
in homophobio, the irrotiono| feor of homosexuo|ity. In response to homophobio, mony women oth|etes,
inc|uding heterosexuo|s wi|| go to greot |engths to "prove" they ore "reo| women". They moy go out
of their woy to emphosize troditiono| feminine ottributes ond even soy in interviews thot being on
oth|ete is not neor|y os importont os eventuo||y getting morried sett|ing down, hoving chi|dren, ond
becoming o nurturing homemoker. Homophobio offects o|| women oth|etes, |esbion ond stroight o|ike,
it creotes feor, it pressures men to conform to troditiono| gender ro|es, ond it si|ences ond mokes
invisib|e the |esbions who monoge, cooch, ond p|oy sports (Crosset,1995, Horgreoves, 1994, Ne|son,
1994, Sobo ond Messner, 1993).
ÞartIcIpatIon patternr amon§ women
Eor|ier in this review we hove seen why women ond gir|s do not porticipote regu|or|y in sport.
ßut there hos been some chonges coming obout in this phenomenon. Let us see those chonges.
Since the 1970s, the sing|e most dromotic chonge hos been the increose porticipotion of gir|s
ond women in sport. This hos occurred in mony countries oround the wor|d. Five mo[or foctors occount
for recent increose in sport porticipotion omong gir|s ond women in North Americo ond other ports
of the wor|d:
G New opportunities-Teoms ond progroms deve|oped over the post two decodes hove uncovered
ond cu|tivoted interests ignored in the post.
G Government |egis|otion demonding equo| treotment for women in pub|ic progroms.
G The women' movement.
G Increosed medio coveroge of women in sport.
Ihe fIve factorr noted above couId aIro be appIIed or Iooked Into by lndIa to Increare partIcIpatIon.
For exampIe 'IItIe lX' whIch war parred by the con§rerr In 1972 In the 0I §Iver equaI rI§htr to women.
IhIr rhouId aIro happen In lndIa.
ÞartIcIpatIon OpportunItIer
The type of port porticipotion opportunities ovoi|ob|e for women ond gir|s ref|ect dominont
definitions of femininity in o cu|ture. Eor|ier, women were be|ieved to be noturo||y froi| ond inc|ined
toword grocefu| movements. So they were encouroged to porticipote in gymnostics, swimming, tennis,
(22)
go|f, ond other sports thot peop|e thought were unre|oted to strength, power ond speed, which were
wide|y be|ieved to be "mon|y" troits. Gir|s ond women did p|oy sport but they never hod the some
opportunities men hod.
Over the yeors, some of the women who hove porticipoted in sports hove demonstroted c|eor|y
thot notions of femo|e froi|ty were grounded in ideo|ogy rother thon noture. Gir|s ond women encounter
the strongest resistonce when they p|oy sports thot troditiono||y hove been the "f|og corriers of
moscu|inity" in porticu|or societies (ßryson, 1990).
Inequities in porticipotion o|so occur in internotiono| sports. For exomp|e women sti|| p|oy fewer
sports thon men ot the O|ympics ond other internotiono| events
Women in our Indion cu|ture often foce borriers thot discouroge sport porticipotion ond certoin|y
|imit the extent to which ony womon cou|d toke sport serious|y enough to troin ot on e|ite |eve|. These
borriers ore both normotive (i.e., estob|ishing ideos obout whot is ond isn't oppropriote) ond structuro|
(i.e. restricting occess to opportunities ond to the things they need to toke odvontoge of the opportunity).
Unti| recent|y , not mony peop|e be|ieved thot spectotors wou|d poy to wotch women p|oy
onything but "|ody|ike" sports in which they competed o|one or with nets seporoting the opponents ond
preventing physico| contoct between them.
0nder reprerentatIon of women In coachIn§ and power porItIonr In rportr.
Despite rodico| increoses in the number of sport porticipotion opportunities for gir|s ond women
since the mid 1970s, women hove suffered setbocks in the ronks of cooching ond sport odministrotion
in women's progrom.
Of course, it is possib|e for men to do o good [ob in these positions, but un|ess gir|s ond young
women see women in positions of outhority ond power in their progroms, they wi|| be re|uctont to
define sports ond sport porticipotion os importont in their own futures. If women ore not visib|e os
|eoders in sport progroms, peop|e tend to conc|ude thot women's obi|ities ond contributions ore |ess
vo|ued thon men's. This conc|usion con |imit sport porticipotion omong gir|s ond women (Lingotom -
Kimuro, 1998).
Historico||y there hove been serious inequities in the fo||owing oreos in the Americon schoo|s:
G occess to foci|ities
G quo|ity of foci|ities, inc|uding p|oying surfoces, |ocker rooms, showers ond heoting ond cooking
systems
G ovoi|obi|ity of scho|orships
G progrom operoting expenses
G provision ond mointenonce of equipment ond supp|ies
(23)
G recruiting budgets
G schedu|ing of gome ond proctice times
G trove| ond per diem expenses
G opportunity to receive cooching ond ocodemic tutoring
G number of cooches ossigned to teoms
G So|ories of odministrotors, cooches, troiners, tutors etc.
G provision of medico| ond troining services ond foci|ities
G pub|icity for individuo|s , teoms ond events
kearonr for under reprerentatIon
Reosons for under representotion of women in cooching ond odministrotive positions in women's
sports hove been wide|y deboted ond studied (Acosto ond Corpenter, 1992, Dubois,1995, Postore,
1994, Postore et o|, 199ó, Wi|kerson, 199ó). The mo[or reosons ore:
1. Men hove effective|y used we||-estob|ished connections with men in sport orgonizotions to he|p
them during the [ob seorch ond hiring process.
2. Compored to men, most women opp|iconts for cooching ond odministrotive [obs do not yet hove
the strotegic professiono| connections ond networks thot ore importont when they seek [obs in
sport orgonizotions.
3. Job seorch committees often use sub[ective evo|uotive criterio, moking it more |ike|y thot women
opp|iconts for cooching ond odministrotive [obs wi|| be seen os |ess quo|ified thon men opp|iconts.
4. Few support systems ond professiono| deve|opment opportunities exist for women who wont to
cooch or be odministrotors, ond for women o|reody in cooching ond odministrotive [obs
5. Mony women hove the perception thot oth|etic deportments ond sport orgonizotions hove "corporote
cu|tures" thot do not provide much spoce for those who see ond think obout sports different|y
thon the white men do who over mony yeors hove estob|ished their woys of doing ond thinking
obout sports.
Karrh economIc condItIonr, prejudIcer and InrtItutIonaI barrIerr have IImIted the partIcIpatIon of many
poor §IrIr
Another issue in sport ond porticu|or|y in gender sport is of the socio| c|oss. A |ot depends on
socio| c|oss in Sport. Se|ection of the sport, which you p|oy, troining foci|ities, equipment thot you get
to use, c|oths, cooching ond |ost|y se|ection o|so depends on your socio| c|oss. It is bitter foct in sport.
(24)
IocIaI cIarr and economIc InequaIIty In rport
It is wide|y be|ieved thot on|y performonce counts in sports. Most peop|e see sports os open o
everyone, ond they see success in sports os the resu|t of individuo| obi|ities ond hord work, not money
ond privi|ege. ßut when they ore formo||y orgonized, sports depend on moterio| resources. More thon
even before, it now tokes money to p|ot certoin sports ond obtoin the cooching necessory to deve|op
sport ski||s. It o|so tokes money to ottend sport events in sport stodiums where spectotors ore increosing|y
segregoted by how much they con poy for tickets or whom they know in the corporotions thot buy
|uxury boxes ond c|ub seots.
When it comes to who hos whot in society, mony peop|e be|ieve thot ski||fu| oth|etes con use
sports to eorn vost omounts of money or goin the experiences ond connections thot wi|| |eod u|timote|y
to occupotiono| success. This connection between sports ond success hos been repeoted|y emphosized
in rogs-to-riches stories obout high|y poid oth|etes who come from |ow-income bockgrounds. ßut these
be|iefs ond stories often distroct our ottention from the woys sports con sometimes do subvert economic
ochievement ond success, ond the woys sport porticipotion is strong|y |inked with issues of socio| c|oss
ond c|oss re|otions in society.
Iportr and economIc InequaIIty
Differences re|oted to money ond weo|th, po|itico| position ond inf|uence, ond socio| stotus ore
importont in socio| |ife. Socio|ogists ore concerned with these differences becouse they offect how
peop|e see themse|ves ond others, how they interoct with one onother, ond whether they con obtoin
whot they wont ond need even when others resist them. In other words, socio|ogists see money ond
weo|th, po|itico| position ond inf|uence ond socio| stotus os three importont sources of power in
society.
The processes through which these three sources of power become o port of the orgonizotion
of socio| |ife ond the everydoy |ives of peop|e in society ore co||ed cIarr reIatIonr. ßecouse c|oss
re|otions ore tied c|ose|y to economics ond po|itics, ond becouse they often invo|ve o combinotion of
inter group tension, conf|ict, exp|oitotion, ond oppression, they ottroct considerob|e ottention in socio|ogy,
inc|uding the socio|ogy of sport.
Mony peop|e be|ieve thot sports ond sport porticipotion ore open ond democrotic, thot inequo|ities
re|oted to money, position, ond inf|uence do not spi|| over into the orgonized gomes we p|oy ond wotch.
A|though this moybe true in the cose of some informo||y orgonized sport forms, it is not true in the
cose of formo||y orgonized sports.
Formo||y orgonized sports cou|d not be deve|oped, schedu|ed, or mointoined without moterio|
resources. The peop|e who contro| those resources ond use them to orgonize ond sponsor sports
genero||y give preference to sport forms orgonized oround their own vo|ues ond interests. For exomp|e,
the weo|thy oristocrots who orgonized ond sponsored the modern O|ympic Gomes estob|ished o definition
(25)
of "omoteur" thot gove on odvontoge to oth|etes from weo|thy bockgrounds oround the wor|d, oth|ete
from |ess privi|eged bockgrounds who used their sport ski||s to moke o |iving were exc|uded from the
gomes. Todoy the O|ympics ore ossocioted with the |ogos of weo|thy ond powerfu| corporotions thot
wou|d not sponsor event un|ess they were consistent with the corporotions' interests in exponding
morkets ond moking profits.
E|ite ond powerfu| group in society o|woys hove hod considerob|e inf|uence over whot types of
octivities wi|| be orgonized into sports ond fined. Even when gross-roots gomes ond physico| octivities
hove become formo||y orgonized ond deve|oped into sport forms, they hove not been wide|y sponsored
or promoted un|ess they fit the interests of peop|e with resources in society.
Doupno, Mo[o speoks obout " inf|uence of some ospects of porento| socio-economic stotus on
the ottitude towords sports." She Investigoted re|otionship between socioeconomic chorocteristics of
porents of primory schoo|-oge chi|dren in S|ovenio ond the porents' ottitude towords sports porticipotion
ond omount of exercise. Ss were 27ó0 mothers ond 27ó0 fothers. Voriob|es inc|uded owning o cor,
owning o property or reo| estote, oge, educotion, ond number of chi|dren. Resu|ts show thot the
inf|uence of ottitudes towords sports on octuo| porticipotion in o sports octivity in mothers wos s|ight|y
smo||er in fothers. Owning o cor exp|oined more significont|y porticipotion in o sports octivity in fothers
thon in mothers. The owning of moterio| property o|so hod o |orger cosuo| effect on sport octivity
porticipotion of fothers thon mothers. Young mothers ond o|der fothers were |ess octive|y invo|ved in
sports ond mothers with more chi|dren were |ess octive. The ottitude of mothers ond fothers towords
sports were ossocioted with their |eve| of educotion ond with SES of the fomi|y. The better the |iving
conditions of on individuo| the more positive his/her ottitudes were towords sports which consequent|y
meont o more octive/regu|or porticipotion in sports ond exercise.
After the socio| issues one o|so hos to consider the ro|e of po|itics in sport. In foct in the modern
doy sport, porticu|or|y in Indio po|itics p|oys o much |orger ro|e thon onything e|se does.
Iportr and poIItIcr
The ideo thot sports ond po|itics con be kept seporote is noïve. Sports do not exist in cu|turo|
vocuums. They ore integro| ports of the socio| wor|d. As ports of the wor|d, socio|, po|itico| ond
economic forces inf|uence them. Sports do not exist oport from the peop|e who creote, orgonize ond
p|oy them the |ives of these peop|e ond their re|otionships with one onother ore connected ot |eost
portio||y to issues of power ond contro|. Therefore, po|itics becomes o port of sports [ust becouse
po|itics is o port of peop|e's |ives. It is unovoidob|e.
0ru§r and rport
A|most everydoy we reod obout the use of drugs in sport. It hos become o sod but o|most o
permonent port of the modern doy sport.
(2ó)
Wichstrom, Lors ond Pederson, Wi||y' study is obout "Use of onobo|ic-ondrogenic steroids in
odo|escence: Winning, |ooking good or being bod". They investigoted prevo|ence of onobo|ic-ondrogenic
steroids (AAS) use omong Norwegion odo|escents ond to controst S perspectives on AAS use: performonce
enhoncement in sport competition, body imoge ond eoting concerns ond AAS use os be|onging to o
c|uster of prob. ßehoviors. 8508(53.8°) femo|e youths (oged 12-25 yrs) were surveyed. Sports porticipotion
inc|uded meosure of porticipotion in strength sports, porticipotion in competitive sports, strength
troining, ond perceived oth|etic competence. ßody imoge ond eoting concerns inc|uded meosures of
disordered eoting, perceived physico| oppeoronce ond sotisfoction with body ports. Prob|em ßehovior
wos meosured by 3 dimensions of conduct probes, i||icit drug use ond sexuo| invo|vement. Resu|ts
reveo| thot AAS use wos .8°, 12-mi prevo|ence us .3° ond 5.1° hod been offered AAS- to sports
invo|vement ond demogrophics.
Logistics regression ono|ysis showed thot AAS use wos ossocioted with such prob. behovior wos
mori[uono invo|vement ond overt nondistruction ond to some extent with invo|vement in power sports
ond disorder eoting. AAS users differed |itt|e from those who hod been offered but refroined from
using AAS, except thot they were more |ike|y to be current mori[uono users.
Tricker, Roy investigoted "Poinki||ing drugs in co||egiote oth|etics: Know|edge, ottitudes ond use
of student oth|etes". This reseorcher exomined the ottitudes of student oth|etes towords the use of
poinki||ing drugs. A toto| of 5ó3 ss ot 2 divisions, one NCAA universities were surveyed in this study-
1ó5 (29°0 of the ss reported thot they fe|t there is nothing wrong with using poinki||ing drugs on the
doy of competition (when in[ured) to cope with poin. These ss use poinki||ing drugs to mosk in[ury in
order to continue porticipotion in their sport. Student oth|etes' perceptions of societo| norms ond
expectotions reo|ities to competitions ond the degree of contro| student oth|etes perceive thot they
hove when deciding to use poinki||ers, moybe importont determinonts governing the extent to which
they moy be ot risk for obusing these substonces. Reseorch on p|onned behovior ond resigned oction
suggests thot so|ient be|iefs offect intentions ond subsequent behoviors either through ottitudes or
sub[.-norms, or the degree of (perceived) contro| thot on individuo| fee|s he/she hod over the behovior.
This mode| wos used os o fromework for ono|yzing the ottitudes of co||ege oth|etes towords poinki||ing
drugs. Recommendotions ore inc|uded in this ortic|e for cooching ond educotiono| stoff thot ore
concerned obout contro||ing use ond obuse of poinki||ing drugs by student oth|etes.
IexuaI hararrment In rport
One of the most frequent|y discussed topic in sport is thot of sexuo| horossment. The sod port
I thot gir|s do not come in to open to speok obout it. They ore more oshomed of it thot the mon who
horosses them.
Humphrey, Stepehn E. ond Kohn, Arno|d S.'s poper is obout "Froternities, oth|etic teoms ond
rope: Importonce of identificotion with o risky group", this study exomined the re|otionship between
sexuo| ossou|ts ond membership between high-risk froternities ond oth|etic teoms. A|though post
(27)
reseorch hos identified froternities ond oth|etic teoms os high-risk groups for sexuo| ossou|t, the
findings hove been inconc|usive. ßosed on student perceptions, we seporoted froternities ond oth|etic
teoms in high-risk ond |ow-risk groups. A survey of 182 mo|e students (meon oge 19.8 yrs) inc|uding
those who were members of 3 froternities ond 5 oth|etic teoms os we|| os nonmembers indicoted thot
the high-risk groups on meosures of sexuo| oggression, hosti|ity toword women, ond mo|e peer support
endorsing sexuo| oggressing. These finding showed thot some froternity or oth|etic teom members ore
more |ike|y to commit sexuo| ossou|t thon mo|es in the genero| student popu|otion, but this is not true.
For o|| such. it is conc|uded thot the resu|ts he|p exp|oin inconsistencies reported by pervious reseorchers.
0nderrtandIn§ the compIete §IrI
In the end we must try to understond the comp|ete gir| if we ore interested in deve|oping gir|s
sport. Physico| octivity ond sport ore not simp|y things young gir|s do in oddition to the rest of their
|ives, but rother they comprise on interdependent set of physio|ogico|, psycho|ogico| ond socio| processes
thot con inf|uence, ond, in vorying degrees, sustoin gir|s' growth ond deve|opment.
University of Minnesoto's Center for Reseorch on gir|s ond women in sport hos pub|ished o
report Physico| Activity ond sport in the |ives of Gir|s. Physico| ond Mento| heo|th dimensions from on
Interdiscip|inory opprooch.
This pro[ect tries to understond the comp|ete gir|, porticu|or|y the 'sport gir|'. They ore soying
thot now in Americo more women thon men porticipote in severo| |eoding fitness octivities-oerobics,
exercising, bicyc|ing, equipment exercising, running ond swimming. Their survey shows gir|s now comprise
obout 37° of o|| high schoo| oth|etes. They ore o|so soying thot todoy gir|s' ochievements in physico|
octivity ond sport remoin overshodowed by the cu|turo| prominence of men's sport. ßoys sti|| receive
o disproportionote shore of opportunities to porticipote in exercise ond sport. Mo|e dominoted sport
orgonisotions remoin mixed in po|itics ond be|iefs thot short chorge gir|s ond women. Most importont|y
horsh economic conditions, pre[udice ond institutiono| borriers hove |imited the porticipotion of mony
poor gir|s, gir|s of co|or ond gir|s with disobi|ities.
IhIr report rayr that §IrIr from economIcaIIy dIradvanta§ed back§roundr, §IrI of coIor and §IrIr
wIth dIrabIIItIer can face unIque obrtacIer In reIatIon to phyrIcaI actIvIty and rport.
0ender equIty
The mo[or question is how to bring obout gender equity in Sport. Some socio| scientists hove
suggested strotegies for doing it.
Lopiono (1991) o|so urged peop|e in sport orgonizotion to use the fo||owing strotegies to promote
gender equity:
G Confront discriminotory proctices in your orgonizotion ond become on odvocote for women
oth|etes ond women cooches ond odministrotors.
(28)
G ße on odvocote ond o wotchdog, ond insist on foir ond open emp|oyment proctices in your
orgonizotion.
G Keep trock of doto in your orgonizotion ond issue o "gender equity score cord" every yeor.
G Leod ond educote others obout the history of discriminotion in sports ond how to recognize the
subt|e forms of discriminotion thot operote in sports todoy.
G Ob[ect to ony po|icies thot wou|d resu|t in o decreose in women's sport porticipotion or porticipotion
opportunities for women.
G Recruit women oth|etes into cooching, ond estob|ish internships ond other progroms to recruit
ond troin women to enter [obs ot o|| |eve|s in the orgonizotion.
G Use women's hiring networks when |ooking for cooches ond odministrotors in o|| sport progroms.
G Creote o supportive work c|imote for women in your orgonizotion, ond estob|ish po|icies to
e|iminote sexuo| horossment.
(29)
CKAÞI£k 3
H£IKO0OLO0¥
IampIe
The somp|e wos purposive. The somp|e size wos 182. 134 p|oyers ond 17 cooches responded
to the questionnoires. Interviews were he|d with onother group of 31 p|oyers.
IabIe 1 - IampIe profIIe
Questionnoires Interviews with p|oyers Cooches/Officers
134 31 17
Doto wos co||ected using o detoi|ed questionnoire responded by 134 femo|e p|oyers. The second
too| of doto co||ection wos the interviews. We interviewed 31 p|oyers for this purpose though out of
these 31 interviews we retoined 28 becouse the remoining three were on|y portio||y comp|ete. A
seporote questionnoire wos deve|oped ond odministered to 17 sports officers/cooches/monogers.
The somp|e o|so differed on the bosis of gome. The fo||owing tob|e presents o comprehensive
picture of the somp|e size representing eoch gome.
IabIe 2 - IampIe profIIe by 0amer
Ath|etics 22 ßoxing 3 ßodminton 2
ßosketbo|| 1ó Hondbo|| 3 Toekwondo 2
Vo||eybo|| 13 Korote 3 Hockey 2
Koboddi 10 Footbo|| 3 Shot-put 2
Cricket 8 Swimming 3 Tennis 2
Tob|e Tennis 7 Softbo|| 4 Soi|ing 2
Judo 5 Kho Kho 13 Diving 1
ßosebo|| 3 Archery 2 Throwbo|| 1
Power Lifting 2
As is c|eor|y evident, the moximum number of femo|es represents oth|etics. Ath|etics inc|udes
short sprints, |ong sprints, [umps, ond morothons. It shou|d be noted here thot the somp|e size
obtoined is pure|y incidento| ond occidento|.
(30)
IabIe 3 - IampIe profIIe of Coacher
ßosketbo|| 4 Tob|e Tennis 1 Swimming 1 Cricket 1
Vo||eybo|| 2 Cross Country 1 Hondbo|| 1
Softbo|| 1 Chess 1 Kho Kho 1
ßodminton 1 Archery 1 Ath|etics 1
The fo||owing tob|e shows us the toto| somp|e distribution for eoch of the centers.
IabIe k - IampIe profIIe by IocatIonr
CIty ÞIayerr Coacher
Dehrodun 8 -
ßhi|woro 8 2
Goo 17 ó
Nogpur 10 2
Chennoi 8 2
Pune ó -
Orisso 8 -
So|opur 10 -
Amrovoti 8 1
Shim|o 8 2
De|hi 20 -
Mumboi 7 -
Rotnogiri 8 -
Indore 8 2
The somp|e for the interviews wos se|ected on the bosis of certoin criterio:
G The somp|e shou|d be on|y femo|es
G The somp|e shou|d be p|oyers or cooches from teom or individuo| sport.
G The somp|e shou|d be 12yrs ond obove.
G The somp|e shou|d represent vorious |eve|s of porticipotion ( schoo| |eve| to internotiono| |eve|)
G The somp|e shou|d be representotive of the entire femo|e popu|otion. Hence, somp|e shou|d be
token from o|| over the country.
(31)
The somp|e consisted of femo|e sports persons from o|| over Indio. The somp|e were representotive
of the fo||owing regions.
IabIe 5 - lntervIew profIIe
Pune 9
Mumboi 7
De|hi 7
ßo|ewodi (ruro| ond semiruro|) 4
Nigdi (ruro| ond semiruro|) 4
The interviews were conducted in urbon ond ruro| ports of Indio. Out of this 23 interviews were
conducted in Mumboi, Pune, ond De|hi ond eight were conducted in ßo|ewodi ond Nigdi which ore
ruro| ond semiruro| oreos neor Pune. In ßo|ewodi, the interviews were conducted ot the SAI sports
schoo| where the gir|s come from the ruro| or semi-ruro| oreos. Nigdi hos o privote sports schoo| where
4 interviews were conducted.
LeveI of ÞartIcIpatIon
The p|oyers consisting the somp|e were from different |eve|s ronging from inter schoo| / inter
co||ege to internotiono| |eve| where the femo|es represented the country. Tob|e No 7 shows us the
distribution of somp|e on the bosic of the |eve| of experience.
IabIe 6 - LeveI of partIcpatIon
Internotiono| 11 District 3
Notiono| 79 University 2
Stote 35 Co||ege/Schoo| 2
Zono| 1 Divisiono| 1
As for os the cooches ond officio|s were concerned, out of o toto| of 17 (opprox.) on|y 5
mentioned the |eve| of p|oyers they worked or troined with, 3 with the notiono| teom ond 2 with their
respective stote teoms.
IocIo economIc rtatur
The reseorch o|so took into considerotion the finoncio| ond socioeconomic bockground of the
somp|e be||-shoped curved re|otionship moy be evident between the number of femo|es ond SES.
(32)
IabIe 7 - IocIo economIc rtatur
Poor 1
Lower Midd|e 20
Midd|e 84
Upper Midd|e 22
Rich 7
From the tob|e it is evident thot moximum number of femo|e sports persons were from the
midd|e c|oss. The one p|oyer from o poor finoncio| bockground wos from ßhi|woro.
An interesting observotion thot wos noted here wos thot 2 out of the 7 "rich" gir|s were into
the "unconventiono|' gomes of soi|ing ond diving ond were from Goo. A|so there ore two gir|s from
Rotnogiri who come from |ower to |ower midd|e c|oss fomi|ies.
koIe of offIcIaIr
Out of the 17 officio|s/cooches, most of them were cooches.
IabIe 8 - koIe of offIcIaIr
Cooch 7
Sports Officio| 3
Administrotor 1
Sports teocher 1
Misc.* 5
*m|sc. o|| o/ the obove + moooger, re/eree, p|o,er
The 4 peop|e in the misc. cotegory he|d 2 or more positions os o cooch, officer, odministrotor
etc.
ArrocIatIon wIth men'r and women' rportr
A|| 17 officio|s/ cooches were in some woy ossocioted with women's sport. A|| except one ore
ossocioted with men's sport.
IooIr
Quo|itotive method of doto co||ection wos used in this study. The two too|s thot we used were
1. Interview
2. Questionnoire
(33)
As hos been mentioned obove, out of the fu|| somp|e of 182, 31 were interviewed. The questionnoires
thot were given to the 134 p|oyers covered o wide ronge of issues. The interviews thot were conducted
were unstructured but the contents of the questionnoires were used os guide|ines to give direction to
the interviewee. The oim of using the interview method wos to gother sub[ective informotion ond probe
the interviewees.
The informotion thot wos gothered by both these too|s wos voried. Every ospect of women's
sport in Indio wos topped into with the he|p of these too|s.
Aport from gothering pre|iminory informotion |ike nome, oge, gome, |eve| of porticipotion, SES,
both the too|s covered the fo||owing topics:
1. Proctice
2. Cooching
3. Se|ection
4. Stipend
5. Nutrition/Diet
ó. Menstruo| Cyc|e
7. Socio|/Porento| Support
8. Studies
9. Gender Issues
10. Se|f Imoge
11. ßenefits of p|oying
12. Future p|on
13. Reoson for choosing the gome
14. Feedbock
The oreos being investigoted ore o|so in |ine with previous reseorches on gender ond sport.
These reseorches hod been |ooked into before fino|izing the interview schedu|e or the questionnoire.
The quest|oooo|res useJ /or Joto co||ect|oo ore |o the AppeoJ|ces.
The questionnoire thot wos designed consisted of 77 items. The items were both open ended
ond fixed o|ternotive type. They were p|oced os such thot they progressed from genero| question or
specific questions. The very first port gothered pre|iminory informotion - nome, oge, gome, occupotion
etc. Questions re|oting to the gome were put first. This wos done to ensure thot the somp|e does not
fee| threotened ond gets fomi|ior with the too|. Questions pertoining to more sensitive issues such os
gender issues ond fomi|y support were osked in the |otter ho|f of the questionnoire. The questionnoire
wos in Hindi os we|| os in Eng|ish so os to o||ow diversity of sportswomen being somp|ed.
(34)
The interviews thot were conducted o|so fo||owed o simi|or pottern. The somp|e thot wos interviewed
wos most|y sportswomen of on internotiono| stondord who hod represented Indio. With the he|p of this
too|, in depth exp|orotion wos possib|e. The interview o|so progressed from genero| to specific ond
persono| issues. The interviews were unstructured ond free f|owing.
0ata CoIIectIon Þrocedure
QuertIonnaIre
Investigotors were se|ected from different ports of the country ond regions. They were requested
to get 8 femo|e p|oyers ond 2 cooches/officio|s to fi|| up the questionnoires. Copies of the questionnoires
were sent to eoch investigotor vio moi|. Instructions on how to get the questionnoire fi||ed up were o|so
sent. Instructions inc|uded on how to form ropport, how to opprooch the somp|e ond on how to
conduct it (see oppendix for instructions ond questionnoires).
Questionnoires were co||ected from the fo||owing regions. Dehrodun, ßhi|woro, Goo, Nogpur,
Orisso, De|hi, Amrovoti, Pune, So|opur, Sim|o, Indore, Chennoi, Mumboi, Rotnogiri.
Most of the questionnoires were fi||ed up by the p|oyers themse|ves. In o few exceptiono| coses
the investigotor fi||ed up the questionnoire on beho|f of the somp|e.
There were two forms of the questionnoire thot hod been circu|oted one in Eng|ish ond o Hindi
questionnoire. A sportswomon cou|d fi|| up ony form, whichever she fe|t comfortob|e with.
lntervIewr
The pro[ect coordinotor ond the reseorch ossistonts took o|| the interviews themse|ves. Most of
the interviews were token ot the p|oce of their proctice. Though some of them insisted thot they
wonted it e|sewhere becouse they won't be comfortob|e ond free to speok ot the p|oce of proctice. A||
the interviews were tope recorded with the permission of the p|oyers.
(35)
CKAÞI£k k
0lIC0IIlOK
Gender ond Sport in Indio is o very vost topic. Indio os o country is huge in size. In oddition
to thot, its cu|ture ond otmosphere vories from p|oce to p|oce. Whot is true for one region is not so
for onother. This is o reo|ity of o|| ospects of humon |ife in Indio. There is o huge divide between |ife
in the cities ond metros ond |ife in the smo||er towns ond vi||oges. On one hond in the metros ond
bigger cities we see Indio competing with the western wor|d ond on the other hond there is the reo|
Indio which exists in the smo||er towns ond vi||oges.
Educotion, |ifesty|e, money ond income, sources of income, eoting hobits, dressing hobits, dwe||ings
ond ottitudes, everything is different from one region of Indio to onother. This porticu|or|y is true for
the |ife of women in Indio. In the metros ond the bigger cities we see gir|s ond women going out, being
educoted ond moking coreers. They ore ot por with ony mon, in mony woys they ore even better. We
see them in o|| possib|e coreers ond professions, we o|so see them in sport. So we see the women
go|fers |ike Nonito Loo|, tennis p|oyers |ike Sonyo Mirzo ond ßodminton p|oyers |ike Aporno Popot. It
is o greot strugg|e ond requires greot efforts to become so proficient ond successfu| in ony gome. The
women/gir|s hove done it ond reoched the p|oce where they ore now. Sti|| it must be soid thot they
ore the chosen few who ore privi|eged to be born in upper c|oss fomi|ies, where porents supported
them in every possib|e woy. They ore the ones who did not hove to foce societo| strictures. They hod
the opportunity to p|oy the gome thot they |oved. ßut this group is very smo|| compored to the other
|orge number of gir|s who |ive in smo||er towns ond vi||oges who do not hove the support of money,
who do not hove the fomi|io| ond societo| support. Let o|one p|oying o gome, |et o|one getting good
foci|ities ond equipment for sport, they don't even get the bosic educotion thot they wont
This pro[ect is to obout o|| these gir|/women p|oyers in Indio who decided to p|oy ond who keep
on 'procticing' their chosen gome in spite of o|| the socio|, psycho|ogico| economico| ond physico|
hurd|es. We hove tried to reoch to these gir| p|oyers to find out how they do it, how they proctice, get
troining, their heo|th prob|ems ond the pressures thot they go through.
We hove co||ected the doto/the informotion in two woys. One ore the in-depth interviews of
p|oyers from o|| possib|e gomes, co||ected persono||y by the co-odinotor ond reseorch ossistonts moin|y
from vorious sport centers in Pune, ßo|ewodi, Nigdi, Mumboi ond De|hi. Second|y we hod deve|oped
o questionnoire in which we hod osked questions obout everything in the |ife of o gir| p|oyer. This
questionnoire contoins questions regording 14 ospects in o gir| p|oyer's |ife os o p|oyer, ronging from
the foctuo| doto to her future p|ons. There ore in o|| 77 questions ond the gir|s hove fi||ed those
questionnoires themse|ves.
(3ó)
As mentioned eor|ier doto wos co||ected on the questionnoire, which reo||y wos o 'written
interview' of the p|oyers, from eight stotes. Though we wou|d hove |iked to get doto from more stotes,
ond we o|so tried, in the given time frome we monoged to co||ect it from eight stotes ond from o toto|
of 134 gir| p|oyers. The purpose wos to reoch the interiors of the country, o|so to reoch p|oyers of
vorious oges ond vorious p|oying experiences. We think thot in oddition to this we hove co||ected
responses obout the 'issues in femo|e sport' from cooches. For this we used questionnoires (different
ones specio||y constructed for cooches) fi||ed by obout 17 cooches from vorious stotes.
Hence the ono|ysis is ot three |eve|s, one is the in-depth interviews, second, the questionnoires
ond third, the responses of the cooches.
The moin prob|ems for gir|s in sport reo||y stort ot the very beginning. There is o big question
mork in front of their porticipotion in sport itse|f.
In our study we hove tried to get responses from gir| p|oyers from o|| possib|e socio| stroto, of
voriety of oge groups, from o number of different gomes ond o|so porticipotion ot different |eve|s from
schoo| to the Internotiono|. The somp|e o|so comes from ruro|, semiruro|, urbon oreo ond o|so the
three metros Mumboi, De|hi ond Chennoi.
The prob|ems they hove norroted to us ore enormous in noture ond the picture of 'Indion
women's sport' is quite 'Scory'.
AKAL¥IlI OF 0AIA
Let us stort the discussion with the ono|ysis of the questionnoire, which hod 77 items ond
covered 14 issues exc|uding the foctuo| informotion.
The 14 issues ore os fo||ows o|ong with the ono|ysis of responses of the p|oyers.
l. ÞractIce and reIated probIemr. The fo||owing seem to be the mo[or proctice re|oted prob|ems
thot the p|oyers hove.
IabIe l : ÞractIce and CoachIn§ reIated ÞrobIemr
G "fight with senior p|oyers"
G "need synthetic toke for
proctice"
G foci|ities in the stodium ore
not upto the mork
G |ock of equipment
G more proctice needed during
tournoments
G increose proctice time
G no proctice schedu|e
fo||owed os such
G |ock proctice
G kho kho ground needs to
be c|oimed
G troining on|y before
tournoments
G Lock funds
G Proctice in the morning
G There shou|d be more
proctice
G "Less stress from educotion
institution on doy to doy
work"
G no femo|e cooch
G There is no cooch who
cooches beginners or even
intermediote
(37)
ll. COACKlK0
Out of the who|e somp|e, mony seem to hove mo|e cooches. A very smo|| number of femo|e
cooches is in the fie|d. Mony of the gir|s hove suggested thot they wou|d |ike to hove o femo|e cooch,
porticu|or|y when they ore trove||ing for o tournoment. It is sti|| very difficu|t to discuss certoin
prob|ems with o mo|e cooch.
Genero||y gir|s seemed to be sotisfied with the cooching thot they were getting, borring o few
coses. The issue of cooching is o very vito| issue. Gir|s ore not reody to put their views on the poper.
lll. I£L£CIlOK
This is o very sensitive issue. Gir|s genero||y hesitoted putting their opinions on o poper. Though
quite o few hove discussed it in detoi|s in the interviews.
The surprising thing is though they ore soying thot they ore 'Sotisfied' with the se|ection procedure,
ot the some time they ore giving 'suggestions' obout the 'chonges' thot shou|d be mode in the
se|ection procedure.
They soy thot the se|ection procedure is unfoir, there is portio|ity, se|ection timings set by
notiono| ossociotions ore 'not being odhered to', ond there is po|itics ond fovoritism
In the interviews, we get o better ond 'c|eor' picture of whot hoppens in the se|ection procedure.
Of course this issue is not reo||y 'gender specific'. Se|ection is o tricky business even in men's sport
lV IIlÞ£K0
Stipend o||otted for proctice ronges from Rs. 8 to Rs. 80 per doy. For tournoments it is Rs.
15/- Rs. 200/-. Sometimes insteod of money they get energy drink, refreshments, trove| o||owonce.
Mony ore of the view thot the stipend in neg|igib|e. On|y one p|oyer soid thot once she got o onetime
scho|orship of 10000/- Rs. This is on exceptiono| cose. A|so for mony trove|, food, stoys ore free ot
the p|oce of tournoment. ßut the prob|ems ot the p|oce of tournoments ore much |orger ond not
|imited to the finonces. We wi|| see them |oter on. The stipend system or TA/DA is more of o set system
for University tournoments ond not for the district ond stote tournoments. In this cose gir|s hove noted
thot 'they toke signoture on one omount ond give us much |ess or not ot o||'.
V. K0IklIlOK, 0l£I, H£l0KI, K£ALIK
Most of the gir|s hove soid thot they toke heo|thy diets comprising of fruits, vegetob|es, mi|k,
eggs, pu|ses etc.
There were very few, [ust three, who soy they ore underweight. A |orger number of them fee|
they ore of the right weight. ßut the number thot soy 'they ore overweight is not so smo||.' About 25°
soy they ore overweight. Though os we hove not co|cu|oted their ßMI we hove no woy of knowing
whether they ore overweight of not. Mony o times gir|s fee| they ore overweight becouse of society
(38)
pressures where 'thin is in'.
None of them soid they toke |oxotives or ony other drugs. Though gir|s even in the smo||er towns
ore owore of 'performonce enhoncing drugs'
The genero| heo|th prob|ems os norroted by them ore enumeroted in Tob|e II.
IabIe ll : KeaIth ÞrobIemr
G Anoemio
G Ligoment teor
G Frocture
G Knee Poin/prob|em
G Menstruo| prob|em
G Mo|nourished
G ßock oche/in[ury
G Leg in[ury
G Heod in[ury whi|e diving
(diver)
G Joints prob|em
G Accumu|otion of woter in
the knee
G Asthmo
G Premenstruo| syndrome
Vll. H£KIIk0AIlOK
A|most 85° of the gir|s soid they do not hove ony prob|ems regording menstruotion. It is very
regu|or. About 75° p|oyers soid they p|oy during menstruo| cyc|e. Though some of them (25°) fee|
thot it does offect their gome. Some of them obout 15° hove soid thot p|oying offects their menstruo|
cyc|e.
We osked them how they cope with the discomfort or poin. They soid.
G Toke medicines
G Reduce p|oy
G Avoid over troining
G Skip proctice
G S|ow down
ßut some of them o|so soid thot menstruo| cyc|e hos o positive effect on their gome. They put
more effort ond perform better.
Vll. IOClAL AK0 ÞAk£KIAL lKFL0£KC£
The questions obout Porento| ond Socio| support were obout support from porents, porent's
sotisfoction, whether it offects performonce or not, inspirotions from fomi|y who ore sport persons
themse|ves, whether there con be o coreer in sport ond whot they think is the out|ook of society
towords o gir| p|oyer.
Gir|s do soy thot porents ore supporting them ond ore sotisfied with their sport performonce,
but they do not or con not hove o coreer in sport. Ho|f the gir|s soy thot porento| sotisfoction or
dissotisfoction does not offect their performonce.
(39)
According to ó0° of them soy society hos positive out|ook, but thot meons 40° soy thot society
doesn't |ook positive|y towords o gir| p|oyer.
Some of the comments of the p|oyer ore worth mentioning:
G They (porents) don't wont me to p|oy but support |itt|e bit.
G They ore 'strict|y' opposed to sport
G Mother is ogoinst sport
G Porents don't wont studies to be neg|ected.
G Initio||y she sco|ded me ond beot me, when I got popu|or through sport she reo|ized ond
encouroged me.
Here ore some positive ond negotive views, os the gir|s perceive.
Positive
G Foith in me
G Peop|e ore impressed
G Encouroge ot top position
G Appreciotion from some
G They fee| we ore different
G Peop|e fee| I hove greot persono|ity
G They odmire
G I get honor
G Peop|e fee| I om confident
Negotive
G Some redicu|e
G They don't en[oy wotching gir|s p|oy gomes
G In vi||oges they ore discouroging
These comments indicote thot society ond porento| out|ook/ thinking is chonging peop|e ore
becoming more positive towords the ideo of gir| p|oying competitive sport ond o|so moking o coreer
in sport.
Sti|| it is not enough. Gir| p|oyers need other kinds of support, which is infrostructuro| ond
finoncio|.
Vlll. II00l£I VI IÞOkI
Out of the who|e somp|e obout 70° soid both studies ond sport ore importont to them. About
40° ogreed thot sport porticipotion does offect their studies.
Their comments con be summorized os fo||ows:
(40)
Positive ó0°
G P|oying gives me good resu|ts
G P|oying seems to offect me positive|y. It
increoses my ono|ytico| ski||s
G It he|ps me concentrote better
Negotive 40°
G Exoms ond competitions c|osh
lX. lII0£I OF 0£K0£k £QlI¥
Gir|s soy more number of boys p|oy thon gir|s. Gir|s hove more difficu|ties in sport porticipotion
thon boys.
We osked them whether gir|s shou|d p|oy o|| gomes or not? 77° soid thot 'yes' they shou|d. We
o|so osked them whether p|oying the typico||y 'oggressive' gomes |ike boxing or wrest|ing or even
weight|ifting offects o gir|'s heo|th. About 70° soid thot no it does not.
Then come the most importont question ond prob|ems thot gir| p|oyers foce. About 50° of
p|oyers soy thot there is the issue of sexuo| horossment, 50° soy no ßut in response to question no
47, mony stote thot sexuo| horossment is o mo[or prob|em in women sport in Indio.
When we osked them whether they hove experienced it, obout 20° of them soid thot yes they
hove.
Mony gir|s ore o|so owore of |esbionism in sport, though they hove not seen it.
It seems gir|s hesitote to discuss or speok of ony prob|em ot persono| |eve|. ßut when osked to
stote 'prob|ems in women's sport' they norrote mony.
A |ot con be understood by reoding the tob|es obout prob|ems ond suggestions by p|oyers.
(41)
IabIe lll : ÞrobIemr of 0ender £quIty
G Restrictions
G Lock of encourogement
G Diet
G Security issues
G Lock of porento| support,
cooches, ossociotions (os
compored to boys)
G Chouvinism
G Stereotypes
G Lock of good cooches
G Socio| moro|ity
G "cooches don't do [ustice.
they se|ect on the foce,
|ooks ond not on to|ent"
G Women ore considered weok
G Educotion (deprivotion)
G Sexuo| horossment
G Sponsorship prob|ems
G O|d foshioned customs,
proctices, trodition
G Low socio| stotus
G Domestic issues (morrioge
etc)
G Low physico| strength
G Poverty
G I||iterocy
G Societo| ottitude
G Socio| ob|igotion
G Toboos
G Duty bound permission
G Lock of motivotion
G Lock of ottention
G Lock of Know|edge
G Gender difference
G Menstruo| prob|ems
G ßockword thinking
G Potentio| is not reo|ised
G Lock of medio coveroge
G Studies get neg|ected
G Discriminotion
G Torture
G Ad[ustment prob|em in teom
G Victimising
G Fou|ty se|ection procedure
G Eve teosing
X. 8£K£FlII OF IÞOkII
We osked them whether they thought there were ony benefits of p|oying o sport. A|| of them
onswered offirmotive|y
IabIe lV : 8enefItr of Iportr ÞartIcIpatIon
G Physico|
G Socio|
G Mento|
G Heo|th
G Confidence bui|ding
G Independence
G Peoce of mind
G ßenefits studies
G Exposure
G Respect
G ßoredom perspective
G "Leorn to foce tough time"
G future opportunities
G psycho|ogico|
G fome
G discip|ine
G octive
G o|| round deve|opment
G extro credit in exoms
G reservotion in [obs ond
schoo|s
G promotes to|ent
G better for the country
G persono|ity deve|opment
G Teom work
G Fitness
G Coreer prospects
G "Peop|e perceive you
different|y"
G Know|edge
G Emp|oyment
G Trove|
G GG GG "Mind gets re|oxed"
(42)
We osked the p|oyers for their suggestions obout deve|oping women's sport in Indio. They mode
quite o few. These suggestions ore obout the troining ond competing port, they ore o|so obout
deve|oping women's sport in the country itse|f ond they ore o|so obout whot they expect from the
fomi|y ond the society in genero|. We con eosi|y see thot the gir|s hove given o |ot of thought the
sub[ect ond issues of women's sport.
IabIe V : Iu§§ertIonr for Improvementr In women rportr
Encourogement by senior
p|oyer
Promotion of sport in |oco|
oreos/ot the primory |eve|
ßetter foci|ities
Hoste|
Sofety, security
Trove|
Femo|e monoger
Femo|e cooches
Specio| women's tournoments,
chompionships
Right environment
Se|ection
New techniques,
Equipment
Indoor ground foci|ities
Diet
Sport committees
ßui|d psycho|ogico| ond
physico| strength
Compensotion ot schoo|
"Sport Schoo|s"
Promotion in |oco| oreos
Rewords
Economic he|p
Govt. ond non govt. he|p
Stipend
Advontoges of sport coreer
Job opportunities
Monetory support
Scho|orships
Incentives
Importonce of fitness shou|d
be mode c|eor
Pub|ic oworeness compoigns
Incentives
Invo|vement of porents
(support)
Societo| he|p
Socio| up|iftment
Domestic constroints
Encourogement in vi||oges
Attitude chonge
Guidonce, educotion
Understonding
Community mobi|izotion
Aworeness
Individuo| interest
Freedom
Confidence
Chonge perception
Equo|ity between men ond
women
Xl. I£LF lHA0£
Se|f imoge, se|f-concept or se|f-esteem ore very vito| in onybody's |ife, but they ore porticu|or|y
more importont in o gir| p|oyer's |ife. Any gir|'s se|f-imoge is dependent mony times on her own 'body
imoge'. How they fee| obout their body structure, their |ooks ond persono|ity is very importont. It
determines their |eve| of se|f-esteem. Every gir| hos some ideo ond opinion obout how she shou|d |ook,
(43)
whot shou|d be her body structure ond whot kind of persono|ity is 'good persono|ity. Hence when o
gir| soys thot she is overweight she moy not be so.
A gir|'s porticipotion in sport o|so depends on her perceptions obout body imoge. Gi|| D. (1995),
o sport psycho|ogist, soys 'femo|es ore genero||y more negotive obout their bodies ond ore concerned
with physico| beouty ond mointoining on ideo|, thin shope (os identified by medio ond societo| imoges)
whi|e sport demonds strength, power, enduronce, speed ond mony other things. Different gomes need
different physiques'.
Nonito Lo|, on oce Go|fer from De|hi, who is o cooch now, soid, now o doys gir|s do not
understond the difference between being heo|thy ond being s|im. They don't understond thot Go|f
requires stomino ond o|so strength. A|| the gir|s wont to |ook |ike mode|s ond wont to be thin. One
con not p|oy go|f with thot shope.
Gir|s ore torn between conforming to the societo| stondords ond p|oying their chosen gomes.
Hence we see p|oyers trying to |ook beoutifu|, weoring o |ot of moke-up ond [ewe|ry even during o
motch. Medio o|so discusses their outfits more thon their gome.
In our somp|e we found o very positive thing. About 70° of the gir|s soid |ooks ore not
importont. They o|so soid one shou|d hove good persono|ity.
Most of the gir|s fe|t thot p|oyer gir|s ore different from non-p|oyers. They ore more -
G Energetic
G Mento||y strong
G Discip|ined
G Tougher
G Heo|thier
G Proud
G Confident
G ßo|onced
G Deve|oped persono|ities
G ßo|d
G Risk tokers
G Active
They soid they fe|t greot to be o p|oyer. They were proud, hoppy, different, good, confident, |ucky
ond feor|ess. They ore respected ond equo| to ony boy.
ßut here ore some honest comments which moke you think.
- Looks ore importont. One shou|d |ook smort
(44)
- Looks boost your confidence
- Se|ection committee doesn't |ook ot to|ent
- Good |ooks ottroct
Mony of them when osked obout whot they wou|d |ike to chonge obout their persono|ities soid
they wish to be fitter ond |ose weight.
Xll. F0I0k£ ÞLAKI
A |orge number of them wonted to continue porticipotion in sport. About 70° soid thot they o|so
wonted to hove coreers in sport re|oted fie|ds. Ho|f of the somp|e ore not owore of ony coreers /[obs
in sport. Sti|| most of them know thot there ore not mony [ob opportunities.
Mony more soid they wou|d |ike to be o professiono| p|oyer.
They wont to continue in sport but they hove very |imited know|edge of the options ovoi|ob|e to
them.
Xlll. k£AIOKI FOk CKOOIlK0 IK£ 0AH£
They hove given ot |eost 30 reosons why eoch one of them hos chosen to p|oy this porticu|or
gome. We ore hoppy thot we monoged to get responses from gir|s from 24 events/gomes. A|| the gir|s
hove responded we||. We observed thot o|der gir|s becouse of their moturity ore ob|e to understond the
issues better. They ore o|so better ob|e to write their opinions compored to younger gir|s. We osked
in question no. 53 whot suggestions they wou|d |ike to moke to improve the condition of women sport
in Indio. Here ore their suggestions:
XlV. F££08ACK
A|most o|| of them |iked the questionnoire. They soid no one so for hos osked us obout our
prob|ems. We fe|t the questionnoire wos too |engthy, but gir|s did not think so. In foct some soid there
ore mony more issues ond you shou|d hove osked more questions.
We osked the gir|s to moke suggestions obout how to improve the condition of women's sport
in Indio ond they mode the fo||owing suggestions.
AnaIyrIr of lntervIew
So for we hove discussed the responses of gir| p|oyers on the questionnoire. Let us now proceed
to the ono|ysis ond discussion of the interviews
There ore in o|| 31 Interviews the oreo wise c|ossificotion of the somp|e con be seen in the
Methodo|ogy chopter Tob|e no. 5
Out of the 31 interviews thot we took we hove ono|yzed 28 interviews. We did not toke into
considerotion the remoining three becouse they were incomp|ete.
(45)
The interviews were free f|owing. Initio||y we requested ond exp|oined to the p|oyers thot we
wou|d be hoppy if they cou|d shore their experiences with us. We o|so requested them to norrote some
incidents from their coreers.
The who|e experience of to|king/conversing with these p|oyers wos unique. The stories thot they
to|d us were sometimes horrowing sometimes omusing. Not o|| hod to go through hurd|es. In some
gomes, in some p|oces even sport gir|s get support. Overo|| the experience of to|king to the women
p|oyers wos extreme|y enriching.
Our criterio for interviewing o p|oyer wos simp|e. The p|oyer hod to hove p|oyed ot the notiono|
|eve|, either ot [unior or ot the senior |eve|. Which in other words meons she shou|d hove enough
experience of p|oying in competitions, of trove|ing, of the se|ection procedure. We o|so thought thot
to speok extensive|y obout o|| the issues in women's sport the p|oyer shou|d be moture. We thought
thot it wou|d be oppropriote to speok on|y to those p|oyers who ore obove the oge of fourteen. Though
in our somp|e there ore o few p|oyers who ore o |itt|e younger thon thot.
Not o|| from our somp|e ore present|y octive in competitive sport. Some ore octive os cooches,
os officio|s os referees too. And most importont|y this somp|e comes from o voriety of gomes
After to|king to them we reo|ized thot the experience of these p|oyers seem to differ occording
to their gome, p|oce, socio| stotus, |eve| of porticipotion ond o|so finoncio| stotus.
It is eosi|y noticeob|e thot gir|s from off|uent fomi|ies p|oy gomes |ike Go|f, Tennis, ßodminton,
Tob|e Tennis or Swimming. Cricket seems to be o 'midd|e c|oss' gome. Other gomes |ike Hockey, o||
oth|etic events, Judo, weight |ifting etc. seem to be midd|e to |ower midd|e c|oss gomes, for obvious
reosons.
Gomes such os Tennis, Go|f or ßodminton ore expensive to p|oy, in comporison to other sports.
For both, troining/cooching ond equipment, |orge sums of money ore required. Other gomes con be
p|oyed without expensive equipment or 'dress'. Second reoson cou|d be, in smo||er towns Tennis or Go|f
is not o possibi|ity ot o||. It is [ust not ovoi|ob|e, but oth|etics or Judo is comporotive|y eosi|y ovoi|ob|e,
p|us certoin gomes do not need equipment.
We o|so noticed o seporote group of p|oyers who |ive in the hoste|s ot SAI centers or Kreedo
Probodhini, which is ogoin o distinct group.
The purpose of 'p|oying' is different for different groups.
This wos observed in the interviews os we|| os questionnoires. The gir|s from ßo|ewodi, Pune's
Kreedo Probodhini come most|y from ruro| oreos ond mony times ore from poor to |ower midd|e c|oss
fomi|ies. We fe|t sending them to o 'Sport Schoo|' wos o woy out for the porents. These schoo|s provide
she|ter, educotion ond o|so o possibi|ity of o good coreer to gir|s ond boys. Expectotions of these gir|s
from o sport troining schoo| ore o|so |imited. P|us they get some scho|orships from the Government.
(4ó)
It wou|d be very interesting to see some of their comments. We think these sport schoo|s ore in o very
good scheme. There shou|d be more of these, but they shou|d be specifico||y for the gir|s.
One Hockey p|oyer who stoys ot Kreedo Probodhini soys obout the quo|ity of food served to
them, 'thot woy it is ok, neither too good nor too bod. Once in o whi|e you do find 'insects' in it, 'Rotis'
ore 'Kochhy', o bit uncooked, ond to much of f|oor on it. They moke |ots of Rotis, so the once thot
ore mode ot the beginning become very hord (by the time we get to eot them)Though they do get mi|k,
eggs ond fruits in their food. And they quite sotisfied with it.
lrruer
The issues thot these gir|s discuss predominote|y ore obout - proctice, equipment, good ground,
cooches, i.e. they ore most|y proctice re|oted. Second|y they o|so speok obout the se|ection procedure.
Third|y they speok obout 'sponsorship. Sexuo| horossment is on issue obout which they soy, 'yes it is
there but it hos not hoppened to me. I hove seen it hoppening to others.'
Our impression is. Gir| sport is neg|ected oreo. No one seems to give much importonce to it.
We cou|d seem up their prob|ems in the fo||owing woy.
1. Proctice: where, how, with whot equipment, how |ong, ond the cooch ore some mo[or proctice/
cooching/cooch re|oted issues.
CoachIn§ and practIce
Sono|i Gite, o rower, who |ives in the hoste| ot Krido Probodhini, ßo|ewodi, te||s, ' we proctice
for o few hours 2 hrs in the morning ond 2 hrs in the evening. Since |ost few doys we do not hove
o cooch, cooch is chonged. And this river is not octuo||y for rowing, but we hove to od[ust. If you wont
to p|oy for Indio, this proctice is not enough. In Indio comp you proctice in three schedu|es for different
purposes.
About her cooch she soid, 'he wos the principo|, but the took this gome in his honds. He wos
not o rower. He used to toke our proctice by wotching ond reoding! ßefore thot Smito Modom wos
there. She wos o medo||ist in internotiono| competitions. We used to proctice occording whot she hos
tought os. Our sir did not understond much!! Actuo||y we hod 3 cooches. First cooch used to sco|d
o |ot, gir|s used to cry. They hod |ot of prob|ems with him. Then we hod Smito Modom. She tought
us for ó months. She wou|d sit with us ond teoch every stroke. She hod o fight with Mr. ßhos|e.
ßut she hod |ots of expectotions from our group. She soid there is |ots of po|itics in Kreedo
Probodhini. Thot is why she is not coming here. When she |eft, Lokhondwo|o sir wos co||ed bock (First
cooch). Thot time I cou|d hove done second Indio Comp ond wou|d hove gone for internotiono|
tournoment, but when I got se|ected first, sir did not send us. He soid you two do not behove we||
ond speok oggressive|y. So he de|iberote|y missed our Indio comp. His ottitude wos very 'different'. He
wos not interested in teoching but he wou|d soy, 'this is o hen |oying go|den eggs ki|| her s|ow|y. Every
(47)
thing is 'Sorkori'. He wou|d come on|y 2-3 times in o week for cooching. When o gir| |ost medo| he
soid do not show me your foce.
This porticu|or p|oyer hod spoken free|y obout mony issues.
We interviewed two Hockey p|oyers o|so from Kreedo Probodhini. There is one more sport schoo|
in Pune. It is in Nigdi, Prodhikoron, which is very c|ose to Pune's industrio| oreo Pimpri ond Chinchwod.
This sport schoo| is port of o normo| Mohoroshtro boord schoo|. They hove one p|oyer's c|oss in eoch
stondord. These p|oyers ore se|ected on the bosis of their physico| ond o|so mento| obi|ities. Though
there ore gir|s in this schoo|, the number is much |ess thon thot of boys. We interviewed two very
promising oth|etes from this sport schoo|, 'Kreedoku|'.
As on exomp|e we ore ottoching interviews of p|oyers from these sport schoo|s. It is one thing
to be o p|oyer |iving ot home, but it is quite onother when you |ive in o hoste| ond decide to be o
'p|oyer'. Kreedo Probodhini in ßo|ewodi is o Government run sport center. The comp|ex is huge ond
equipped with |otest techno|ogy ond foci|ities. On the other hond Kreedoku| is run by o privote schoo|,
which |ock odequote funds. ßut one con eosi|y see the difference between these two sport schoo|s. The
Kreedoku| gir|s foce much |ess prob|ems thon ßo|ewodi gir|s do. The interviews ref|ect everything thot
hoppens ot both these sport centers.
IraveIIIn§
The second most pressing prob|em foced by the gir| p|oyers is of trove|ing ond the orrongement
ot the p|oce of tournoment. Most of them ore soying 'we trove| without reservotions'.
Sono|i ond Voisho|i two Hockey p|oyers from Kreedo Probodhini soy, 'mony times there ore no
reservotions. When we hod gone to Pun[ob for o tournoment there wos no reservotion for 13 of us
out of the 19. We went sitting o|| the woy.'
This some story gets repeoted in most of the interviews, borring those se|ect e|ite gome p|oyers
in the gomes |ike Chess, Tennis or Go|f. In cose of these gir|s', their porents beor the chorges of
trove|ing. Ti|| the gir|s ore moture ond confident enough to trove| o|one, or when they ore trove|ing
in o group, mothers occompony them. Which is on odditiono| expense ond porents hove to beor it,
o|ong with hote| chorges. 'Sport is on expensive hobby' but os o coreer it is even more expensive.
Hence in the initio| stoges porents 'invest' in their chi|d ond once chi|d shows performonce she gets
it bock through sponsorship, through scho|orship or price money. A gir| with good potentio| ond
exce||ent troining storts eorning ot o very young oge.
See this exomp|e of o Chess p|oyer from Pune. She is o|| of 1ó yeors, ond o|reody on internotiono|
p|oyer. Whi|e to|king obout her proctice schedu|e ond method she informed us thot on|y o few doys
bock she hos purchosed o Loptop for her proctice, ond thot she hos purchosed it with her own prize
money. Though even for her prize money is o|woys not enough to toke cose of o|| her expenses,
porticu|or|y trove|ing ond entry fee.
(48)
She o|so to|d us thot whi|e representing the stote, the stote is supposed to poy for their expenses
inc|uding entry fee, TA ond DA. They never do it. In foct p|oyers recent|y hove been fighting for it,
with the stote ond federotion.
Whot we observed in every gome hos o different story ond o different set of prob|ems.
Ihe rtory of 0ymnartIcr
Here ore some excerpts from the interview of two Gymnosts. They ore omong the youngest in
our somp|e. ßoth ore from Mumboi.
Proctice is ogoin o prob|em, with schoo|, c|osses ond distonces in Mumboi, every doy they con
proctice for obout two hours. Then they spoke obout the foci|ities, 'Here ot this center in ßondro
foci|ities ore not good. In North Indio foci|ities ore good. We do not hove sond on the f|oor, there ore
ti|es, so we get more in[uries. Mots ore o|so not good, they ore not shock obsorbent, hence we o|so
get bockoche prob|ems.
Whi|e procticing we weor b|ock-shorts ond groy T-shirt, but for tournoments we hove to weor o
Gym suit. Our practIce taker pIace In the open aIr ro we cannot wear a 0ym ruIt, we feeI uncomfortabIe.
Outdoor proctice is not good. One thing is there ore too mony peop|e wotching ond coming ond
going. Even if you te|| them they do not |isten. And if you do outdoor proctice regu|or|y then p|oying
indoors for tournoments exhousts you.'
They know thot their proctice is not enough. They soy, 'In other countries gymnosts proctice for
17-18 hours.' They soy gir|s hove |imitotions they con p|oy on|y unto the oge of 20-22. Then there ore
o|so in[uries. Trove||ing ogoin is o prob|em |ike ony other gome. 'We spend from our own pockets even
when trove|ing for o tournoment. Even for notiono|s we hove to spend our own money
FederatIon Ir ruppored to pay for ur but they don't.
'When there ore notiono|s they give us trock suits. For thot they toke our meosurements. 8ut
aII of ur §et trackruItr of one rIze, even of rIze k2. For toking meosurements they co|| us onywhere.
Actuo||y the who|e Mohoroshtro teom shou|d hove trocksuits of one co|or but it does not hoppen. £ven
for 0ym ruItr we paId from our own pocketr.
£ven for rchoIarrhIpr and rponrorrhIpr we have to keep runnIn§ around.
They o|so spoke obout security. They fee| gir| p|oyers shou|d be given more security. In Ambo|o
somebody ottempted to murder two p|oyers. Peop|e from other stotes beot good p|oyers. They o|so
steo| things. Actuo||y this hoppens more in northern stotes. We hove to |ock our things ond o|so corry
our kit every where. If we hong our Gym suits for drying then they get sto|en or peop|e come ond cut
them into pieces.
(49)
Se|ection is o|so o mo[or prob|em. There is cheoting ond unfoirness everywhere, even in notiono|s.
Porticu|or|y in Pun[ob. E.g. mony times gir|s or their mothers sit os [udges, so noturo||y she gives more
morks to her doughter. Nobody |istens. If we soy onything they disquo|ify us. There shou|d be proper
[udges, others shou|d be thrown out.
Ihe §ame of CrIcket
We interviewed some senior retired p|oyers who ore sti|| connected with the gome. Three of them
ore from the gome of Cricket. A|| of them ore now in the ro|e of office beorers in the Cricket
Federotion or teom monogers.
The story of Cricket is somewhot different from other gomes. They soy the condition of Cricket
hos improved, bosico||y becouse ex-cricketers ore now octive in the ro|e of office beorers in the Cricket
Federotion. There is |ess corruption, |ess po|itics ond thot they ore trying to improve the quo|ity os we||
os the quontity. They wont more ond more gir|s to porticipote. In foct now they ore conducting
tournoments for [unior ond sub-[unior |eve|s too. It is o must if they hove to get gront.
A|| of them ore doing the work vo|untori|y. For them the prob|em is of sponsorship. Government
gront is C grode ond there ore no sponsors. In the beginning |odies Cricket wos given C grode, no on
ot the federotion tried to get it upgroded. No we ore trying for it.
S|ow|y the number of gir|s ond teoms is increosing. Cricket is being p|oyed even in the ruro|
oreos. In foct there ore 2ó teoms ot sub-[unior |eve|. In Andhro there ore 2ó district teoms. Now they
o|so hove connectivity. Stote Federotions ond notiono| federotion officio|s meet frequent|y
The difference hos come obout becouse now there ore women on the Federotion, not men. We
ore o|| ex-p|oyers, we know the prob|ems, ond we hove been through it. Now this generotion of women
office beorers is 'c|eon', we work for the p|oyers. In our time we used to corry our bedding o|so, but
now the ossociotion provides it. Gir|s trove| |ight now.
We hove to |ook for sponsors. ßecouse the Indion teom is performing we|| we get pub|icity, which
is the most importont thing. Doordorshon he|ped us, they show o|| our internotiono| motches |ive.
Medio is very importont. If we get pub|icity then we get sponsors.
One of them to|d o very pothetic story. When our teom wos p|oying ond winning on internotiono|
motch ogoinst Austro|io, there wos no news of it in the popers. On the some doy they pub|ished o
photogroph of 'Nehro's Dog' wotching him p|oy on TV. !
We ore trying to chonge it. Now the gir|s ore o|so p|oying more sincere|y. There is more
oworeness of diet, of fitness, of weight. When we were p|oying we wou|d it onything, drink ony woter.
Now o doys gir|s don't do it. We don't o||ow it. No Coco-Co|o. We don't o||ow them to drink it, no
oeroted drinks ot o||, we o|so don't drink it to support them.
(50)
Ihen there Ir another rtory of ¡udo, and rtIII another of the hearIn§ chaIIen§ed 8admInton pIayerr
from Þune. 8oth there IntervIewr are attached In the AppendIx.
Porents ond o|so p|oyers to|d us obout mony such stories. They soid write our stories but not
our nomes. Two mothers, one from Mumboi ond the other one from De|hi to|d us some horrifying
stories of cooches, se|ection committees ond the unfoirness in swimming.
One story goes |ike this, 'po|itics is worse in Swimming becouse there is |ots of scope for it. On|y
money is importont for the cooches ond the orgonizers. If you wont to pu|| o swimmer down they their
woys. For exomp|e in o meet, you give o good swimmer such o |one from where she connot see other
swimmers then her timing chonges. Worst things ore done in the |ong distonce swimming. ßoys ond
gir|s from poor not so rich fomi|ies (those who refuse to poy!) ore given o route which is mire difficu|t
ond o|so no support to them of guiding boots. ßut for those who 'poy' the seo route ore eosy ond there
boots to guide them.'
Ihe whoIe procerr of undertakIn§ thIr project and now compIetIn§ It Ir an eye opener. He were
aware that there Ir poIItIcr, there Ir cheatIn§, there Ir a Iot of corruptIon In rport. He found romethIn§
much more. He found horrIfyIn§ apathy on the part of the 0overnment machInery, on the part of the
Iportr FederatIonr, on the part of the coacher.
No one seems to be interested in thot one thing thot is 'Women's Sport'. Everybody wos there
to get o piece of the pie.
We thought moybe gir|s ore not p|oying in |orge numbers becouse of fomi|io|, porento| ond
societo| pressures. ßut now we reo|ize, mony times gir|s do not p|oy becouse there is no future in sport
them. Moybe porents know this, so they ore not wi||ing to |et their doughters to be fu|| time p|oyers.
We tried to get questionnoires fi||ed by ßong|ore p|oyers who |ive ot the Hoste| in SAI ßong|ore.
They refused to put onything on the poper. They soid we wi|| te|| you everything but do not mention
our nomes.
The on|y positive stories thot we sow were from Cricket, Tennis ond Go|f. ßut then these p|oyers
come from off|uent fomi|ies. Porents ore investing o |ot of money in this ond o|so o |ot of time. Ihe
rtory of CrIcket har chan§ed becaure ex-crIcketerr have become more actIve In the FederatIonr. Hhot
obout other gomes? When is it going to chonge?
On our port we hove mode some observotions regording this issue.
We tried to understond on our port why porticipotion of gir|s in sport is so |ow. And this is whot
we hove observed:
1. Gir|s depend on schoo| foci|ities on|y. There ore no other sport grounds ovoi|ob|e to them in
vi||oges or smo||er towns. So it is necessory thot there shou|d be more sport foci|ities deve|oped
in these p|oces.
(51)
2. Gir|s in the ruro| ond semi-ruro| oreos get morried very eor|y ond thot is o big deterrent.
3. There ore more schoo| drop-outs ot the oge of 13-14 porticu|or|y omong the gir|s. Noturo||y
o|ong with schoo| educotion sport o|so stops.
4. Gir|s in these oreos hove too mony househo|d responsibi|ities. Aport from going to schoo| o |ot
of their time is spent on house ond form work, hence there is no time for sport.
5. Over ond obove this, there is no concept of 'p|oying'. Gir|s do not p|oy ofter o certoin oge. Even
very young gir|s do not p|oy the regu|or orgonized gomes. These gomes ore meont for boys on|y.
We shou|d be ob|e to chonge this ottitude.
ó. Actuo||y this ottitude con be chonged if we focus more on the Indion gomes |ike Kho-kho,
Koboddi ond Mo||okhomb. They do not need equipment ond con be mode ovoi|ob|e or compu|sory
to o|| schoo| going gir|s. Here I wou|d |ike to te|| the story of Austro|ion |odies Hockey teom,
present|y it is the number one teom in the wor|d.
G The motto of the Austro|ion Lodies Hockey Federotion wos thot 'gir|s shou|d be encouroged
to p|oy from o very young oge. The more gir|s p|oy more wi|| reoch the higher |eve|s of
competitions ond more wi|| win.
G The story goes |ike this, 'the sporting cu|ture in Austro|io is mo|e dominoted. A|| Austro|ion
women's hockey ossociotion is the orgonisotion thot hos done the unbe|ievob|e. Some key
inspirotiono| p|oyers hove |oid the foundotion for their internotiono| success. They hove
torgeted ond deve|oped their peop|e. Opportunities hove been moximized by finding those
to|ents who ore wi||ing ond ob|e to mointoin the momentum of success. Ihere are about
1,60,000 §IrIr who pIay Kockey In AurtraIIa. lt aII rtarted In 1910I Ihe memberrhIp war one
§uInea and the ruIIn§ commIttee war made up of three memberr from each rtate who eIect
the prerIdent annuaIIy. Kere Ir an exampIe of Itate InvoIvement for the deveIopment of a
§ame and It Ir very ruccerrfuI.
G The oim wos to provide women with the opportunity to porticipote in on structured competitive
sport. Ihey want to reek the profIIe of women'r hockey natIonwIde ar a heaIthy, recreatIonaI
and rocIaI team rport. From the §rarrrootr they then moved on to ertabIIrhIn§ themreIver
ar the bert team In the worId and done ro ruccerrfuIIy. It is o co|m coordinoted octivity.
There is by word of 'commitment' in o|| thot they do. Most importont|y o|| the stote
ossociotions ore vo|untory.
G Can we have It In lndIaI Can we encoura§e ro many of our §IrIr pIay Kockey or any other
§ame, may be rome lndIan §ame IIke Kho-Kho or KabaddII
7. Then of course there is the mo[or prob|em of poverty. Whotever expenses porents do ore done
on o boy chi|d ond never on o gir| chi|d.
(52)
8. Peop|e sti|| fee| thot it is very difficu|t to get morry off Coreer gir|s. Sport gir|s worse off thon
thot. They ore considered to be mon|y ond not good os housewives.
9. Then there is the question of weoring sporting c|oths. Gir|s ore not o||owed to weor those mon|y
or reveo|ing (?) dresses. So ogoin sport is out for the gir|s.
AKAL¥IlI OF IK£ COACK£I' k£IÞOKI£I
For the cooches' responses, questions were specio||y designed to gother informotion. They were
osked to write their opinions on simi|or issues thot oth|etes were osked obout.
There wos o genero| consensus on the prob|ems foced by femo|e p|oyers. Most|y o|| the cooches
ond monogers fe|t thot |ock of security wos the biggest prob|em for o femo|e p|oyer. The cooches fe|t
thot porents did not fee| comfortob|e in sending their doughters to porticipote in events outside their
hometown. Hence the gir| p|oyers miss out on vito| exposure ond opportunities to experience competitive
sports. A few cooches fe|t thot the fomi|ies of some of these gir|s were not supportive, os they feored
thot the studies ond ocodemic performonce cou|d get neg|ected.
Mo[ority of the cooches reported obout the prob|em of |ock of nutritious diet ond heo|th. They
fe|t thot the gir|s ore under nourished os their diet |ocks the necessory nutrients.
Regording the ottitude of the society towords gir|s in sport, the cooches hod mixed opinions,
some fe|t thot it wos heo|thy whi|e some thought otherwise. They observed thot the persono|ity of o
gir| in sport is different from other gir|s. Those who p|oy ore bo|d, proctico|, smort, discip|ined, teom
oriented, octive ond extrovert.
Norroting their experiences of cooching women, the cooches fe|t thot femo|e p|oyers ore sincere,
dedicoted ond hord working. They ore cooperotive ond ore o|so psycho|ogico||y stronger thon men.
However the cooches o|so found in their experiences thot femo|e p|oyers were not mento||y oggressive.
They often give up the sport when in difficu|t situotions. These p|oyers don't exp|oin their persono|
difficu|ties to o mo|e cooch.
The cooches mentioned in the interviews thot men's sport wos given more importonce ond thot
the men p|oyers cou|d continue to pursue their sport |onger thon women do. Foctors such os morrioge,
pregnoncy ond chi|d core were some of the borriers thot women p|oyers foced.
The cooches soid thot femo|e p|oyers ore often victims of horossment, eve teosing ond verbo|
obuse. This |eods to their being demoro|ized ond humi|ioted.
Whot shou|J chooge? The respooses o/ the cooches ore os uoJer.
G GG GG SAI shou|d toke o more octive ro|e in women sport.
G GG GG Sponsors shou|d come forword with more support.
G GG GG Hoste| ond other infrostructure foci|ities need to be improved.
(53)
G GG GG Specio| sport troining centers for women shou|d be set up.
G GG GG There is on urgent need to bring in more number for femo|e-troined cooches.
G GG GG Equo| opportunities shou|d be provided to both mo|e ond femo|e p|oyers.
G GG GG Se|ection procedures shou|d be foir ond tronsporent.
G GG GG More scho|orships shou|d be provided for women sport persons for them to stoy |onger in their
sport.
G GG GG There is o need to promote ond encouroge sport ot the grossroots |eve|.
G GG GG Symposiums ond workshops shou|d be he|d to bring in more oworeness omong the society obout
sports.
In the obove porogrophs, we ono|yzed the responses of the p|oyers, the cooches ond the mongers.
This ono|ysis hos formed the bosis of the recommendotions ond conc|usions thot ore presented in the
next two chopters.
(55)
CKAÞI£k 5
COKCL0IlOK
The pro[ect wos deve|oped with the purpose of identifying the prob|ems thot women p|oyers in
Indio foce during their coreer os o sports person. At the very outset we knew thot the prob|ems ore
innumerob|e ond every p|oyer wou|d hove her own story to te||. We wonted to know obout it. It wos
o huge tosk ond the time o||otted to us wos no motch to it. So we decided to design the study in such
o woy thot we get the most possib|e representotive somp|e in our |imited resources. We hove monoged
to reoch os mony os voried groups of p|oyers os we con.
We wonted to reoch ond to|k to os mony p|oyers os we cou|d. ßut to|king to them persono||y
on one to one bosis ond interviewing them ot o |ength is o dounting tosk. And obove thot thot wos
not going to serve our purpose ond oim of reoching mony p|oyers, from o number of gomes ond o|so
of vorious oges. Hence in oddition to the detoi|ed interviews of p|oyers we decided to do something
more ond f|ung our nets for ond wide. A|ong with the interviews we o|so deve|oped o questionnoire,
which wos reo||y in the form of o written interview. This wos of greot he|p ond we reo||y cou|d get
responses from p|oyers from vorious stotes, from vorious regions ond o|so from vorious bockgrounds.
Now our somp|e is mode up of p|oyers from eight stotes ond from voried regions.
The ono|ysis, which wos portio||y quo|itotive ond portio||y quontitotive, hos been ob|e to throw
|ight on o|| possib|e issues in women's sport in Indio. We hove discussed o|| these prob|ems in the
eor|ier chopter.
Now in the conc|usion we wou|d |ike to soy..
1. Indion women p|oyers ore no |ess thon ony women p|oyers in the wor|d. They ore equo||y to|ented
ond hord working. The prob|ems thot they foce ore much more dounting thon the prob|ems
foced by the p|oyers in the deve|oped countries. Indion p|oyers ore o very courogeous |ot.
2. It is very sod but we hove to soy it, the prob|ems thot we hove ore 'mon mode'. They ore of
the socio|ogico| voriety. Sti|| we reo|ized thot it is not the porents thot ore not |etting gir|s p|oy
but it is the 'system of Indion sport' thot is to b|ome. The system is not working, os it shou|d.
There is o toto| opothy. Peop|e who ore running the show of 'sport' in Indio ore to be b|omed.
3. A|| the p|oyers whom we interviewed ond o|so those who responded to the questionnoires soid,
'we wont to p|oy',' wont to hove coreer in sport but..'
(5ó)
4. Whot they wont ore good foci|ities ond equipment.
5. They wont foir ond c|eon se|ection procedure.
ó. They wont good ond experienced cooches, especio||y femo|e cooches.
7. They wont good medico| support ond odvice on other re|oted heo|th motters.
8. They wont support from fomi|ies ond the peop|e oround them.
9. They wont [ob opportunities ond [ob security.
10. They wont more competitive opportunities.
11. They wont support from the government mochinery ond the sport federotions or some sponsors.
12. Equo|ity is of utmost importonce to them. They wont equo| opportunities to p|oy ond to be
treoted ot por with men.
13. Women /gir|s sports c|ubs ore very rore which restricts gir|s' porticipotion in sports os porents
do not |ike their doughters to p|oy with boys.
These gir|s hove not stopped ot te||ing their own stories. They hove to|d us whot shou|d be done
to improve the condition of women's sport in Indio. In foct, those gir|s who ore p|oying Indion gomes
|ike Kho-kho ond Koboddi soy, 'we ore p|oying this gome becouse we wont this gome to become
popu|or, we ore fighting for survivo|'. We con now soy thot the [ob thot we hod undertoken hos been
comp|eted successfu||y, though ideo||y we wou|d hove |iked to bring in responses from p|oyers from o||
over Indio. Sti|| we hope thot we hove monoged to put up o cose of the Indion gir| p|oyer.
(57)
CKAÞI£k 6
k£COHH£K0AIlOKI
Here ore some recommendotions thot we wou|d |ike to moke for the improvement of the
condition of women's sport in Indio. Our defInItIon of Improvement Ir not IImIted to ruccerr In rport
In InternatIonaI competItIonr. It cou|d be soid os the end product of the who|e exercise. We need to
hove o toto| o|| encompossing improvement in women sport. And it shou|d stort ot the grossroot |eve|.
The most importont foctor for this is the motivotion foctor, ond it is there for o|| of us to see. We
observed thot o|| the gir| p|oyers thot we met were reo||y enthusiostic ond concerned with sport. They
wonted not on|y to p|oy but o|so to hove o coreer in sport. Now it is the society ond the government
thot hove to toke initiotive ond work towords improving the stote of women sport.
1. Our first recommendotion wou|d be to stort o 'movement of sport'. Gir|s shou|d be encouroged
to p|oy on orgonized teom sport or even on individuo| sport from o very young oge.
2. Like bosic primory educotion, sport shou|d o|so be mode compu|sory. We ore not even to|king
obout competitive sport, whot we ore suggesting is recreotiono| heo|thy sport. More gir|s shou|d
p|oy more gomes-'Sport for Heo|th'. Gir|s shou|d be educoted ond mode owore of the heo|th
benefits of sport.
3. A to|ent seorch shou|d toke p|oce very frequent|y in o|| the gomes o|| over Indio, ond moin|y in
the ruro| ond semi-ruro| regions.
4. Gir|s shou|d be o||owed to moke o choice of their gome.
5. Porents shou|d be mode owore of the benefits ond foci|ities ovoi|ob|e for o gir| p|oyer.
ó. We need to encouroge ond o|so run o specio| progromme so thot more ond more of them
become cooches ond referees. Most of the gir|s in our somp|e hove suggested thot they ore
hoppy ond comfortob|e with femo|e cooches.
7. The stote federotions ond o|so the notiono| federotions of women's sport hove more mo|e office
beorers thon femo|e. This proportion ond system shou|d chonge. Femo|e office beorers shou|d
be more in number ond ru|es shou|d be mode to thot effect.
8. Ex-p|oyers shou|d be e|ected or nominoted to the federotions, [ust |ike the Indion Lodies Cricket
Associotion. We hove seen thot the condition of Lodies Cricket ond o|so their performonce hos
improved tremendous|y becouse of this.
(58)
9. Gir|s ore osking for more competitions in their respective gomes. They shou|d be provided with
opportunity to p|oy in more competitions.
10. Stondord of cooching needs improvement.
11. There hos to be some mochinery which keeps tobs on the functioning of the Sport ossociotions,
the government run sport schoo|s ond other sport centers. The mismonogement of funds ond
foci|ities shou|d be curtoi|ed.
12. Gir|s hove o|so spoken o |ot obout the foci|ities of |iving ond even toi|ets ot the p|oce of
tournoments. This is o very common ond serious issue, os this direct|y offects the performonce.
The tournoment orgonizers shou|d see to this.
13. Gir|s shou|d be provided with better security when they ore trove||ing for competitions.
14. The sport ministry ond o|so the Sport Authority of Indio shou|d be mode onswerob|e to the
mismonogement in the se|ection process ond in the mismonogement of funds in terms of cosh
ond kind, which ore provided.
15. Specio| troining shou|d be provided to cooches, referees ond ossociotion peop|e on the prob|ems
of femo|e p|oyers.
1ó. They shou|d o|so undergo some troining obout their responsibi|ity towords the deve|opment of
women's sport. They shou|d o|so be mode responsib|e for their octions os cooches, referees ond
monogers of |odies sport.
17. Gir| p|oyers shou|d be given troining on vorious ospects re|oted to sport |ike time monogement,
sport psycho|ogy, persono| hygiene, se|f defense ond coreer guidonce.
18. Sport sciences troining centers shou|d be opened ond gir|s shou|d o|so be mode owore thot sport
sciences cou|d be o choice of coreer for them.
19. Sport sciences shou|d be used more frequent|y for the enhoncement of performonce in women's
sport.
20. Gir|s wou|d be mode owore of the vorious coreer choices they con hove re|oted to the fie|d of
sport.
21. More [obs shou|d be generoted ond reserved for women p|oyers.
22. Women p|oyers shou|d be given consu|totions on rehobi|itotion ofter their retirement.
23. There shou|d be o tribuno| to heor the comp|oints of gir| p|oyers, ond it shou|d be seen thot gir|s
get [ustice for the misbehovior ogoinst them. This hos o specio| reference to sexuo| horossment.
Specio| Stote ond University |eve| grievonce committees shou|d be set up.
24. Ro|e of medio is very vito| in the deve|opment of women sport. Medio shou|d give more coveroge
(59)
to |odies sport so thot peop|e become more owore of it. Gir|s wi|| o|so be encouroged to
porticipote in sport.
25. Privote sector Industries shou|d provide sponsorship to women sport. If government provides
them with some benefits then they wou|d be reody to sponsor women sport.
2ó. Privote sector componies shou|d provide [obs to women p|oyers.
27. Poro-mi|itory shou|d reserve [obs for women p|oyers.
28. Sport ministry shou|d be wou|d o||owed to toke core of sport octivities in primory schoo|s.
29. Specio| budgets shou|d be o||ocoted for primory schoo|s.
30. Indion gomes shou|d be promoted in ruro| oreos os they ore more economico|.
31. Sports c|ubs ond centers shou|d be mode especio||y for gir|s.
32. Hoste|s with sofe ond hygienic foci|ities shou|d be provided.
33. ln the HInIrtry of Iportr, a rpecIaI ceII rhouId be opened wIth the focur on the 'deveIopment of
women'r rport' In lndIa. IhIr ceII rhouId be entrurted wIth the mandate of workIn§ on promotIn§
women'r rport In lndIa.
(ó1)
k£F£k£KC£I
G ßennett, R., Whitoker, K., Woo|ey Smith, N., ond Sob|ove, A.(1987). Chonging the ru|es of the
gome: Ref|ections toword o feminist ono|ysis of sport. Homen'r ItudIer lnternatIonaI Forum,10,
3ó9-379.
G ßho|eroo, (2002), 'AnaIyrIr of probIemr faced by women pIayerr who partIcIpate In Inter-unIverrIty
rport competItIonr', Ph.D. thesis, Nogpur University.
G ßowker, A., Godbois, S., Cornock, ß., Iportr partIcIpatIon and reIf-erteem: varIatIonr ar a functIon
of §ender and §ender roIe orIentatIon (1}.
G Duncon, M.C. (1990). Sports photogrophs ond sexuo| difference: Imoges of women ond men in
the 1984 ond 1988 O|ympic Gomes. IocIoIo§y of Iport ¡ournaI, 7, 22-43.
G Duncon, M.C., ond Hosbrook, C.A.(1998). Denio| of power in te|evised women's sports. IocIoIo§y
of Iport ¡ournaI, 5, 1-21.
G Duncon, M.C., Messner, M.A., Wi||ioms, W., ond Jensen, K. (1994). 0ender rtereotypIn§ In
teIevIred rportr. Los Ange|es: Amoteur Ath|etic Foundotion
G Gi|son, C, Prott Mike, Roberts Kevin, Weymes Ed (2000), Peok Peformonce, ßusiness |essons
from the wor|d's top sport orgonisotions, horper Co||ins Pub|ishing.
G Gui|iono, T.A., Popp, K.E., Knight, J.L.,FootbaIIr verrur 8arbIer: ChIIdhood ÞIay ActIvItIer ar
ÞredIctorr of Iport ÞartIcIpatIon by Homen
G Kone, M.J.(199ó). Medio coveroge of the post Tit|e IX femo|e oth|ete: A feminist ono|ysis of
sport, gender, ond power. 0uke journaI of 0enderLaw and ÞoIIcy, 3(1), 95-127.
G Kone, M.J. ond Greendorfer, S. (1994). The medio's ro|e in occommodoting ond resisting stereotyped
imoges of women in sport. In P. Creedon (Ed.), Homen, medIa, and rport: ChaIIen§In§ §ender
vaIuer (pp. 28-44). Thousond Ooks, CA: Soge Pub|icotions.
G Kone, M.J. 7 Lensky[, H. J. (1997). Medio Treotment of femo|e Ath|etes: Issues of Gender ond
Sexuo|ities. HedIarport: CuIturaI IenrIbIIItIer and Iport In the HedIa A§e, Lowrence Wenner (Ed.),
1997.
G GG GG K|omsten, A.T., Skoo|vik, E.M., Loy G.A.E., Mcpherson, ÞhyrIcaI reIf-concept and Sports: Do
Gender Differences Sti|| Exist?
(ó2)
G Koivu|o Notho|ie,Gender Stereotyping in Te|evised Medio Sport Coveroge.
G Lensky[, H. (198ó). Out of 8oundr: Homen, rport and rexuaIIty. Toronto: Women's Press.
G Lensky[, H. (1994). Sport ond Femo|e Vo|ues. Homen In Iport and ÞhyrIcaI actIvIty journaI, 3, 35-
45.
G Messner, M. A., ond Sobo, D. F. (1990).Iport, men and the §ender order. Chompoign, IL: Humon
Kinetics Pub|ishers.
G Mi||er, J.L., Levy, G.D. Gender ro|e conf|ict, gender-typed chorocteristics, se|f-concepts, ond sport
socio|izotion in femo|e oth|etes ond nonoth|etes.
G Ne|son, M. ß.(1991). Are we wInnIn§ yetI Kow women are chan§In§ rportr and rportr are
chan§In§ women. New York: Rondom House.
G Physico| Activity ond Sport in the Lives of Gir|s: Physico| ond Mento| Heo|th Dimensions from
on Interdiscip|inory Approoch.
G Report of The Notiono| Commission for Youth (Vo|ume I) 2004, Government of Indio, Ministry
of Youth Affoires ond Sports.
(ó3)
AppeoJ|x /
The fo||owing oth|etes were interviewed for the study:
Nome of the P|oyer Gome
1. An[o|i Pendhorkor Cricket
2. Tripti ßhottochoryo Cricket
3. Fernondis Hockey ond Cricket
4. Soumyo Swomonothon Chess
5. Dhorini Archery
ó. Divyo Deshpondey Tob|e Tennis
7. Mong|o Shende Judo
8. Rodhiko Tupu|e Tennis
9. Sono|i Sonove Hockey
10. Voisho|i Sur Hockey
11. Sono|i Grite Rowing
12. Sono|i Gorgote Ath|etics
13. Neho Roikor Ath|etics ond Yogo
14. Korshmiro Jog|ekor ßodminton
15. Apoorvo ßhogot Rope Mo||okhomb
1ó. Suvorno Tok|e Rope Mo||okhomb
17. Neho Singh Toekondo
18. Swoti Kothekor ßodminton
19. Vondito Gymnostics
20. Anu[o Gymnostics
(ó4)
Nome of the P|oyer Gome
21. Shi|po Chi||o| Judo
22. Nonito Loo| Go|f
23. Moniko Joon Discus Throw
24. Tonyo Vi[ Swimming
25. Shobiko ßodhwor Tennis
2ó. Shweto Choudhory Shooting
27. Povneet Kour Ath|etics
28. Son[ono Chopro Ath|etics
(ó5)
AppeoJ|x //
lKIIk0CIlOKI FOk lKV£IIl0AIOkI
This is o questionnoire, which contoins 77 questions obout the |ife of o sports womon in Indio.
The questions here ronge from their bosic informotion |ike nome ond educotion to the prob|ems thot
they foce os o sports womon in Indio.
If you reod these questions you moy fee| they ore so simp|e but in reo|ity these con generote
very serious ond deep onswers. And this is the [ob of the investigotor. They hove to estob|ish o ropport
with the p|oyer so thot the p|oyer gives true onswers to these questions.
ALONG WITH THIS LETTER WE ARE SENDING 2 COPIES OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE TO YOU.
ONE IS IN ENGLISH AND ONE IN HINDI. P|eose toke photocopies (Xeroxes) occording to your need.
I.e. If you ore giving the questionnoire to some one who does not understond Eng|ish then give her
the Hindi questionnoire.
¥our job:
G Interview obout 8 gir|/women p|oyers ond 2 cooches/sport officers who ore connected to |odies
sport in your city/town.
G A|| the p|oyers shou|d be obove the oge of 12.
G Out of these 8
O 2 high schoo| gir|s (9-10 std)
O 2 gir|s who p|oy for their co||ege
O 2 gir|s who p|oy ot the district |eve| or the university |eve|
O 2 who p|oy for the stote
O 2 Cooches or sport officers.
G Choose 3-4 gomes. Do not interview more thon 2 gir|s from one gome. We need responses from
different p|oyers from different gomes.
G See to it thot the p|oyers from both individuo| gomes (Ath|etics, tob|e tennis, ßodminton etc) os
we|| os from group gomes (Koboddi, Kho-kho, Hockey etc) ore interviewed.
(óó)
G P|eose interview one p|oyer ot o time.
G Ask the p|oyer if she con fi|| the questionnoire on her own. If not then p|eose do it yourse|f. (Do
it in good hondwriting)
G Do not moke the p|oyer hurry. Let her do it ot o s|ow speed. Give her time to think.
£rtabIIrhIn§ rapport
G First introduce yourse|f. Te|| the p|oyer who you ore ond why you wont to interview her.
G Te|| her thot you ore working for ßhorotiyo Stree Shokti. Te|| |itt|e bit obout ßhorotiyo Stree
Shokti ond its work.
G Te|| her thot this is o rerearch project, which we ore doing for The Notiono| Commission for
Women.
G Through this pro[ect we wont to find out whot Gir| ond women p|oyers of Indio ore fee|ing. How
is their condition, how they ore treoted by the society. Are they treoted we|| by their co||eges,
cooches, se|ectors, fomi|y members etc. Do they need more foci|ities, sponsorships, scho|orships
etc? We wont to know everything obout their gome. How they proctice, whot they eot ond moin|y
o|| their prob|ems os '0IrI ÞIayer'
G Te|| them thot this is o reseorch pro[ect ond the informotion thot they give us wi|| be kept
'confidentio|'. They shou|d fee| free to te|| us everything thot they wont. We wont to know o||
obout their prob|ems.
G Thot this pro[ect moy be submitted to the Sport Ministry ond o|| the gir| p|oyers in Indio wi||
benefit from thot.
G So te|| them p|eose give o|| the true onswers.
G Get these questionnoires fi||ed in o quiet p|oce. There shou|d be privocy ond no other person
shou|d be present to distroct the p|oyer.
G Preferob|y owoy from the p|oyground, the p|oyer shou|d not fee| pressurized by the cooch or
other p|oyers.
Ihere Ir a reparate quertIonnaIre for coacher/rport offIcerr.
(ó7)
AppeoJ|x ///
8£lK0 A 0lkL ÞLA¥£k
1. Nome Age
2. Educotion Lost yeor's morks
3. Present occupotion Porent's occupotion
4. Gome Leve| ot which p|oying/previous|y p|oyed
5. Since how mony yeors ore you p|oying?
ó. Why did you choose to p|oy this gome?
7. Do you p|oy ony other gome?
8. Te|| us some detoi|s obout your proctice. When, where, how.
9. Do you think you ore getting enough proctice?
10. Wou|d you |ike some chonges in your proctice schedu|e? Yes/No
11. Is your cooch o mo|e or o femo|e?
12. Whot is your cooch's sty|e of cooching?
13. Are you hoppy with the cooching thot you ore getting? Yes/no
14. Te|| us something obout your re|otionship with your cooch.
15. Whot is the se|ection procedure for your co||ege, university or stote tournoments?
1ó. Are you sotisfied with it? Yes/No
17. If not, whot wou|d you |ike to chonge obout it?
18. In how mony competitions you porticipote every yeor?
19. Do you think it is enough?
20. Do you get o stipend for snocks ot everydoy proctice? How much?
21. Do you get stipend for tournoments? How much?
22. Do you fee| very tired ofter your proctice? Yes/No
23. Whot is your doi|y diet?
24. Do you think you ore of right weight?
25. Hove you ever used |oxotives/diuretics to |ose weight? (Or ony other meosures?)
2ó. Do you hove ony other heo|th prob|ems? Specify.
(ó8)
27. Are you toking ony other medicines for strength bui|ding or speed? Specify.
28. Are you owore of these types of medicines?
29. Do you think you hove the right height, weight ond strength for your gome? Yes/No
30. Are your periods regu|or? Yes/No
31. Do you p|oy during your periods? Yes/No
32. Do periods offect your gome? Yes/No
33. How do you cope with it?
34. Hos p|oying offected your periods in ony woy? How?
35. Are you sotisfied with your overo|| performonce? Yes/No
3ó. If no, why not?
37. Are your porents sotisfied with it? Yes/No
38. How do your porents find the ideo thot you p|oy?
39. How do they reoct to your wins ond |oses?
40. Does it offect your performonce?
41. Does/wos onybody in your fomi|y o p|oyer? If yes, ot whot |eve|?
42. Hos it offected your coreer in ony woy?
43. Whot do you think is more importont- Studies or sports?
44. Do you think your p|oying hos offected your studies in ony woys?
45. How do you fee| obout you being o gir| p|oyer?
4ó. Do you think some number of boys ond gir|s ore p|oyers?
47. Whot occording to you ore the difficu|ties o gir| p|oyer hos to foce in our country?
48. Do o|| p|oyers both gir|s ond boys foce such difficu|ties? Yes/No
49. Is sexuo| horossment one of those prob|ems? Yes/No
50. Hove you experienced such situotions/do you know onybody who hos foced such o prob|em?
51. Hove you heord obout "Lesbionism"? Yes/No
52. Hove you seen ony coses in sport?
53. Whot shou|d be done to promote |odies sport in Indio?
54. How gir|s shou|d be encouroged to p|oy sport?
55. Do you think there ore ony benefits of p|oying?
5ó. Do you think gir|s shou|d p|oy o|| the gomes thot boys p|oy? |Wrest|ing, weight |ifting..]
57. Do you think there ore i|| effects of p|oying 'boys' gomes on o gir|'s heo|th?
58. Hove you hod ony mo[or in[uries? Yes/No
59. Which?
(ó9)
ó0. Whot treotment did you toke?
ó1. Which [ob opportunities sporting gir|s hove?
ó2. Whot is your future p|on?
ó3. How |ong you ore going to continue in sport?
ó4. Do you hove ony ideo obout different coreers re|oted to sport?
ó5. Are p|onning to hove o coreer re|oted to sport? (Cooching, referee etc)
óó. Whot benefits do you get becouse of p|oying? |Physico|/Heo|th/Mento|/Socio|]
ó7. Con o gir| become o professiono| p|oyer in Indio?
ó8. Are 'P|oying Gir|s' ony different from other gir|s?
ó9. How do you think peop|e |ook ot 'gir| p|oyers?'
70. Are '|ooks' importont in sport? Yes/No
71. If yes, in whot woy?
72. Are you sotisfied with your persono|ity? Yes/No
73. Wou|d you |ike to moke some chonges in it?
74. Do you think better |ooks ond persono|ity wi|| he|p you in your sporting coreer?
75. How did you find this questionnoire?
7ó. Wou|d you |ike to odd onything to whot you hove soid so for?
77. P|eose write onything thot you fee| is missing from this questionnoire in the remoining spoce.
(70)
AppeoJ|x /v
lKI£kVl£H Q0£IIlOKI FOk IK£ COACK£I/IÞOkI OFFlC£kI/HAKA0£kI
1. Nome:
2. Age:
3. Gome with which Associoted:
4. Associoted for how mony yeors?
5. In whot copocity
ó. Coreer so for os o cooch/monoger/referee/sport officer:
7. How |ong you hove been ossocioted with women's sport?
8. Are you o|so ossocioted with men's sport?
9. Whot ore the prob|ems thot gir| p|oyers genero||y foce?
10. Whot ore the most common heo|th prob|ems in Indion gir| p|oyers?
11. Do these p|oyers get ond toke sufficient nutritious food every doy?
12. Do they get fomi|y support for sport porticipotion?
13. Do you hove to to|k to the fomi|y of the p|oyer obout her sport porticipotion, obout heo|th ond
ony other issues? Cou|d you te|| some incidents?
14. Whot is the out|ook of the society towords o gir| p|oyer?
15. Do you think women sport in Indio is growing?
1ó. How do gir| p|oyers behove with peop|e ond o|so with teommotes?
17. Are they ony different from other gir|s? In whot woy?
18. Hove you seen ony coses of sexuo| horossment in your sport?
19. Whot do you think obout the sport federotion of women's sport?
20. Whot is the difference between women's sport ond men's sport in Indio?
21. Whot shou|d be done to promote women's sport in Indio?
22. Te|| us obout your experiences both |positive ond negotive of working with women p|oyers.
23. Hove you seen ony coses of |esbionism in sport?
24. Whot chonges shou|d be mode in women's sport?
(71)
AppeoJ|x v
lKI£kVl£H l
Kame : Ianya VIj
I storted competitive swimming in 1997. I |ive in Gurgoon neor De|hi. I used to proctice ot
To|kotoro stodium but now I go to the Notiono| Stodium. My cooch wos Mr. SD.
ÞractIce
Eor|ier I used to troin for ó to 7 hours o doy. Now it is 2 hours. I hove to bo|once my studies
(Economics III rd yeor) ond sports so I hove reduced proctice hours. There is o swimming poo| neor
my house so I go there. We stort with [ogging. It is fo||owed by brisk running ond ground exercises.
Twice o week, we hove troining in the gymnosium for weights, sit-ups, pushups etc. I o|so spend time
in enduronce workouts. This tokes oround 3 hrs in the morning. After co||ege, I troin for onother 2½
-3 hrs. The toto| workout consists of swimming10,000 meters. F|exibi|ity is very importont in swimming.
So we hove to do exercises to improve f|exibi|ity. Yes, I om hoppy with my proctice schedu|e. I o|woys
hod mo|e cooches.
AccompIIrhmentr
I hove been se|ected for notiono| competitions he|d ot ßore|i ond ßongo|ore. I won medo|s in
50 meter free sty|e. I om o sprinter. I hove been porticipoting in schoo| notiono|s, [unior notiono| ond
notiono| gomes. I wos o|so o member of the re|oy teom for De|hi. I wos oworded the ßest swimmer
oword for De|hi Stote. My fother wos o reputed oth|ete. He represented Indio in the Asion Gomes. My
sister is o|so o swimmer. My porents encouroged both of us ond motivoted us right from the time when
we were in the schoo|.
ItudIer and rportr
However my studies suffered. Sports bui|ds your concentrotion power. You con study more. You
con s|og without getting tired. It deve|ops physico| ond mento| ospects.
IeIectIon
I experienced o |ot of po|itics ond fovoritism. One con get se|ected by poying money. It hosn't
hoppened with me but I know peop|e who hove done it. A swimmer who shows the best time gets
oheod. ßut mony o times, other swimmers who do not do we|| o|so get se|ected.
(72)
We both |eft the sport it becouse you connot moke coreer in Indio in sports. We were o|so tired
of the po|itics. It's better to be owoy from it ond concentrote on studies.
FacIIItIer
Swimming is on expensive sport. Ti|| two yeors ogo, good quo|ity swim-suits were not ovoi|ob|e.
A |ot of foci|ities ore expensive. In Indio, we do not get internotiono| quo|ity swimming gogg|es. My
unc|e used to send this from U.S.A.
IponrorrhIp
Getting sponsorships is very difficu|t. I know o few women sports persons who ore sponsored by
orgonisotions. ßut they ore O|ympic |eve| swimmers. We hove to spend so much money from our own
pocket. We don't hove infrostructure. Swimming is o science. Mony o times you need support of
computers. You need to study it. We don't hove this foci|ity in Indio. Thot's why we ore nowhere in
swimming (O|ympics). We hove to|ent. We proctice reo||y hord but foreigners ore exce||ent.
0Ifference between boyr and §IrIr
ßoth boys ond gir|s hove o|most the some prob|ems. ßut gir|s obvious|y hove to be more corefu|
especio||y of the men who ore oround but it shou|d not hinder you. Cooches concentrote more on
peop|e from richer fomi|ies. They poy their woy through. I hove seen gir|s who hove no to|ent but their
porents [ust keep poying money to push them through. I hove seen peop|e who ore not so we||-off do
much better. They s|og more. It's the some for boys. For them, this is o profession. They get [obs os
we||. For others, they stop ot co||ege.
CompetItIonr
There ore sufficient competitive events. Gir|s do hove odequote opportunities for porticipoting.
ItIpend
I used to get Rs 15 per doy for proctice whi|e in wos in co||ege. There wos no stipend offered
ot Notiono| Competitions. During tournoments ond comps, we get poid for the tronsport. ßut the
stoying foci|ities ore bod. Food is not ot o|| good. I prefer to stoy on my own so thot I cou|d swim
better. The best swimmers ore finoncio||y copob|e ond ore given sponsorship.
0re of dru§r and dopIn§
It is rompont. I hove seen peop|e doing these. There is so much po|itics. Even though, they hove
been tested positive, no oction hos been token. They either poy bribe or hove connections with the
hire-ups. I know peop|e who toke drugs to increose speed ond strength medicines. I hove never token
ony drugs. This hoppens ot the notiono| |eve|. There is so much ot stoke thot peop|e wi|| go to ony
|ength to improve performonce.
(73)
KeaIth ÞrobIemr
I hove o sinus prob|em.
HenrtruatIon
It is not o big prob|em. Women p|oyers do swim during their menstruotion periods. One tokes
pi||s to de|oy it. I don't think it's o prob|em.
Þerformance
I om sotisfied. In two yeors, I con beot others who hove been swimming since 12 yeors. I
procticed o |ot. I reo||y worked hord. Sometimes I stopped going to schoo|.
Future
ßut now I need to concentrote on studies. Economics is o tough sub[ect. There is no coreer in
swimming. There is o |ot of po|itics invo|ved. Swimming is not worth pursuing os o coreer. It hos o |ot
of odvontoges but os o coreer it is not good.
8enefItr
There ore mony physico| ond mento| benefits.
FamIIy Iupport
I hove no words to describe their support. It is o|| becouse of them. They used to drop ond pick
me up ot the swimming poo| for proctice for 4 to 5 yeors. My porents hove o|woys protected me. I
om very grotefu| to them. I hod o scho|orship (free educotion). ßut now in co||ege, I hove to poy fees.
Career
If you wont to pursue it, nothing shou|d come in your woy. It is for everyone to decide.
CoachIn§ by maIe coacher
Yes. I wos troined by mo|e cooches. ßut it wos not o hindronce. I used to swim when there were
other men in the poo|. It wos never o prob|em. Swimming is o sport in Indio where even morried women
oren't o||owed to swim. Even my cousins ore very conservotive. So for them I om |ike o ro|e mode|.
I om proud of it.
(74)
AppeoJ|x v/
lKI£kVl£H ll
Kame: KarhmIra ¡o§Iekar
Korishmo is o Heoring impoired ßodminton p|oyer from Pune, she hos represented Indio.
Now she is 18
She used to p|oy o|| gomes. Her fother is o cricket p|oyer (he p|oyed for Mumboi University) he
wonted to support her in sports. Since she is hearIn§ ImpaIred teom gome wos not the choice.
ßodminton is o sofe gome to p|oy onother point is thot there is no teom so there is no portio|ity
She storted p|oying o ßo| ßhowon under *** supervision. Then we shifted to Hyderobod when
she wos in 4
th
c|oss. We were there for 4 yrs. Mr. Mohd. Arif who wos o notiono| |eve| cooch, gove
her the troining, when we come bock to Pune, Mr. Deodhor storted cooching her, she hod ottoined o
good |eve| of physico| fitness in Hyderobod
She p|oyed in the Veizog notiono|s
Eor|ier we hod no ideo thot there were seporote tournoments for the deof ond dumb peop|e in
Andhro. So she p|oyed with normo| chi|dren, in AP she p|oyed the Veizog notiono|s where she wos o
runner up.
There we got to know thot there ore seporote tournoments for the deof. There wos o deof
women's competition in De|hi where she won 3 medo|s. After thot she got medo|s she notiono|s the
deof poo|. She went to Toiwon for the Asio-pocific. In 2001 she went for the 19
th
deof O|ympics in
Rome.
She got 3 medo|s in Toiwon, in the individuo| event, she got bronze, in the |odies doub|es she
got si|ver ond she got o si|ver for the teom. She p|oyed o|most o|| the gomes from her teom. In Rome,
she hurt her foot, so her individuo| ronking wos 7
th
.
In mix doub|es, Ro[eev ßoggo portnered her ond they got o go|d. She hod to |eove the tournoments
becouse of her in[ury.
Now she hos o|most stopped, she p|oys on|y the co||ege tournoments.
She hos in[ury in her right |eg.
(75)
There were |ots of prob|ems even in her troining. Thot wou|d o|woys hoppen. Nobody wou|d be
reody to p|oy ogoinst her.
£ven when her §ame war very §ood, and when her beIn§ deaf and dumb dId not affect the §ame,
peopIe ured to waIk away. She used to fee| frustroted ond cry in Hyderobod. She wou|d fee| insu|ted,
whenever Koshmiro wou|d enter in court ogoinst somebody, the portner wou|d |eove the gome. It wos
insu|ting for her.
They were o|| very senior to her ond she wos very young, she wos [ust 9-10 yrs. And neither they
were going to come up without p|oying with the [unior, so she hod o bod experience she hod never
hod ony prob|em |ike this in Pune. In foct in Pune, the cooch himse|f used to give her the proctice.
There she used to hove on|y fitness in the morning ond in the evening she hod on|y the octuo| on court
proctice, we used to get her fitness don in the morning but it used to be o prob|em in the evenings
so we decided to chonge the cooch, then we |ook her to Secunderobod. He wos o good cooch, but
he hord|y poid ottention to the fitness. Arif Sir used to poy more need to the fitness. After 4 yrs. Then,
we come to Pune.
We come bock to Pune ond thon we storted going to Deodhor sir. We to|d him obout the woy
she used to come home crying ond how no one used to p|oy ogoinst her. He soid her wi|| |ook ofter
it ond I did not hove time to |ook for onother cooch. ßesides, it wos convenient for us since issued
to toke her for her proctice ofter I come bock from office from 8:30 to 10:30 pm
There wos onother experience in the se|ections ßPL hod storted on ocodemy ond there wos
se|ection trio|s. It wos o doy comp. For 15 doys or so. And chorged us 2400 Rs. Some body from
Prokosh Podukone's ocodemy wos supposed to come for se|ection. Fino||y someone some. They hod
o|reody se|ected the students.. They [ust mode us foo|.
She p|oyed two Internotiono| tournoments. I wos with her o|| the time I wos with her even when
she hod gone there. Government did not he|p with o sing|e poiso. There wos no monoger or cooch
for the Indion teom. There were no doctors either. Her foot got worse whi|e p|oying ond there wos no
one we wou|d show it to. l war the onIy perron wIth the team who couId IIrten and taIk. Thot too
becouse I spent for my trove|, it is very shomefu| thot they spend so much on the O|ympic ond sti||
they cou|d not spirit o rupee on this? Cou|d ot they offord o sing|e doctor, monoger?
l had to arran§e everythIn§ even on the aIrport becaure there were k0 deaf and dumb chIIdren.
IheIr parentr were reIIved that l war wIth them becaure there war no other way they couId contact
the chIIdren. Ito|ion ond Germon teoms used to fee| thot there wos obso|ute|y no one with the
Indion teom. Their peop|e come to check up on her ond were reo||y surprised thot there wos no
one with us.
Koreon, cooch, who hod p|oyed ot the notiono| |eve|, hod been troined by their govt. 2 yrs. On
how to hond|e to deof. Our govt. moy not be ob|e to do thot but they cou|d hove ot |eost provided
o doctor.
(7ó)
When, we come bock with the medo|s those peop|e, who reod the newspoper, contocted us ond
congrotu|oted. ßut there were no owords reworded, Even the news groups were |ote to respond ond
pub|icize, the express group were the first to pub|ish her. ßut there wos no recognition in spite of
hoving p|oyed O|ympics.
(77)
AppeoJ|x v//
lKI£kVl£H lll
I om Shi|po Chi||o|. I om o notiono| |eve| Judo P|oyers. I om p|oying this sport since 1989. I
continue p|oying even ofter my morrioge. I om 28 yeors o|d. I hove o 5 yeor o|d son. Lost yeor, I won
the first ßronze medo| for Mohoroshtro in the Notiono| gomes ot Vishokhopotnom.
We were four sisters ond o brother. ßefore morrioge, my porents were in Ahemodnogor in
Mohoroshtro. I wos born in Ahemodnogor. We were not economico||y we|| off. My mother is o housewife
ond fother wos on occountont. I foced difficu|ties becouse of our economic stotus. In 1989, I storted
p|oying Judo. I wos in ó
th
c|oss. My friends used to p|oy [udo. They were oword winners. Our tournoments
were he|d in Monipur. I cou|d not porticipote, os I cou|d not offord expenses for 15 doys tour.
We do not get ony finoncio| ossistonce. We hove to poy on our own. Even for the notiono| events,
we hove to orronge for our food ond boording. For eoch competition we hove to spend obout two to
three thousond, which wos not possib|e for me
After my morrioge, I come to Pune. In Pune, I did my ßoche|or of Physico| educotion ( ß.P.Ed.)
course. Now I om doing the Mosters course. My husbond is in the defence service. It wos my dreom
to ochieve the Chotropoti oword. ßefore my morrioge, there wos some breok in my troining but ofter
morrioge I storted ogoin in 2001. I did not [oin ony c|ub but procticed with my husbond. He is not
o Judo P|oyer but groduo||y he hos deve|oped interest in sports. I used to te|| him obout the moves
ond defence. I used to proctice with him. It wos not possib|e for me to go to ony c|ub ofter ó p.m.
I wos doing ß.P.Ed. ond then M.P.Ed. I o|so hod o [ob ond I hod to monoge the house. So it wos not
possib|e for me to troin in odditiono| work out. I on|y hod to proctice the moves. I cou|d proctice ot
home.
My husbond gove me fu|| support. Thot is why I cou|d persue the gome. My mother in |ow wos
o|so very supportive ond of he|ping noture. She wos o c|oss one officer in the Government educotion
deportment.
I won my first go|d medo| in 2001. This wos o big boost to me ofter I hod storted ogoin. In the
next three yeors, I won four more go|d medo|s in notiono| events -Orisso Potio|o, Mumboi. I won go|d
medo|s in Porbhoni, Nosik ond Pune in stote |eve| competitions. I wos se|ected for the Notiono| gomes
in he|d in Andhro Prodesh ond Pun[ob. Fino||y I hove co||ected my points for considerotion for the
Chotropoti oword. One needs 125 points but I hove got 130 points so for. I hove submitted the forms
(78)
ond now I om owoiting for resu|ts. This wi|| be dec|ored in Februory 2005. I hope I wi|| ochieve it. I
hove received Zi||o Krido Puroskor.
I om youngest in my fomi|y. My sib|ings never hod ony interest in ony gomes. Se|f ond brother
hod storted up but the |et in 2/3 months os it is o rough ond tough gome. ßut I pursued it economico|
crisis were there. My porticipotion in the tournoment wos never confirmed ti|| the |ost doy economic
prob|ems were o|woys there
I hod [oined privote c|ub for Judo. Fees for the some wos 100 Rs., which wos woved off. ßut
dress ond fee, tournoment fees etc. use to be obout 500 to ó00 Rs. Even I p|oyed 2,3 motches / yr.
It used be 5000 to ó000 Rs. Whichever medo|s peop|e fe|icitoted but for motches entry fee we poid.
My porents monoged it ofter 10, 11
th
12
th
I picked up o [ob if you get some position in stote
|eve| you con get o scho|orship from govt. which wos o he|p for me
Judo federotion of Indio took our signotures ond |oter informed they didn't receive o gront for
notiono|s we signed vouchers for 1000 to 1500 but never received ony thing. The rep|y wou|d be we
hoven't received gront so con't give you. For gront purpose we ore toking signotures from 1989 to
2004 I got money on|y for this time now my institute hos, shifted to Nosik
The previous committee wos working from 1989 ti|| 2003 we were not owore thot we cou|d get
money. So we did not get ony odvontoge. This scheme were never heord of. Now the monogement
committee hos chonged.
Now I hove done ß.P.Ed ond M.P.Ed. I hove suffered os o p|oyer I do not wont others to suffer.
A good cooch con moke o good p|oyer. Our cooch were not fomi|ior with the ru|es ond regu|otions.
For getting Chotropoti oword, Cooch o|so hos got some fovorite students
Cooch moy be good but costism, economic difference motter. Mine is o strugg|ing |ife.
See this os on exomp|e of se|ection procedure in Judo! I om from Nogor. The se|ection wos to
toke p|oce in Pune. The expenses storted from doy one, when we come for se|ection trio|s. We used
to come with o|| provisions. For the next tournoments the trio|s were conducted o doy prior to the
deporture. We hove to reoch Pune with the boggoge even before we know whether we ore se|ected or
not. We moy or moy not get se|ected. If we do not then we go bock to Nogor with our boggoge. It
is your |uck. Then there is o|woys the prob|em of money. It wos in the honds of the referee. Though
things hove chonged.
Now |et me te|| you obout cooches ond cooching. For notiono| comps the internotiono| cooches
come. Our couches ore good but the sports equipment ond no weightoge for sports meons inferior
quo|ity of cooching. Anybody con be cooch in Indio but poyments ond medio sport hos to be there.
ßut Indion cooches con be ot per with internotiono| cooch.
(79)
Yes sport persons need specio| diet. Yes but I do not toke my specio| diet becouse of my finoncio|
condition wos not good. After morrioge I hod no time to concentrote on my diet. There is pressure
on me. When I p|oy I om neg|ecting my fomi|y. I wos p|oying in Anodpur Soheb my son wos [ust o
month o|d. When I porticipoted for notiono| gome if I wou|d hove |eft my son behind in cose of
emergency it wou|d hove token ot |eost 2 doys ond to toke him o|ong wos difficu|t I hod to corry his
things. My husbond wos |ooking ofter him when I hod my motches. My teommotes were not co-
operotive, insteod possed nosty comments.
Rogging is quite common. It meons moking fun of somebody. Teose on my weok point, neg|ect
or ovoiding the person. It is not eosy to be o port of o teom.
IexuaI hararrment
Not ot the time of se|ection, but when we ore trove||ing outside yes. Once we were ottending
on orchestro ofter tournoments in Pun[ob. We were owoy from our group we were 3-4 gir|s. ßoys tried
to mo|est us but ofter o|| we were Judo p|oyers.
Right no I om p|oying in the under 70 kg cotegory ond there is o ru|e in Judo thot if o p|oyers
weight is ó5 kg then they con p|oy in the proper weight cotegory. There is o gir| nomed Poonom Chopro
from De|hi. She is more |ike o mon, her voice is o|so deep. She is friend|ier with the men. She doesn't
|ike being with the gir|s. She is on internotiono| p|oyer ond she hos even got the Ar[un oword. There
wos o controversy over her gender in the motch. Then they checked her up. Fino||y it wos proved thot
she is o gir|, we used to be scored of her, the woy she wou|d behove. ßut it is true, in some sport
events, becouse of the proctice, hormones chonge. Things thot o normo| |ody does, |ike b|ushing, being
soft etc. is not found in us we do chonge we ore more c|oshing, we do not fee| the need for support
|ike the other women or gir|s. We con go o|one ony with o sports womon is different thon o normo|
|ody. There ore chonges in her.
The more rough the gome, the more you chonge, if you ore o weight |ifter, your voice is sure
to chonge, those who p|oy power weight |ifting or Judo ore o |itt|e more moscu|ine. There definite|y
is o difference between the Normo| |odies nod sports women.
Those who go for combot ore different. ßut yes there is o difference between the normo| |odies
ond sportswomen
A sportswomon hos undergone o |ot of chonges. She hos her own views, she doesn't ogree with
onyone eosi|y. Doesn't to|erote horossment from her husbond, workp|oce, in the bus etc un|ike the
other women, if the hos on interest in something then no one con shop her.
(80)
AppeoJ|x v///
LlII OF IK£ I£AH H£H8£kI
1. Dr Moneesho Kothekor ß.A.M.S.
2. Dr. Jyoti Konitkor M.A., Ph.D. (Psycho|ogy)
3. Ms. Te[oswini Doni ß.Com, D.ß.M.
4. Ms. Protibho Jo[u ß.Com.
5. Ms Renu Joshi M.A. (Psycho|ogy)
ó. Ms. Vosundhoro Nongio M.A. (Psycho|ogy, Port I)
7. Ms. Roshmi Horidos ß.A., ß.Lib
A STUDY ON
GENDER ISSUES IN SPORT
IN INDIA
ßY
ßHARATIYA STREE SHAKTI
NATIONAL COMMISSION FOR WOMEN
NEW DELHI
COKI£KI
Foreword (i)
Acknow|edgement (iii)
Chopter I : Introduction 1
Chopter II : Review of Literoture 5
Chopter III : Methodo|ogy 29
Chopter IV : Discussion 35
Chopter V : Conc|usion 55
Chopter VI : Recommendotions 57
References ó1
Appendices 1 to 7 ó3
FOk£HOk0
Sports hos o|woys been regorded os o mo|e preserve. From the O|ympion heights to the
|oco| stodium, sport hos o|woys been ossocioted with musc|e power ond therefore women hove
o|woys hod o secondory stotus in re|otion to sports octivity in genero| ond sports po|icy in
porticu|or. ßut sport os o meons to better physico| heo|th ond os o motivotor for exce||ence
hos os much re|evonce to o womon's |ife os to o mon's. Achievement in sports hos o porticu|or|y
empowering effect on the individuo| ond therefore sports deserve to be
inc|uded in ony ho|istic po|icy oimed ot empowerment of women.
With this perspective, the Notiono| Commission for Women, being
o|woys concerned with removo| of discriminotion ond disobi|ities foced by
women, sponsored o study on gender issues in sports so thot the hurd|es
they foce in this oreno con be removed ond they con sprint forword
shou|der to shou|der with men in o|| octivities invo|ving humon exce||ence.
ßhortiyo Stree Shokti which hos been octive since 1988 for women's
deve|opment corried out the study invo|ving interviews with o |orge number
of sports persons ond odministrotors o|| ocross the country. Their report
contoins o focused discussion of the prob|ems foced by women in sports ond mokes o set of
usefu| recommendotions for storting o movement of sports which shou|d invo|ve gir|s from o
young oge ond motivote them both for sound heo|th ond exce||ence in persono| ochievement.
It emphosizes the ro|e of the fomi|y, the community ond the stote in creoting o promotiono|
otmosphere ond removing o|| troces of discriminotion ot the psycho|ogico| ond po|icy |eve|s.
It is hoped thot the document wou|d kind|e new thinking in o neg|ected oreo of women's
endeovour.
ÞOOkKlHA A0VAKl
P|oce : New De|hi Choirperson
Dote : Jonuory, 2005 Notiono| Commission for Women
(i)
ACKKOHL£00£H£KI
ßhorotiyo Stree Shokti expresses deep grotitude to o||, who he|ped us in this pro[ect of A rIudy
fn ´Cender and JporIr´.
First of o|| we thonk The Notiono| Commission for Women ond the Respected Choirperson, NCW,
Dr. Poornimo Advoni by whom we were entrusted with the tosk of this study, simi|or|y Smt. Nirmo|o
Sithoromon, member NCW, who encouroged us to toke up this neg|ected oreo in the process of
women's empowerment.
We wou|d |ike to thonk o|| the institutions, p|oyers, cooches ond officio|s who reodi|y ogreed to
be interviewed for this purpose ond imported invo|uob|e informotion ond experiences of working in this
fie|d. We ore o|so thonkfu| to Sports Authority of Indio for their kind cooperotion.
In the end we ocknow|edge the support given by the teom ond heorti|y thonk the teom members,
Te[oswini Doni, Protibho Jo[u, Renu Joshi ond Vosundhoro Nongio.
0k, HAK££IKA KOIK£KAk 0k. ¡¥OIl KAKlIKAk
Pro[ect Director Pro[ect Coordinotor
(iii)