Women in Sports

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Women in Sports

Sport has been a part of all our lives in one way or another. Whether in the form of primary school memories, playing for clubs, or being ardent fans of certain sports people and teams, it has created an impact on our lives in some way. Sport has a lot of power – it can even change lives. We have seen multiple stories in the media, of lives being changed through a sport. And the beautiful thing is, this impact lasts for generations.


For women, sport is one of the biggest mediums to drive the gap between genders. It shows that no gender is less than the other and takes steps towards gender equality. Women who play sports defy social norms, gender based stereotypes and make inspiring role models for an entire generation of younger girls looking up to them. 


But the situation wasn’t the same about 50 years ago. Today if you see a little girl picking up a bat and playing with boys or dribbling a ball in the court, you probably won’t be surprised. This has been a big change from a couple of decades ago. “The presence of women taking part in sport has grown only since then and the gap between men and women in their interest in sport has narrowed considerably over the last 50 years” – said the recent Women and Sport report from Repucom (Nielsen, 2016).  If we look at statistics - according to the Women and Sport report, women who take part in sporting activities at school have a 76% chance of remaining interested in sport for the rest of their lives. In the 1970s and 1980s girls' participation in these activities increased, and it has been these women who have turned the tables since then. And the trend will continue, because they are the ones now encouraging the next generation to play sports. This is a very positive change that we have seen and we hope to continue to see more in the coming years and decades. 


We still have a long way to go. Women’s participation in sport has definitely increased but what about the opinion of people towards women athletes from an Indian perspective? When asked if women are as good as their male counterparts in a particular sport - many who participated in a BBC survey in India said ‘Yes’. However, 42% of the participants felt that women's sports were not as "entertaining" as men. There were also negative perceptions about sports women on their appearance and childbearing ability. 


A BBC research, which was carried out across 14 states of India with 10,181 respondents, also presented findings on issues such as the importance of sports to both men and women. The research showed that activities regarded as being "least unsuitable" for women included athletics and indoor games. Indian women, however, seem to be made of sterner stuff - breaking gender stereotypes to rule the global arena when it comes to "unsuitable sports" like wrestling, boxing, kabaddi and weightlifting. This clearly shows that women are interested in ‘tough’ sports but are often held back by the perception of the society and social norms, which needs to change. 


Indian Women’s Cricket team played a test match after 7 years recently – this suggests a step towards mainstreaming of Indian women’s cricket. But cricket being the most popular sport in the country, more like a religion, is still taking steps towards viewership and mainstreaming for the women’s side of the sport, which shows that we clearly still do have a long way to go. Media portrayal and broadcasting would play a big role in this, along with funding and investment by the sporting bodies of course. 


To work towards the cause of gender equality, sport has played a very important role and will continue to. To bridge this gap further, we all need to come together and root for women in sport in whatever way we can. Whether it is something as seemingly small as supporting the girls in our families when they decide to take up sports or following women’s sport games that are aired on the television. Every single step counts and every single step is a step towards equality. Because when girls rise, we all rise.


Written by- Diya Valeja


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