Introduction
Discrimination in sports is not only limited to racial discrimination, but also gender and sexual-orientated discrimination. Discrimination in sports based on gender has been a debatable issue in most of countries. For quite a while ladies have been relied upon to satisfy conventional gender roles that are held by the two people in standard society. These gender roles frequently brought about ladies being deterred from association in parts of society, including taking an interest and contending in games. Since the Olympic Games in Paris in 1900, where 22 ladies out of 997 competitors took an interest in 5 sports, the contribution of ladies in the Olympic Movement by any means levels has changed step by step. Changes in sexual orientation jobs in light of evolving financial, social, and political conditions additionally had an effect on the game, particularly in connection to cooperation. At the basic leadership level, the advancement has been less amazing: there were no ladies individuals from the International Olympic Committee somewhere in the range of 1896 and 1981. In 2014 there were 24 female IOC individuals out of 115 Individuals. This issue has been a controversial issue because of the unequal wages paid, unequal chances and opportunities to women compared to men, and also the unequal viewership. In our discussion, we would like to identify the problems, the steps that have been taken, and the current situation of this issue.
Challenges
Firstly, we would like to discuss the hardships and struggles that had faced by women in sports. Commonly, women had been labeled as a weaker gender. This mentality had been a strong obstacle or barrier for women to participate in sports. The issue with olden-day people, they have stereotyped women as homely figures. They have always pictured females taking care of the home, washing the clothes, preparing meals and family needs. There are few real incidents on this matter. For example, in the 1940s, a curveball female player Toni Stone, had received misogynist callouts. Indeed, even her partners said things to her like, 'Return home and fix your husband a few bread rolls.[footnoteRef:1]' Stone confronted disparage from her partners, the general population objection, and directors. A ton of men did not acknowledge Stone into the amusement and irritated her for being a lady. Since she was a lady, Stone couldn't be in the locker room either. It is said that she needed to change in the umpire's room. Since she was a lady, Stone was likewise requested to wear a skirt, however, she declined as it was capricious to play in. At the point when different players made lewd gestures toward Stone or did anything improper, she managed it. Besides that, in the United States, in the 1950s, The U.S. Polo Association (USPA) did not allow female players to participate. That did not stop Sue Salley Hale. She bound her breast and concealed her long hair, and a phony mustache, turning into the baffling Mr. A. Jones for a long time. She at that point utilized this as use to change the USPA's principles on barring ladies. The Olympian Women's Wrestler Geeta Phogat shared the dark side that she faced in sports. She said 'Our parents faced more hardship than us. They didn't stop us from training despite hearing the taunts from the people in the village. We were fortunate to have parents like them,”[footnoteRef:2]. She also added that she and her sister had cut their hair short commonly known as boy-cut. They were teased by boys in the village and also schoolmates for their haircuts. From the given examples, we can conclude that there are a lot of struggles and discrimination faced by women in sports. The sole reason is just because they are female participants. How ridiculous was our society back then? [1: Ackmann, Martha. Curveball: The Remarkable Story of Toni Stone, the First Woman to Play Professional
Baseball in the Negro Leagues (Lawrence Hill Books, 2010)] [2: Sakshi Prashar, 'It's about hard work, not gender: Geeta Phogat' (The Economic Times, 8 March 2017) < https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/its-about-hard-work-not-gender-geeta-phogat/articleshow/57537876.cms> accessed 27 January 2019]
Law and treaties to overcome gender discrimination in sport
Many countries have taken steps and created laws to overcome women's discrimination in sports. Any call for reestablished political consideration on sexual orientation correspondence in sports at the global level ought to be found in a chronicled setting, as there was at that point an international conference on women and sports composed by the Central Council of Physical Recreation on 4-6 December 1978 in London and the Charter of Women's Rights in Sports, proposed by the Italian Sport For All association UISP, embraced by the European Parliament in 1987 (Resolution on Women and Sport doc.A 2-32/87/rev). In addition, the conference on women and sports in Brighton, UK from 5-8 May 1994 sorted out by the British Sports Council and upheld by the International Olympic Board of Trustees, the Beijing Platform for Action embraced at the UN Fourth World Meeting on Women in 1995, and the UNESCO MINEPS discussions in 2004 and 2013 gave essential approach proposals on ladies and sexual orientation equity in sport. A few activities of the Member States, the game development, the Council of Europe, and the European Parliament of the EU (2003, 2007) were propelled, each time calling for more activity and measures. In any case, these activities still have not prompted a satisfactory dimension of sex uniformity in the game. In a gathering with delegates of EWS, ENGSO, and the IWG on sexual orientation correspondence furthermore, sport in 2011, Commissioner Vassiliou inferred that it was difficult to achieve any targets on sexual orientation correspondence in games without explicit activities and political and money-related help. Along these lines, vital activities, including a guide and an activity plan, which would lay out need territories for national and universal games associations, national governments, and work at the EU level, ought to be produced. This would incorporate instructive and preparing programs for ladies and men and new human asset arrangements at nearby, national, and worldwide dimensions. Official Vassiliou welcomed the partners in the game and the EU Member States to cooperate to build up a sound intent to achieve sex correspondence in the game by 2020. She solicited a gathering from specialists to set up a proposition for such an arrangement dependent on proof, counting the conceivable advantages of solid measures, to be talked about with partners and specialists at the EU meeting on Gender Equality in Sport on 3-4 December 2013 in Vilnius, Lithuania. In its early stages, the International Charter of Physical Education and Sports recognized that the practice of physical education and sports is a fundamental right for all.[footnoteRef:3] In this charter, the United Nations Committee agreed that sports opportunity should be equal to all, which means for all categories of humans. [3: International Charter Of Physical Education And Sport, Article 1]
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The current positions
In modern times, according to the law and treaties, men and women would have the same opportunities and treatment in sports. The question arose whether there was any discrimination even after the treaties and the law reform had been done. The answer is a clear YES. Many of us would ask what and how the discrimination took place since women had been given the opportunity and equal rights to participate in sports. The answer is very simple. Women had been given equal rights as men to participate in sports, but there was no specific law or treaty on how they should be treated in sports. Here, we are going to analysis one by one.
Women’s sports and media coverage
In an article published by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on 8th February 2018, its Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, urged the media to provide equal media coverage on women's sports. He said that the sports coverage on women’s sports is only 4% and only 12% of sports news is presented by women[footnoteRef:4]. Therefore, studies have proven that media coverage for women’s sports is given very little focus and importance. So, what is the impact? Firstly, when there is less media coverage of women’s sports, automatically the viewership also would be less resulting less advertisements and sponsors which leads to lesser pay. [4: Unesco.org, 'UNESCO calls for fairer media coverage of sportswomen' (UNESCO, 08 February 2018) accessed 26 January 2019]
Women still face a wage gap
The fight for equivalent pay in games began with the Women's Tennis Association during the 1970s when a gathering of female competitors began their very own ladies-just tennis circuit to challenge male competition victors getting higher pay. There are plenty of examples on this matter. Firstly, let’s compare the wages paid by Stephanie Jayne Houghton and Wayne Rooney. Both of them are English footballers. Steph Houghton, the best-paid female English player, earns around £65,000 a year, while Wayne Rooney receives £300,000 a week.[footnoteRef:5] With regards to women, tennis is by a long shot the most cash-making sport for female competitors. Truth be told, all grand slam tennis competitions have paid male and female winners similarly since Wimbledon started doing so in 2007. Be that as it may, Novak Djokovic, the men's No.1, earned twice as much as Serena Williams, the Women's No.1 even though both had won three of the four grand slams.[footnoteRef:6] [5: Lilit, 'Gender Discrimination In Sports: Statistics & Examples' (WOMEN'S, 10 November 2017) accessed 28 January 2019] [6: Lilit, 'Gender Discrimination In Sports: Statistics & Examples' (WOMEN'S, 10 November 2017) accessed 28 January 2019]
Gender discrimination in verbal and visual contexts
Sometimes, the name of the tournament and associations looks like nothing wrong with it, but the reality is that there is discrimination by the way the names are. It sounds a bit funny, but it plays an important role in gender discrimination in sports. For example, the most awaited football tournament all over the world is the FIFA WORLD CUP, but many of us do not realize that there is also a football tournament called FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP. So, what are the problems? Some of us would think that there is no discrimination since women are also given the opportunity to participate in world-class football tournaments. The issue is why there is 2 FIFA WORLD CUP. It would be more appropriate if there is just one tournament which is the Fifa World Cup in general and divide the categories under it. Another example is the Chess Championship. We have two major championships which are WOMEN’S WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP and WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP. Why it is needed to mention gender? Why can’t just mention the type of tournament in general, and divide the categories in it? This issue remained undecided until now.
Homosexuality participants in sport
In elite athletics the thing that has been discussed the most here recently is homosexuality. Homosexuality isn't simply in the expert alliances any longer it has spread to universities and even in secondary schools. The general population that will, in generally, have an issue with individuals being gay and playing sports is the more seasoned ages. The more seasoned ages experienced childhood in a period where homosexuality was viewed as off-base. Late patterns recommend that society is winding up all the more tolerating homosexuality in an assortment of settings, particularly in games. In Edmuson's article, he discusses how playing games enables individuals to construct their character or harm it, and how being gay and playing sports is difficult. Something else Edmuson's article discusses is the way most competitors are instructed that homosexuality isn't right so they think they need to assume the job of being hostile to gays. WNBA star and previous Baylor player Brittney Griner is a genuine case of experiencing serious difficulties with building character and having the capacity to communicate in school. While playing for Baylor she wasn't permitted to turn out to the general population and state that she is gay. Griner's school mentor disclosed to her that for selecting purposes she ought not express her sexuality to people in general. Another motivation behind why Griner wasn't permitted to turn out was on the grounds that Baylor was anxious about the possibility that on the off chance, people wouldn't give their children a chance to come and play at Baylor. Griner being as tall as she is has changed the sport of ball a great deal yet on the off chance that she was permitted to communicate for who she truly is she very well might have changed the game a ton more. In the United States of America, the government introduced a new legislation which is The Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA). Under this act, the male coaches who are gay who also protected. Women’s Sports Foundation, in one of its articles on Sexual Orientation Discrimination in Sport, stated that despite the fact that men's games have customarily been seen to be a threatening domain for gay men, increasingly gay mentors, directors, athletic coaches, and other staff are distinguishing themselves. Negative enrollment against male mentors dependent on sexual introduction is an expanding issue as gay men turn out to be progressively obvious in the game. Until women and men's games dispense with homophobia, lesbian, gay, promiscuous, and transgender athletic representatives require legitimate securities from segregation dependent on sexual introduction and sex character, in twenty states as well as in each of the fifty states.
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