Blowing the Whistle on Gender-Based Categories in Sports
How do we define gender? The definition of gender and what we know about it are constantly evolving. Should we not update our organization of sports to align with these evolutions? Sports should not be separated into two gender-based categories. The separation of genders in sports perpetuates the idea that men are better at sports than women, which is untrue. Moreover, the spectrum of gender is not fairly represented by only male and female categories. Genders are not segregated in other aspects of life and should not be in sports either. Segregation leads to inequality. The current organization of sports does not allow for inclusivity of all genders and it promotes the idea that certain genders are above others; therefore, it is not a justifiable system and needs to be updated.
The separation of sports into two gender-based categories is widely accepted because of a concept called the “muscle gap” which refers to the difference in physical ability between men and women. Sociologists such as Mary Jo Kane argue that sports should be organized based on ability alone, not gender. According to Mary Jo Kane, “…the large majority of sporting bodies, both male and female, compete with a large range of skill and ability, and that in many recreational leagues there is no reasonable justification for dividing athletes on the basis of sex.” (qtd in. Bremner 6). Besides stereotypes and the stale idea that women are capable of less than men because of physiological differences, there is no hard line differentiating men and women in sports. There are many areas of overlap where men and women have equal abilities; therefore, separating men and women in sports is not as rational as people may think.
Furthermore, Alice Sanders makes a great point about how sports are about more than strength, fitness, and physical ability. Team sports require communication and teamwork, which aren’t usually seen as strengths for men: “It’s funny, isn’t it, that even though women have some advantageous biology, and are stereotypically thought of as being better than men in the key skills for team sports — think cooperation, multi-tasking — you’ll never hear, “the thing is men just aren’t as good at soccer, they can’t play as part of a team like women can.””(Sanders). The belief that men are better at sports than women is a common one. Most people defend that belief using physiology even though there is more to being good at sports than physical ability. Not to mention, the areas of physical ability where men and women do not overlap are shrinking. In other words, women are catching up to men in terms of physical and sporting ability. Alice Sanders noted that, “Over the last century, women’s times [in sports] have improved more than men’s. This is mainly because women have increasingly had more access to the things that athletes need to better themselves — like more invitations to major events, and better equipment, training, and coaching” (Sanders). This shows that the differences in ability between men and women are not necessarily because of gender, but because of resources and opportunities. To illustrate this, look at women in politics. It used to be thought that women were not capable of holding positions of political power (Sanders). That has been completely disproven because women fought for the opportunities to prove themselves. Even though men are seen as superior to women in sports, that could be completely disproven if women are given the same opportunities. There is very little that differentiates women’s and men’s ability in sports, besides opportunity. The division of men and women only increases these inequalities, therefore; the current organization should be updated.
In addition, the division of genders promotes the idea that men are more elite than women in sports and that they cannot compete together because both genders do not possess equal abilities. Patrick S. Skin brings up this point: “the separation of men and women in competitive sport might reinforce the idea that women should be kept in a separate domain for their own good; that women cannot succeed when placed in competition with men; that competitions among men are where the real action is; and that domains occupied by women are ancillary or nonessential” (47). These ideas are harmful and degrading towards women. The fact that the configuration of sports portrays these ideas is enough to reconsider our current system and to challenge it. Segregating genders in sports supports the idea that not all genders are equal.
Furthermore, there are theories that state that gender itself cannot be separated into only two categories. One of these theories is Gender Fluidity which argues, “the categories of gender are fluid…This means that the biological categories of male and female are human constructs, not natural constructs” (Hockenbery Dragseth 119). The constructs of gender are not natural and can be changed. Gender is a sociological concept more than a biological one. People are realizing that the widely accepted concept of male and female being the only two genders is not accurate. The understanding of gender is changing, and the way sports are organized should change as well. The current organization is holding society back in regard to making sports accessible for everyone. According to the theory of gender fluidity, there are more gender identities than just male and female (Hockenbery Dragseth). This means that sports cannot be fairly separated into two gender-based categories without completely disregarding a percent of the population that do not fit into either category or fit into both.
The theory of gender fluidity also argues, “…that a baby with the biological sex of male might perform as a gendered male or as a gendered female at different points in its life” (Hockenbery Dragseth 120). Organizing sports into gender-based categories is not the most reliable or fair approach because an individual may no longer identify with or possess the characteristics of the sex they were assigned at birth. This makes it difficult to classify them as male or female. Since men and women are the only two categories in gendered sports, in order to play, an individual must fit into one of them. This erases the gender identity of many athletes as they are forced to identify as either male or female. The current organization of sports is not inclusive to all individuals and it needs to be updated.
Another factor that discredits the validity of the current organization is that determining the sex or gender of an individual is not as simple as people may think. According to Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth,
…statistics show that the external genitalia in at least 1 in 2000 babies are ambiguous or difficult to classify. In other cases, the results from prenatal genetic testing do not match the phenotype of the newborn baby, as when a child has the genetic code for one gender but the physiological appearance of the other. At other times the genotype itself is ambiguous, neither XX nor XY. When all is taken into account, careful studies of medical literature demonstrate that the sex is ambiguous in as many as 1 in 100 newborns (119).
This makes identifying an individual as male or female difficult. A specific example of this occurred in 1949 when an athlete by the name of Foekje Dillema was expelled by The Royal Dutch Athletics Federation, “due to the results of a ‘sex test’” (Ballantyne et al. 614). Although she was reinstated after her death, all of her accomplishments were disregarded. This shows how gendered sports can negatively affect the lives of athletes. Not only is it, “harmful and confusing to question such a person's sex and gender” (Ballantyne et al. 614), the athlete could be penalized for reasons out of their control, such as Dillema was penalized for the chromosomes present in her genes. The process of determining an individual’s sex in sports can be unfair and inaccurate as well as dehumanizing to an individual whose sex and gender identity are being questioned.
It is important to be inclusive of all individuals in all aspects of life. The way sports are organized completely disregards and erases many gender identities. There are more genders than male and female. Although sex and gender are different, in sports they are often viewed as the same thing. Most of the time it is assumed that an individual's gender matches their sex, which is not always accurate. This makes determining whether an individual is a better fit for men’s or women’s sports even more difficult and often times individuals are deterred away from sports because of this. Many individuals identify as transgender, gender non-conforming, gender fluid, demi-gender, and many other gender identities. Society has taken steps to be more inclusive of all genders such as implementing gender-neutral washrooms. Also, the inclusion of non-cisgenders on surveys and legal documents are becoming increasingly more normalized. The inclusion of all genders should also apply in sports. Cis-gender individuals- individuals who identify as male or female- are not the only athletes. In other aspects of life, such as education and employment, genders are not normally segregated. There should not be segregation in sports either.
Segregation leads to inequality. It is discrimination to not give an individual equal opportunity because of their gender or sex. Because there is a major wage gap between men and women’s sports in most professional sports, not allowing women to play on men’s teams is essentially discrimination. Women are not allowed the same opportunity, in this case to an equal salary, because they are not allowed to play on men’s teams. A specific example of this is the wage gap between the men’s and women’s US National Soccer teams. As stated in Forbes Magazine, “Despite bringing in more money than the men's team, the U.S. women's national soccer team is still paid nearly four times less” (McCarthy). Men’s sports are more respected and taken more seriously in western society than women’s sports. Because of this, men’s teams are paid more and given better resources such as training and coaches. Referring back to an earlier point, women’s abilities in sports are increasing because of an increase in available resources. If women were treated the same as men in sports, there would be even less differentiating ability between these two genders. Organizing sports based on gender leaves opportunities for inequality regarding wages and social standing; therefore, it is not a justifiable system.
Overall, organizing sports into male and female categories is not a fair or logical system when all factors are taken into account. The system perpetuates inequality between genders while also completely disregarding non-cisgender individuals. Western society has taken steps to be inclusive of all genders in other aspects of life and those same steps need to be taken when it comes to sports. The wage gap and lack of equality between male and female sports are inexcusable and while the segregation of genders in sports is commonly thought to promote fairness, it does the opposite. It only creates a larger gap between men and women in sports. All individuals should be offered equal opportunity and fair treatment in sports, regardless of their gender. Gendered sports prevent this from happening.