Experiences of inequality within sports

[13J]

I am currently studying for a BSc in sports sbd fitness coaching and we are currently looking at gender equality within sport, or more accurately, inequality.

We look at case studies and personal experiences a lot but I’d like to leaen more,

Would anyone share their experiences of either equality, or lack of within their own sporting lives?

I found the examples we were given lacking in sports variety and focusing on only current events, rather those in the past.
I’m not conducting research and won’t be using any of this in my studies.

I’d just like to learn more.

My daughter does climbing. Junior comps often have joint podiums. Fine for children 10 and under as a general rule. She is 10 and you can see that many of the boys her age have had a surge of testosterone and the muscles of boys and girls are developing differently and the boys are getting stronger. These mixed podiums tend to go up to age 16.

isn't rock climbing one of the few sports where each gender has advantages (or disadvantages)?
Men - strength and height
Women - flexibility, lower centre of gravity, higher fat stores = endurance.

@rosemarble there are some benefits of being more flexible etc but men are stronger than women and are better.

When age 7-9 there wasn't a difference between boys and girls but you can see the gap between children to train a lot widen as they get older.

Interesting. I've always thought that the difference went in favour of girls between age 10-12/13 ie they have puberty earlier than boys. You see the year 7 children starting high school and some of the girls are the almost their adult height and developed while most of the boys looks like...well little boys still.

I'm very surprised they have shared podiums up to 16, has that been challenged?

My dd plays rugby, at quite a high level, yet she tells me that her club is quite the exception in terms of how well they are treated / supported by the club.

She says typically (amongst the teams they play), the women's teams

• can't play on the first team pitch
• can't use the first team dressing rooms
• don't get provided with transport / a coach for lengthy journey to away games when the men's team does
• struggle to get new equipment for training, or match balls, or even kits sometimes

That's current, and at quite a high level

Having a horse mad daughter now approaching her teens, it has been really obvious over the years that boys are not catered to the same as girls when it comes to kids equestrian clothing and the way it is advertised. While a lot of it is unisex when they are little, most tack local shops will have a limited selection for teenage boys as opposed to girls, who can see multiple female influencers and sponsored riders showing off the latest expensive matchy matchy gear on social media. Yet when you look at the listings of top riders in many of the equestrian disciplines, they are men!

Follow Sharron Davies on Twitter. She will show you what the gender cult have done to female sport. Cheating men are destroying it.

@rosemarble I haven't looked further into when the boys take over girls in climbing, only seen my own experiences, but a few of the 11 year old boys she climbs with have all of a sudden had a bit of a growth spurt and their shoulders are noticeably wider.

I haven't seen the podiums challenged. This happens in 'fun' comps, but the climbing world is still relatively small compared to many other sports so these competitions have the highest standard kids attend. One recently had a £2000 month prize pot for adults on the podium (male and female) but they couldn't stretch to having 3 more podiums so it was equal to the girls (prizes for juniors tend to be cheap, a brush, chalk etc so no need to be expensive).

At my daughter's school, the girls had 1.5 hours of sport available to them while the boys had 4.5 hours... I challenged this and they were offered a 20 minute slot in morning break... when I suggested that the boys slot be allocated to the girls, the answer was.. 'but what shall we do with the boys?'...

The girls team used old rugby kit that did not fit them while the boys had new kit.

The boys rugby and football teams were celebrated for every success, valuing this more than other school achievements, while not offering the same possibilities to the girls.

When asked about provision for girls in our local football club, I was told that the girls could join the boys team.. they were welcome. The reality was that only the bravest, strongest, fastest girls were able to withstand being ignore by team mates, not getting passed to, changing on their own, listening to parents shout to their children 'don't let a girl get passed you'..

Other examples: not having separate changing rooms, having smaller trophies,

At school sports day, because one boy didn't have a three legged race partner, they decided not to have a girls race, but to have a mixed race where the winners were two boys.. so no year 3 girls winner that year.

In a mixed club (hockey), aged 9, none of the boys passed to the girls, even when the girls were better than them.

Bike rental: The 'man's bike' had 21 gears, was lighter and a much better bike.. the woman's bike had 3 gears and was heavier... I watched men ease their way along looking back at their female partners struggling up the hills.. and told them.. it's not you... it's the bike... swap and see what a difference it makes.

School uniforms: Girls have to wear skirts and Mary Jane shoes while boys can wear shorts and sturdy shoes. When you try to kick a ball wearing sandals or light shoes, it hurts your feet and the ball does not travels as far or in the desired direction.. so you think you are not good at football.. but put shorts and trainers on.. and it is easier and more fun. Girls from an early age are shorter, frillier, tighter. Altogether less suitable for active play.

Representation in toys and children's books... the female animals have red lips and eye lashes..

There are great observational studies about how public spaces are not accessible to women and girls.. fenced in sports areas like football / basketball spaces, are taken over by men and boys, women and girls feel unwelcome even when it is women and girls who take their children to the park more. Open spaces are more welcoming to women.

Running as a lone woman... men rolling down their windows to shout at me.

School PE kits / sports uniforms... hockey skirts .. gym leotards.. netball dresses ... athletics knickers and vest tops... Read about the athlete who felt different in her body when she wore more fabric.

School sports: We were offered tennis, Jane Fonda and hockey... the boys had football, rugby and cricket...

Access to weightlifting equipment. Gyms occupied by mostly men are intimidating to women...

Clothing / equipment: Women are not small men... our feet are different sizes, finding quality football boots to fit my daughter's female size and shaped feet has been challenging. Finding hiking equipment to fit women's bodies ... our back to leg proportions are different. Equipment that is designed to accommodate breasts.. think back and chest protectors, rucksacks with a chest strap..

Equality =/ Equity ... Everyone having the same does not result in equitable outcomes...

Everyone can play in the team, wear the same clothes, have access to the facilities... does not mean that women and men will experience this equally.

There have been some amazing initiatives to address the participation of women in sport... look at the research underpinning those as well as the observations around behaviours. You can not see what is not there... it is the absence of women that needs to be explored, not just the experience of the women who are participating.

Back to bikes... why are girls bikes marketed with baskets and flowers but boys bikes are more often better, lighter..

I do not believe that bikes are designed with women's bodies in mind.. shoulder width, leg to back ratio, riding position, hip shape.. and dig out podcasts where women talk about saddles and having to have parts of their anatomy removed in order to be able to ride ultra distances without injury.

Swimming: my daughter is a much better swimmer than her brothers but when they hit puberty and what looked like doubled their lung capacity and extended their reach, they could out swim her with much less effort.

Be ware of finding exceptional women in the data... extreme long distance running for example.. when looking at bests and averages etc.. it does not account for the fact that the data often includes high numbers of average males but relatively few women over all and those that are there.. are exceptional.

Read the evidence base by the Sports Councils Equality Group (labelled as inclusion but the basis for this should be equality.. to label it as inclusion shifts the emphasis away from equality and safety which in itself, is a representative of the I equalities faced by women.. )
https://movingtoinclusion.co.uk/transgender-inclusion-in-sport-resources/

Also look at the full length judgement in relation to this case.. https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Executive_Summary__5794_.pdf. It sets out the justification for the female category, even if the ultimate conclusions at the time were incorrect.

Look also at the international federations of cycling, athletics and swimming and their justification for protection of the sex based categories...

This provides the background of the physical inequalities faced by women.

Oh and invisible women.. Read that..

Then look around... when men and women train together.. it is easier for men.. and women never get the feeling of being good enough.. they don't have as many 'I am the greatest' moments to recall when using sports psychology to push themselves forward... run faster, train harder and you can come second to a man.. the psychological impact is huge!

Then look at the make up of clubs, the roles taken by women, the role models, who is celebrated, who are the leaders, who are the decision makers, who has greatest share of voice... who is the secretary, the accountant, responsible for HR, for teas, for the juniors...

I was recently at a match where an enormous loud aggressive man, shouted at an umpire and proceeded to insist that he was right, talking over the junior players and women present... women walked away and removed their girls from the club. Structural societal inequalities... One of the most aggressive coaches brings valuable sponsorship to the club... so is less likely to be challenged.. Money talks to money... and while there is an inequitude in how wealth and power are held,

Look at the Women's Rugby World Cup England 2025 and the female powerhouses leading it.. Gill Whitehead and Sarah Massey...https://www.world.rugby/news/805640/sarah-massey-to-lead-rugby-world-cup-2025-delivery. I believe that prioritising women in the organisation of this event is game changing... speak to them!!

From my DDs U12 girls rugby season...

At the beginning of the season, there was a big reveal for a new kit, for boys and girls, all the way down to the U10s. It was supposed to rotate over which teams had it if there wasn't enough.
The U12/U14 girls didn't wear the kit once except for modelling it for the photos in August.

Over half the games were cancelled due to pitches being unsuitable even when the Primary school age teams could play (they limit the games to protect the pitches)

They definitely got the impression they didn't matter.

You said 'I found the examples we were given lacking in sports variety and focusing on only current events, rather those in the past.'. I urge you to listen deeply... women are silenced, ignored, spoken over, corrected... if what you are being told, does not fit with what you are expecting to hear, gratefully listen and hold these stories.

World snooker championships 2025. Just now.
Rule is you have to explicitly state which ball you’re aiming to hit if not obvious. Female ref reminds Mark Williams to state. Sarcastic reply was ‘yellow’ implying that it was obvious it was black ball. Laughter around the auditorium. Cheap joke at her expense. She was just following the rules. He was being a misogynistic dick.

@13J ... something I wrote in another context:

'On a recent school trip bringing students from three schools together, the aim of the trip was to centre girls and football, the female trip leader promised separate training for the girls and the boys, the male PE teacher overruled her decision and scheduled a mixed match. The boys (who have no great records to their name) didn't pass to the girls (amongst whom are some very successful players, regional champions at adult level) and two girls were injured by boys. Women silenced, left on the side lines and injured.'

There was a classic Andy Murray response to a reporter, who had forgotten that there were female USA tennis players…