Dubai
A lot of children are aware of gender biases from as young as five years of age, as stated by Dr Caren Diehl, a senior sport psychologist. These biases are passed down from parents or guardians and are a part of our society even today.
She said: “There are sayings such as ‘you throw like a girl’, suggesting that girls throw awkwardly, poorly and less effectively than their boy counterparts. For someone to tell a boy he throws like a girl, is seen as an insult. However, you then have athletes like Sarah Hudek, one of the top pitchers in both softball and baseball in the US, who is seen as miraculous or even freakish.”
Dr Diehl agrees that there are biological and physiological differences between men and women. But, this is used to further influence social views that it is unnatural for women to be good at sports and that the “behaviours required to exhibit good athletic performance are unfeminine”.
If children were allowed to participate in any sport, it could help them become more confident and learn that they are only “limited by their own imagination”.
Dr Diehl said: “It would also be great if they play together at a young age. This way we reduce the attitude and sense of ‘I cannot’.”
The UK-based Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) estimates that in 2013, women’s sports received only seven per cent of total sport coverage and 0.4 per cent of the total value of commercial sponsorships.
Jaime Napier, an assistant professor of psychology at New York University Abu Dhabi, explains that this lack of attention leads to many women becoming less likely to be able to pursue a career in sports. Even if they do join, they make lesser money than their male counterparts.
She said: “It’s an unfortunate but stubborn fact that women’s pursuits are seen as less important than men’s.”
For years, many sport corporations have used advertising to highlight women’s participation in sport as a form of empowerment. Napier refers to a study that shows evidence that girls “internalise this message and see themselves as especially strong, because they are challenging gender norms”.
She said: “It would be better for aspiring female athletes to have more high-profile female role models. Being masculine or feminine is culturally and socially learned. So, the belief that activities are innately gendered, that is sports like football are masculine but ballet is feminine, are just ideas that that have no basis in reality and therefore can change rather quickly and easily.”
