The Plight of the Woman Sportsperson
More than 150 Indian Bloggers have joined The Blank Noise Project to highlight the harassment of women on Indian streets. Why should any one have to bear indignity because of the gender?
I have had my women friends speak on harassment, leering they have to go through. Not being a woman, I am not the right person to speak from personal experience on the issue. Only a woman can truly express how she feels on the issue.
I am all for equality though and in that vein, am strongly behind the intentions of the cause. I would like to highlight on the state of equality in sport in general taking this opportunity. Most sports have a far less following for the women’s game compared to the men’s game. Tennis, athletics apart how many games can you think of where you can recount names of women sports people? Do they try less or are the games less interesting to watch?
Why is there hardly a following for Women’s football, cricket, basketball, et all? Apart from the lack of general interest of people, the participation of women is also far behind because of society at large. Indian, Pakistani women are discouraged to play in the sun as it is apparently going to cause their skin to become darker, hence ugly. People don’t want to marry dark women. White skin is supposedly more beautiful. India does not have the WNBA but the Women’s Railways Basketball team has just as dedicated and sincere players.
Most of those who do manage to play the game have to retire way before they reach their prime. Pressure from parents and society to marry is too much to resist beyond a point. These problems are specifically worse in the subcontinent. When sports people sacrifice marriage, kids in many countries, in the subcontinent such bold decisions are looked down upon rather than being applauded.
I was watching a small segment on television which highlighted how young the current Pakistani Women’s cricket team is. A former captain might still have been captain if she had not married. If some one represents the country in sport, I would imagine that should be reason to be of. The husband should be supportive after marriage rather than rule out the woman following her passion.
If some one is able to defeat the social barriers, or is lucky not to encounter them, there is the financial barrier. There is hardly any money in most men’s sports. The situation is far worse where the women are concerned. Despite all this, an India has managed P.T.Usha, Sania Mirza. It is ironic that most women athletes in India come from poor back grounds. The higher the social strata, the bigger the taboo of a woman sports person.
The problem is global though much more in various countries and societies. The Aussie Women’s Football team got a lot of attention when they bared all for a nude calendar. An American woman’s footballer got attention when she opened her jersey in joy after scoring a goal. A Sharapova can gain attention for her grunts but not her game.
An Anna Kournikova will earn more than an Amelie Muaresmo just because Mauresmo a lesbian and not as attractive to the consumers and hence not as much in demand. Mauresmo will be number 1 in one of the follow two weeks with Clijsters likely to remain injured for the near future. But the market will not chase her. It tells more about the mind set of the consumers, the general sports fan than any thing else. Martina Navratilova (also a lesbian) has been a pioneer for the women’s tennis game in more ways than just in the tennis court but obviously, seeing as things stand, there is a long way to go still.
Sexual harassment does not even come into the picture when the women’s sports are hardly highlighted. It exists. There is hardly a doubt regading the same. Olympic 200 metre Bronze medalist in the 2000 Sydney games, Susantha Jayasinghe, tested positive for drugs in 1998. A drug test which Jayasinghe accused of being rigged because of her political beliefs. She even accused a Sri Lankan politician of sexual harassment. Jayasinghe was cleared of charges and was due to participate in Athens, 2004 before a leg injury.
Was Jayasinghe guilty? I do not and cannot know. What I do know is that there are far more barriers a woman has to over come than just those in the sporting arena. Sexual harassment is just one of the problems. It is a darker problem and hardly comes into public knowledge. Only a woman sports person might be able to say how bad the situation is.
I am proud of the women’s sportspersons, specially those the subcontinent manages to come up with despite all the issues. I hope you are prouder after reading the current piece.
Tags: Athletics, Tennis.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:48 pm
you have raised a few very good points here.. i hadn’t even thought about what’s happening to sportswomen.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:49 pm
Thank You s!
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:50 pm
Oh! Never even started thinking on those lines. This post was an eye opener.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:51 pm
Glad it was. :)
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Very nice post, Pratyush. I am very Calcutta, and I remembered I used to play lots of cricket/football with my brother when I was young - 5/7 years old - with all the boys from the neighborhood. After that, I could not continue because the boys would not be interested in having a girl play with them (and if she persists on playing, they would taunt, make fun of her, play bad jokes, etc…etc…). Luckily, I went to an all girls’ school and so during lunch time, we would play all these games among ourselves. So, this interest in sports continued.
There are lots of plights faced by women sports personalties not only in India, but in the rest of the world. Hey, in India thousands of people at least turn up to watch women’s cricket. If you happen to go to UK, NewZealand, Australia - you will hardly find any spectators - most of them are relatives/friends of the players. If you happen to go to the Women’s football discussion section in BBC, or see the discussions on women’s cricket on the net, you will see how hurtful, taunting comments are often written down (I guess must be by men or boys) against women’s cricket/football.
I think all these are due to cultural barriers - throughout the world, attractive women means slim, fair, tender-looking women. Women sportsperson usually don’t fall into this category of tender looking ones. Thus, women sports personalities are not easily accepted.
Seconly, because of various cultural reasons, women are still discouraged to play sports in almost every society. Thus as they grow up, they are not good (in general) with sports, and this leads men/society to assume that women can’t be good in sports and thus their sports would also be horrible.
So, all these attitudes/cultures go hand in hand, in a circle and everyone (especially women) become sufferer. Only way to break this circle is to encourage girls to take up sports from early age, and also encourage women to support their own gender’s game. Hey, there are about 3 billion women in this planet - if they start supporting their own sports, women’s sports will grow in leap and bound.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Thank You KL. :) I always feel girls who like sports are some how more sensible. Okay I am biased!
I wasnt aware the women every where are discouraged, taunted for sports at large. I have seen a lot of women for cricket games in South Africa but surprisingly not many in say England as you pointed out.
Sports helps a person keep physically fit and mentally more active. So it is good for both women and men and I hope the women sports are taken more seriously and girls do take up sports without bothering about the discouragement from society.
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:59 pm
Now that is indeed a very biased statement :D :D. Hmmm…can’t think of a reason why a woman interested in sport would be more sensible (scratching my head)? Let’s see - people who are in science/math - they are usually very logical, and thus sensible (yeah?) and they may not like sports!
March 23rd, 2006 at 5:59 pm
I did not mean the science/maths studying girls or a girl studying a specific thing. Generally if a girl talks about how how hot actor and how good he is cos he is hot x is vs how hot Kevin Pieterson is plus talking about cricket, I would chose the latter. :D
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:00 pm
Come on, men also do the same thing. That is Kournikova is considered such a famous tennis player, even when (atleast I think) Graff, Navratilova, William-sisters - all are better than her. In England, there is this football player - Rachel Unitt. She is one of the topmost football player in that country. But, seems like she is more famous because guys find her extremely hot (regarding hot, I think you find it interesting to visit my blog and read my recent post about heat, football, British men :) )!!!!
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:01 pm
But, if you mean that they only find KP hot without even bothering about his cricket abilities, then of course, that’s something to take notice of and perhaps be offended. I know I would be offended if any man finds any woman sportsperson hot without caring about her sporting abilities.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:01 pm
Yep men are even worse. Which is where the whole plight of womens sportspersons comes up in the article as well! You got it exactly why I may run away from women who do not take interest in sports (but do in sportsmen).
I am visiting your blog but I have no interest in British men.
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:02 pm
That was hilarious :) :). At first, I didn’t understand why you were saying that you have no interest in British men. Then, I realized - the way I’ve written, it seems like I am asking you to visit my blog for British men :) :). Ok, then what about British women ;) ?
March 23rd, 2006 at 6:03 pm
Britsh women rock completely. In fact all women do.
December 8th, 2006 at 1:46 pm
Markus
It was quite useful reading, found some interesting details about this topic. Thanks.
February 12th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
interesting article.
in a world where women might not be encouraged to even study, taking up sports as a full time career is really scoping for a lot. its sad but i’m sure there’s hope. considering you spent time thinking about the issue and wrote about it, i guess its 1 down, around 6 billion to go :)
February 13th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Hehe Manika.
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