Sports is one of the many fields in India and in the world which is still a male dominated sphere. Sports have always been considered as a compulsion for boys since young ages while for girls, it is more of a leisure, a mere hobby. We must have all grown up watching how girls were never allowed to play aggressive sports like football in school which was always reserved for boys. My school did not even have a girls team for football or cricket. Schools are supposed to be a gender neutral space providing equal opportunities for everyone to thrive. But instead, schools are the very first place which stereotypes sports into a male affiliated profession. Such stereotyping gets engraved in our subconscious minds unknowingly from a very young age.
I still remember the first time I was injured while playing cricket during sixth grade, I was not allowed to play any further by my parents. While my brother, who even got stitches twice, was encouraged to play. I always wondered why? Now that I have I grown up, I think I may have the answer. Femininity is regarded as fragile. Girls are considered delicate. As for my brother, him getting injuries was a sign of machismo as injuries made him strong.
Another problem with society is always viewing women with a sexualised point of view. You might be familiar with the way how sports women’s achievements are celebrated. Recently, many of our girls won medals in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth games. Instead of being praised for their talent, our social media was busy praising the looks of these women and how some of them should have been ramp models instead of sportspersons. This is not the only instance. Cricket is the most popular sport in India. While every Indian is proud of the performance of our Men’s team, the women’s team with the same number of achievements does not receive the same recognition. The ones recognised are not for their talents but rather for their looks. The reason for this sick mindset is the contemplation of sports as masculine while feminine is everything which is associated with makeup, good looks and beauty.
Another feature prevailing in popular culture that discourages women from joining sports is the Pay Gap. The controversial topic of pay gap whether it exists or not can also be found in the field of sports. It is a very well known fact that the women sports players get paid less than their male counterparts simply because women sports do not generate enough profits due to less viewership. They put in an equal amount of hardwork but could not generate enough support from the viewers. Here again the stereotype of sports being an only male profession plays its role. It prevents people from supporting women’s sports and simultaneously restricting the growth of female players.
However, in the past few years, these baseless stereotypes and stigmas about women not being strong enough to participate in sports are getting shunned with a large number of women now choosing sports as their profession.. Sports associations all over the world are working towards making sports a gender inclusive area. Recently, the BCCI has announced an equal pay for both the men and women cricket teams. But we still have a long way to go. In order for a change to happen, it must start from a grassroot level
Majority of Indian families who are still functioning in a patriarchal setting do not see sports as an activity to be performed by girls. This needs to be changed. There is no doubt sports can be tough sometimes but to think that belligerence and aggression is only a masculine feature is wrong. Aggression can be feminine and being feminine does not always mean being fragile and dainty. Femininity can be strong too and once people accept this fact, the stereotyping and stigmatisation of sports will end.