Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
CKAIk 1
lKIkO00CIlOK
Sport is one oreo where gender inequo|ity is strong|y evident. The pr
ob|em is more sociopsycho|ogico| thon onything e|se. Todoy, os we stond ot the stort of
o new mi||ennium it is dep|orob|e
thot men ond women ore treoted so different|y, especio||y in sport. Women moke u
p 50 of the wor|d's
popu|otion but they ore not given equo| opportunities. Men ore sti||
considered the better sex ond this
is one of the reosons why the wor|d is yet to produce o femo|e Michoe| Schumoche
r, Tiger Woods, Mike
Tyson or o Sochin Tendu|kor.
Sport in Indio is yet to reoch its peok. The Mugho|s ru|ed Indio fo
r centuries, the ritishers for
onother one ond o ho|f-century. It wos on|y ofter 1947, when we ochi
eved independence thot we
storted deve|oping os o modern notion, with specio| rights to ho|f of
its citizens nome|y women. Indion
women ore sti|| trying to estob|ish their own identity. Women in Indi
o ore sti|| unob|e to toke o stond
for themse|ves.
Times hove chonged ond ore improving but there is sti|| o |ot to be ochieved. Me
n hove on upper
hond in o|| spheres of |ife. Gender inequo|ity is o deep-rooted issue
ond in order to chonge the
situotion, drostic steps/meosures need to be token. The worst thing to
hoppen is the femo|e feticide.
Lotest techno|ogy is being b|otont|y misused for ki||ing the gir| chi|d. For fro
m giving her good educotion
ond o hoppy |ife we Indions ore trying to e|iminote women from this
eorth. Dogmotic princip|es govern
much of our thinking.
As is mentioned obove, gender inequo|ity is one of the mony issues b
ecouse of which Indio is
not being ob|e to progress ot o foster rote. In Indio we seem to b
e deitifying our greot |eoders but
never poy ottention to whot they ore trying to te|| us. Pondit Nehru
hos soid thot 'to owoken the
peop|e, it is the womon who must be owokened, once she is on the m
ove the fomi|y moves, the notion
moves'.
A society, which does not o||ow o gir| to do something simp|e os pr
imory educotion, is un|ike|y
to |et her porticipote in sport without ony hurd|es. Even before toki
ng port in 400meter hurd|es the
gir| hos to poss so mony more socio| hurd|es. This pro[ect is on ot
tempt to ono|yse the prob|ems thot
o gir|, who wonts to shope her |ife os o sports womon.
Reseorch hos suggested thot porticipotion in sport con be on invigoroting ond pe
rsono||y empowering
experience for women. eing on oth|ete, especio||y o ski||ed oth|ete, con chonge t
he woy o womon sees
(2)
herse|f. It con moke her fee| physico||y stronger, more competent, ond
more in contro| of her |ife os
on independent individuo|. Sport porticipotion o|so provides gir|s ond
women with opportunities to
hievement of exce||ence
in internotiono| sports events, provisioning of modern sports infrostruc
ture, upgroding ski||s of our
cooching froternity, more efficient functioning of notiono| sports feder
otions, odequote sport science
(3)
bockup ond octive invo|vement of business ond industry in promotion of
sports. Enhoncement of the
porticipotion of women in sport is one of the so|ient feotures of th
e po|icy.
In order to imp|ement the directives of honorob|e Supreme court of In
dio, Ministry of Youth
Affoirs ond Sports constituted o committee to |ook into the comp|oints
regording 'Sexuo| Horossment
of women ot work p|oce'.
Homen and Iportr
The recent report of the Notiono| Commission for Youth (2004) hos troced in deto
i| the porticipotion
of women in Sports before ond ofter 1947. The first Indion women to
porticipote in the O|ympics wos
in 1952. In 1975, the Government of Indio instituted the Notiono| Spo
rts festivo| for women with o
view to promote women's sports. The Notiono| festivo| is preceded by
competitions ot the |oco| ond
the district |eve|. However the report hos observed thot these competi
tions hove been reduced to mere
issuing of certificotes ond the subsequent se|ection ot the notiono| |
eve| is done on od-hoc bosis. The
Notiono| Commission report hos o|so pointed towords the issue of dropo
ut rote of gir|s from the
schoo|s. The report observed, "Sports is by ond |orge on e|ite octivi
ty in the country ond the odoption
of o sports po|icy, os the government hos done in 1984,is hord|y |ik
e|y to chonge the situotion very
much."
Ihe Iportr AuthorIty of lndIa
The Sports Authority of Indio (SAI) wos estob|ished by the Government
of Indio on Morch 1,
1984 with the twin ob[ectives of brood-bosing of sports ond spotting/n
urturing of to|ented chi|dren in
different oge groups for ochieving exce||ence by providing them with requisite i
nfrostructure, equipment,
cooching ond other foci|ities. It hos regiono| centers ot ongo|ore, Gondhinogor,
Ko|koto, Chondigorh,
hopo| ond Impho| ond one sub-center ot Guwohoti. SAI hos o|so two ocodemic wings,
one for troining
of cooches ond reseorch ond deve|opment in sports ot the Neto[i Subho
sh Chondro Notiono| Institute
of Sports, Potio|o ond the other for physico| educotion ot the Lokshm
iboi Notiono| Co||ege of Physico|
Educotion, Thiruvononthopurom. Under the scheme, Notiono| Cooching Scheme
, SAI hos under its ro||s
1510 cooches in different grodes ogoinst the sonctioned strength of 123
.
8udet aIIocatIonr
It wou|d be o|so usefu| to review the resources committed by the Gov
ernment of Indio on
promoting sports in the country.
Demonds for gronts of Centro| Government (exc|uding Roi|woys) for 2003-2004 (rev
ised estimotes)
bio|ogico| chonges
occur in on orgonism thot is re|otive|y moture cognitive|y, ond thus
is o|so copob|e of ref|ecting upon
these chonges (rooks-Gunn, 198). Individuo| se|f-concepts differentiote wit
h oge, ond they become
increosing|y corre|oted with externo| indicotors of competence os chi|dr
en grow o|der (Morsh et o|.,
1984, Shove|son, Hubner, ond Stonton, 197). Gender differences in deve|opment ore
especio||y evident
for the growth spurt, which begins on the overoge 2 yeors eor|ier fo
r gir|s thon for boys (Tonner,
Whitehouse ond Tokoishi, 19). Differences ore o|so evident for the deve|
opment of body fot in gir|s
(increosing from 10-11 yeors) ond |eonness in boys (from 15 yeors, Ro
ss, Dotson, Gi|bert, ond Kotz,
1985).
(7)
kerearch In the rocIoIoy of rport ruertr that rport can be an InvIoratIn
and a perronaIIy
empowerIn experIence for IrIr and women (KeIron, 199k, Iaub and 8IInde,
1993, oun and HhIte,
1995}. 8eIn an athIete, erpecIaIIy a rkIIIed athIete, can chane the way
a woman reer herreIf. lt can
make her feeI phyrIcaIIy rtroner, more competent, and more In controI
of her IIfe ar an Independent
IndIvIduaI. IhIr Ir Important becaure rocIaI IIfe often Ir oranIzed In
wayr that Iead IrIr and women to
ree themreIver ar weak, dependent and powerIerr (Contor ond ernoy, 1992
, Horgreoves, 1994,
McDermott, 199,Young, 1990).
Sport porticipotion o|so provides gir|s ond women with opportunities to
reconnect with the power
of their own bodies. Mony imoges of women in society present the fem
o|e body os on ob[ect to be
|ooked ot, evo|uoted ond consumed. Some gir|s ond women even |eorn to
ob[ectify their own bodies
os they opp|y these imoges to themse|ves. ecouse identity ond o sense
of power ore grounded in o
person's body ond body imoge, rport partIcIpatIon can heIp women overc
ome the feeIIn that theIr
bodIer are objectr. 0eveIopIn phyrIcaI rkIIIr can Ive women the confIden
ce that comer from knowIn
that theIr bodIer can perform wIth phyrIcaI competence and power. Furt
hermore, the phyrIcaI rtrenth
often aIned throuh rport partIcIpatIon oer beyond heIpIn a women feeI fIt
, It aIro can make her
feeI Ierr vuInerabIe, more Independent, and more In controI of her ph
yrIcaI rafety and prychoIoIcaI
weII-beIn (irre|| ond Richter, 1994, |inder ot o|., 1993, 1994, Ne|son,
1991, 1994, The erge,
1995, Young ond White, 1995).
Are Iookr ImportantI
We o|so osked this question to our somp|e. Looks ond the current obs
ession with thin bodies
hove creoted |ots of prob|ems for todoy's generotion. Here ore some s
tudies on this issue.
There ore competing imoges of femo|e bodies in mony cu|tures todoy. M
ony gir|s ond women
heor confusing cu|turo| messoges thot they shou|d be "fIrm but rhapeIy
, fIt but rexy, rtron but thIn"
but women from midd|e-ond |owerincome fomi|ies ore more |ike|y then their mo|e counterports to |ock
the network of re|otionships out
of which sport interests ond octivities emerge.
Women from upper-income fomi|ies often foce o different situotion. They
hove resources to poy
for chi|dcore, domestic he|p, corryout dinners, ond sport porticipotion.
They often porticipote in sport
octivities by themse|ves, with friends, or with other fomi|y members.
They hove socio| networks mode
up of other women who o|so hove the resources to mointoin high |eve|
s of sport porticipotion. Women
who hove grown up in these fomi|ies often hove p|oyed sports during
ond since their chi|dhood ond
ottended schoo|s with good sport progroms. They se|dom hove experienced
the some constroints os
their |ower- income counterports.
Women hove been comp|oining obout the |ock of coveroge for sport by
medio since o very |ong
time. This hos hod o very bod effect on the deve|opment of sport. T
he sod port even in Tennis medio
poys more ottention to the costumes of the women p|oyers ond their |
ooks thon their gome. Which
is todoy considered to be more interesting. Todoy's women p|oyers ore
o|so considered to be more
chorismotic thon todoy's mo|e Tennis p|oyers, who p|oy more |ike mochi
nes. In Indio the condition is
worse. In foct Indion women ore winning more medd|es for the country
thon men sti|| they hog more
|ime |ight thon the women p|oyers. See this incident, Indion women's
Hockey teom won o fino| ogoinst
the Joponese teom fighting ogoinst mony odds, the some doy Indio's Mo
|e Cricket teom |ost o motch
to the Austro|ions in Austro|io (os usuo|), ond this |osing teom got
more coveroge thon the winning
|odies Hockey teom.
OpportunItIer for women are IImIted
Recent reseorch shows thot mony sport orgonizotions, inc|uding those in
high schoo|s ond
co||eges, ore not very good ot supporting ond retoining women cooches
ond odministrotors (Postore,
1994). Professiono| deve|opment progroms, workshops, ond cooching c|inics
hove not been wide|y
sponsored for women emp|oyees, o|though some women's orgonizotions, such
os the Women's Sport
(11)
Foundotion in the US ond the Conodion Associotion for the Advoncement of Women o
nd Sport (CAAWS)
in Conodo, hove stepped in to provide ossistonce ond guidonce for wom
en working in sports. orriers
to coreer opportunities for women in sports ore s|ow|y being chipped
owoy, but the forces thot hove
|imited opportunities in the post in the post ore sti|| port of the ideo|ogies o
nd structures of mony sport
progroms.
An lndIan Itudy on 0ender Irruer In Iportr
One such study is by Dr ho|eroo in 2003. It is her Ph. D. thesis,
which is obout gender issues
in sport. The tit|e of which is 'Ano|ysis of prob|ems foced by women
p|oyers who porticipote in inter-
fomi|ies in Indio. They ore uneducoted ond hence ore unowore of the
benefits of sport)
The notion thot men ond women ore "noturo||y" different hos been used
for mony yeors to
[ustify the exc|usion of women from some or o|| sports. Mony peop|e fee| thot si
nce women cou|d never
equo| or surposs men's ochievements, there wos no reoson to |et women
get invo|ved. After o||, if
sports were primori|y obout setting records ond dominoting others, wome
n wou|d o|woys be second
c|oss in power ond performonce sports. Unfortunote|y, this woy of thin
king obout gender ond sports
sti|| exists. Mony peop|e continue to compore women ond men in terms of performo
nce differences ond
then go on to soy thot differences wi|| never disoppeor becouse men
ore simp|y physico||y superior to
women. Of course, most of these peop|e never wonder whot kind of phy
sico| ski||s oth|etes wou|d need
if sports hod been shoped by the vo|ues ond experiences of women ins
teod of men. For exampIe, If
mort rportr had been created by and for women, the motto for the OIympIc 0amer w
ouId not be citius,
aItIur, fortIur (farter, hIher, rtroner}, Inrtead, It mIht be "8aIance, F
IexIbIIIty and ndurance" or "
hyrIcaI xceIIence for KeaIth and KumanIty"I
Another be|ief promoted by the gender |ogic under|ying mony sports wos
thot men ore noturo||y
strong ond oggressive ond women ore noturo||y weok ond possive. As we've seen, t
his be|ief hos c|eor|y
disodvontoged women when it comes to sports. In foct, over the post century, bi|
|ions of women oround
the wor|d hove been "protected" by men who do not |et them p|oy cer
toin sports considered to be too
rough or demonding. This be|ief o|so hos |ed to the conc|usion thot
becouse women con't motch
stondords set by men, women's sports ore not interesting to wotch. Fo
r the |ost fifty yeors, this
conc|usion hos prevented or s|owed the deve|opment of professiono| spor
ts for women.
It hos token mony yeors to breok down these gendered forms of "commo
n sense". ut they sti||
exist in b|otont forms in mony poor countries where occess to educoti
on, especio||y omong women, is
restricted. And they sti|| exist in more subt|e forms in postindustrio| societie
s where occess to educotion
is widespreod. Consider, for exomp|e, why gymnostics ond figure skoting
ore so popu|or in mony
countries where o|d forms of gender |ogic ore being questioned ond ch
o||enged.
When we toke o critico| |ook ot dominont sport forms in mony societi
es oround the wor|d, we
see thot they often invo|ve dromos high|ighting moscu|ine, power, ond
toughness-those ottributes
ossocioted with dominont ideos obout moscu|inity in those societies. Sp
ort spectoc|es ce|ebrote on
interpretotion of the wor|d thot privi|eges mon ond perpetuotes the po
wer they gove to orgonize socio|
|ife to fit their interests. The mu|ticrore foci|ities usuo||y bui|t w
ith pub|ic money coter to the interests
(15)
of men ond host sports in which men "ki||", "whip", "ro|| over", "pu
nish", ond "onnihi|ote" other men
whi|e peop|e cheer them on. The imoges ossocioted with these sports o
re imoges of monhood bosed
on oggression, physico| power, ond the obi|ity to intimidote ond domin
ote others, they emphosize o
concern with ronking peop|e in terms of their obi|ity to dominote. In this woy,
o sport tends to reinforce
ond perpetuote ideo|ogies (interpretotions of socio| |ife) thot fovor t
he interests of men over the
interests of women.
ALIkKAIlV 0FlKlIlOKI OF HAIC0LlKlI
As things ore now, dominont sport forms normo|ize the ideo thot moscu|inity invo
|ves oggressiveness
ond o desire to outdo or outperform others. In foct, some peop|e oss
ociote men's behoviour in sports
with bio|ogico| noture ond conc|ude thot troditiono| definitions of mos
cu|inity ore "noturo|". Strong ond
oggressive men ore |ionized ond mode into heroes in sports, whi|e weok or possiv
e men ore morgino|ized
ond emoscu|oted (Jonsen ond Sobo, 1993). As boys ond men opp|y this
ideo|ogy to their own |ives,
they tend to view monhood in terms of things thot [eopordize the sof
ety we|| being of themse|ves ond
of others (Fine, 1987, Wocquont, 1995).
The frightening record of men's vio|ent ond destructive behoviour suggests thot
there is definite|y
o need to deve|op odditiono| ond o|ternotive definitions of moscu|inity
ond the ideo thot "boys wi|| be
boys" is c|ose|y ossocioted with serious prob|em behoviors in mony soc
ieties oround the wor|d-in other
spheres of everydoy |ife os we|| os in sports (Miedzion, 1991). Howev
er, dominont forms of sport
todoy's society seem to prevent peop|e from being owore of the need
to roise questions obout gender
ideo|ogy.
ALIkKAIlV 0FlKlIlOKI OF FHlKlKlI
The experiences of mony women oth|etes o|so suggest o need to deve|op
odditiono| definitions
of femininity. Unti| there is widespreod occeptonce of o|ternotives to
dominont definitions of femininity,
women wi|| continue to foce prob|ems in connection with p|oying sports
. These prob|ems con toke
mony different forms. For exomp|e, some gir|s sti|| do not receive th
e some kind of encourogement os
their brothers to be socio||y independent ond physico||y octive in p|o
y octivities ond sports. This is
porticu|or|y true in the Indion setup where sons ond doughters ore tr
eoted very different|y. As infonts
gir|s ore hond|ed more gent|y ond protective|y thon boys. oys ore thro
wn into the oir more often,
given more toys requiring octive p|oy ond the use of motor ski||s, o
nd o||owed to exp|ore more of their
physico| environments before being "coutioned" ond constroined by their
porents. Gir|s ore wotched
over more c|ose|y, even before they stort to wo|k. This pottern of "
protectiveness" ond constroint
continues through chi|dhood, ond |imits gir|s' porticipotion in sport o
ctivities (eo|, 1994, Coser,198).
In most North Americon fomi|ies, young gir|s ore not discouroged from
hove been done primori|y through reseorch conducted on mo|e rother tho
n femo|e sub[ects. After o
thorough review of the ovoi|ob|e |iteroture, Morgon (1980o) drew this
conc|usion: "Comporisons of
co||ege oth|etes ond nonoth|etes, or oth|etes from different sport groups, did n
ot oppeor to be consistent
in the |iteroture deo|ing with femo|es" (p.0). Morgon b|omes methodo|ogi
co| ond design prob|ems for
the inconsistent resu|ts. He points out thot this inconsistency seems
to disoppeor when the successfu|
or e|ite femo|e oth|ete is compored with the "normotive" femo|e.
After reviewing much of the ovoi|ob|e |iteroture on the femo|e oth|ete
ond persono|ity, Wi||ioms
(1980) coutious|y conc|uded thot the "normotive" femo|e differs in persono|ity p
rofi|e from the successfu|
femo|e oth|ete. Specifico||y, the femo|e oth|ete is found to exhibit p
ersono|ity troits much |ike those of
both the normotive moke ond the moke femo|e (i.e., ossertive, ochievem
ent-oriented, dominont, se|f(19)
sufficient, independent, oggressive, inte||igent, ond reserved). On the
other hond, the normotive femo|e
tends toword possiveness, submissiveness, dependence, emotiono|ity, sociob
i|ity, |ow oggression, ond
|ow need ochievement.
Additiono||y. Wi||ioms (1980) cites numerous studies thot show |ow pers
ono|ity voriotion within
sport groups such os fencing, ice hockey, trock ond |ocrosse. This ob
servotion wou|d suggest the
existence of specific persono|ity types or profi|es for different sport
s.
Thus, it wou|d oppeor thot |ike her mo|e counterport, the femo|e oth|
ete differs from the
nonoth|ete in terms of persono|ity. As with mo|e oth|etes, femo|e oth|
etes from one sport ore |ike|y to
differ to some degree from femo|e oth|etes in onother sport in terms
of their persono|ity profi|es.
Differentiotion between oth|etes of vorying ski|| |eve|s on the bosis
of persono|ity foctors is feosib|e
on|y ot the |eve| of the e|ite performer.
0ender lrruer
Ihe Irrue of maIe ruperIorIty
The notion of mo|e superiority moy (exp|oin) the current doub|e stondo
rds.whereby cooches of
femo|e teoms ore on ever-increosing occurrence, but femo|es rore|y cooc
h mo|e teoms. It is ossumed
thot mo|es ore outomotico||y ob|e to cooch women, but unthinkob|e thot
o womon wou|d ottempt to
cooch men's teom. (Fishwick, 198, pp.78)
Knoppers (1989) pointed out thot few investigotions hove considered the
under representotion
of women cooching mo|e teoms ond thot this uderrepresentotion is prob|
emotic. It is ossumed thot
becouse sport hos historico||y been defined os o mo|e preserve ond be
couse men ore o|so ossumed
to be more competent ond thus superior to women, men con (ond shou|d
) fi|| |eodership positions in
women sport (Stong| ond Kone, 1991). ut os the quote obove o|so indic
oted there is more ot work
here thon the ossumption of mo|e superiority. There is o reverse noti
Since the 1970s, the sing|e most dromotic chonge hos been the increos
e porticipotion of gir|s
ond women in sport. This hos occurred in mony countries oround the w
or|d. Five mo[or foctors occount
for recent increose in sport porticipotion omong gir|s ond women in N
orth Americo ond other ports
of the wor|d:
G New opportunities-Teoms ond progroms deve|oped over the post two de
codes hove uncovered
ond cu|tivoted interests ignored in the post.
G Government |egis|otion demonding equo| treotment for women in pub|ic
progroms.
G The women' movement.
G Increosed medio coveroge of women in sport.
Ihe fIve factorr noted above couId aIro be appIIed or Iooked Into by lndIa to In
creare partIcIpatIon.
For exampIe 'IItIe lX' whIch war parred by the conrerr In 1972 In th
e 0I Iver equaI rIhtr to women.
IhIr rhouId aIro happen In lndIa.
artIcIpatIon OpportunItIer
The type of port porticipotion opportunities ovoi|ob|e for women ond g
ir|s ref|ect dominont
definitions of femininity in o cu|ture. Eor|ier, women were be|ieved t
o be noturo||y froi| ond inc|ined
toword grocefu| movements. So they were encouroged to porticipote in g
ymnostics, swimming, tennis,
(22)
go|f, ond other sports thot peop|e thought were unre|oted to strength,
power ond speed, which were
wide|y be|ieved to be "mon|y" troits. Gir|s ond women did p|oy sport
but they never hod the some
opportunities men hod.
Over the yeors, some of the women who hove porticipoted in sports ho
ve demonstroted c|eor|y
thot notions of femo|e froi|ty were grounded in ideo|ogy rother thon noture. Gir
|s ond women encounter
the strongest resistonce when they p|oy sports thot troditiono||y hove
been the "f|og corriers of
moscu|inity" in porticu|or societies (ryson, 1990).
Inequities in porticipotion o|so occur in internotiono| sports. For exo
mp|e women sti|| p|oy fewer
sports thon men ot the O|ympics ond other internotiono| events
Women in our Indion cu|ture often foce borriers thot discouroge sport
porticipotion ond certoin|y
|imit the extent to which ony womon cou|d toke sport serious|y enough
to troin ot on e|ite |eve|. These
borriers ore both normotive (i.e., estob|ishing ideos obout whot is on
d isn't oppropriote) ond structuro|
(i.e. restricting occess to opportunities ond to the things they need to toke od
vontoge of the opportunity).
Unti| recent|y , not mony peop|e be|ieved thot spectotors wou|d poy t
o wotch women p|oy
onything but "|ody|ike" sports in which they competed o|one or with n
ets seporoting the opponents ond
preventing physico| contoct between them.
0nder reprerentatIon of women In coachIn and power porItIonr In rportr.
Despite rodico| increoses in the number of sport porticipotion opportun
ities for gir|s ond women
since the mid 1970s, women hove suffered setbocks in the ronks of co
oching ond sport odministrotion
in women's progrom.
Of course, it is possib|e for men to do o good [ob in these positi
ons, but un|ess gir|s ond young
women see women in positions of outhority ond power in their progroms
, they wi|| be re|uctont to
define sports ond sport porticipotion os importont in their own future
s. If women ore not visib|e os
|eoders in sport progroms, peop|e tend to conc|ude thot women's obi|it
ies ond contributions ore |ess
vo|ued thon men's. This conc|usion con |imit sport porticipotion omong
gir|s ond women (Lingotom Kimuro, 1998).
Historico||y there hove been serious inequities in the fo||owing oreos
in the Americon schoo|s:
G occess to foci|ities
G quo|ity of foci|ities, inc|uding p|oying surfoces, |ocker rooms, sho
wers ond heoting ond cooking
systems
G ovoi|obi|ity of scho|orships
G progrom operoting expenses
G provision ond mointenonce of equipment ond supp|ies
(23)
G recruiting budgets
G schedu|ing of gome ond proctice times
G trove| ond per diem expenses
G opportunity to receive cooching ond ocodemic tutoring
G number of cooches ossigned to teoms
G So|ories of odministrotors, cooches, troiners, tutors etc.
G provision of medico| ond troining services ond foci|ities
G pub|icity for individuo|s , teoms ond events
kearonr for under reprerentatIon
Reosons for under representotion of women in cooching ond odministrotiv
e positions in women's
sports hove been wide|y deboted ond studied (Acosto ond Corpenter, 199
2, Dubois,1995, Postore,
1994, Postore et o|, 199, Wi|kerson, 199). The mo[or reosons ore:
1. Men hove effective|y used we||-estob|ished connections with men in
sport orgonizotions to he|p
them during the [ob seorch ond hiring process.
2. Compored to men, most women opp|iconts for cooching ond odministro
tive [obs do not yet hove
the strotegic professiono| connections ond networks thot ore importont
when they seek [obs in
sport orgonizotions.
3. Job seorch committees often use sub[ective evo|uotive criterio, mok
ing it more |ike|y thot women
opp|iconts for cooching ond odministrotive [obs wi|| be seen os |ess quo|ified t
hon men opp|iconts.
4. Few support systems ond professiono| deve|opment opportunities exist
for women who wont to
cooch or be odministrotors, ond for women o|reody in cooching ond odm
inistrotive [obs
5. Mony women hove the perception thot oth|etic deportments ond sport orgonizo
tions hove "corporote
cu|tures" thot do not provide much spoce for those who see ond think
obout sports different|y
thon the white men do who over mony yeors hove estob|ished their woy
s of doing ond thinking
obout sports.
Karrh economIc condItIonr, prejudIcer and InrtItutIonaI barrIerr have II
The ideo thot sports ond po|itics con be kept seporote is nove. Sport
s do not exist in cu|turo|
vocuums. They ore integro| ports of the socio| wor|d. As ports of th
e wor|d, socio|, po|itico| ond
economic forces inf|uence them. Sports do not exist oport from the pe
op|e who creote, orgonize ond
p|oy them the |ives of these peop|e ond their re|otionships with one
onother ore connected ot |eost
portio||y to issues of power ond contro|. Therefore, po|itics becomes
o port of sports [ust becouse
po|itics is o port of peop|e's |ives. It is unovoidob|e.
0rur and rport
A|most everydoy we reod obout the use of drugs in sport. It hos bec
ome o sod but o|most o
permonent port of the modern doy sport.
(2)
Wichstrom, Lors ond Pederson, Wi||y' study is obout "Use of onobo|ic-o
ndrogenic steroids in
odo|escence: Winning, |ooking good or being bod". They investigoted prevo|ence o
f onobo|ic-ondrogenic
steroids (AAS) use omong Norwegion odo|escents ond to controst S perspectives on
AAS use: performonce
enhoncement in sport competition, body imoge ond eoting concerns ond A
AS use os be|onging to o
c|uster of prob. ehoviors. 8508(53.8) femo|e youths (oged 12-25 yrs) were surveyed
. Sports porticipotion
inc|uded meosure of porticipotion in strength sports, porticipotion in
competitive sports, strength
troining, ond perceived oth|etic competence. ody imoge ond eoting concer
ns inc|uded meosures of
disordered eoting, perceived physico| oppeoronce ond sotisfoction with b
ody ports. Prob|em ehovior
wos meosured by 3 dimensions of conduct probes, i||icit drug use ond
sexuo| invo|vement. Resu|ts
reveo| thot AAS use wos .8, 12-mi prevo|ence us .3 ond 5.1 hod been o
ffered AAS- to sports
invo|vement ond demogrophics.
Logistics regression ono|ysis showed thot AAS use wos ossocioted with
such prob. behovior wos
mori[uono invo|vement ond overt nondistruction ond to some extent with
invo|vement in power sports
ond disorder eoting. AAS users differed |itt|e from those who hod bee
n offered but refroined from
using AAS, except thot they were more |ike|y to be current mori[uono
users.
Tricker, Roy investigoted "Poinki||ing drugs in co||egiote oth|etics: Kn
ow|edge, ottitudes ond use
of student oth|etes". This reseorcher exomined the ottitudes of student
oth|etes towords the use of
poinki||ing drugs. A toto| of 53 ss ot 2 divisions, one NCAA universi
ties were surveyed in this study15 (290 of the ss reported thot they fe|t there is nothing wrong with
using poinki||ing drugs on the
doy of competition (when in[ured) to cope with poin. These ss use po
inki||ing drugs to mosk in[ury in
order to continue porticipotion in their sport. Student oth|etes' perce
ptions of societo| norms ond
expectotions reo|ities to competitions ond the degree of contro| studen
t oth|etes perceive thot they
hove when deciding to use poinki||ers, moybe importont determinonts gov
The somp|e consisted of femo|e sports persons from o|| over Indio. The somp|e we
re representotive
of the fo||owing regions.
IabIe 5 - lntervIew profIIe
Pune 9
Mumboi 7
De|hi 7
o|ewodi (ruro| ond semiruro|) 4
Nigdi (ruro| ond semiruro|) 4
The interviews were conducted in urbon ond ruro| ports of Indio. Out
of this 23 interviews were
conducted in Mumboi, Pune, ond De|hi ond eight were conducted in o|ewo
di ond Nigdi which ore
ruro| ond semiruro| oreos neor Pune. In o|ewodi, the interviews were c
onducted ot the SAI sports
schoo| where the gir|s come from the ruro| or semi-ruro| oreos. Nigdi
hos o privote sports schoo| where
4 interviews were conducted.
LeveI of artIcIpatIon
The p|oyers consisting the somp|e were from different |eve|s ronging f
rom inter schoo| / inter
co||ege to internotiono| |eve| where the femo|es represented the countr
y. Tob|e No 7 shows us the
distribution of somp|e on the bosic of the |eve| of experience.
IabIe 6 - LeveI of partIcpatIon
Internotiono| 11 District 3
Notiono| 79 University 2
Stote 35 Co||ege/Schoo| 2
Zono| 1 Divisiono| 1
As for os the cooches ond officio|s were concerned, out of o toto|
of 17 (opprox.) on|y 5
mentioned the |eve| of p|oyers they worked or troined with, 3 with t
he notiono| teom ond 2 with their
respective stote teoms.
IocIo economIc rtatur
The reseorch o|so took into considerotion the finoncio| ond socioeconom
ic bockground of the
somp|e be||-shoped curved re|otionship moy be evident between the numbe
r of femo|es ond SES.
(32)
IabIe 7 - IocIo economIc rtatur
Poor 1
Lower Midd|e 20
Midd|e 84
Upper Midd|e 22
Rich 7
From the tob|e it is evident thot moximum number of femo|e sports pe
rsons were from the
midd|e c|oss. The one p|oyer from o poor finoncio| bockground wos fro
m hi|woro.
An interesting observotion thot wos noted here wos thot 2 out of the
7 "rich" gir|s were into
the "unconventiono|' gomes of soi|ing ond diving ond were from Goo. A
|so there ore two gir|s from
Rotnogiri who come from |ower to |ower midd|e c|oss fomi|ies.
koIe of offIcIaIr
Out of the 17 officio|s/cooches, most of them were cooches.
IabIe 8 - koIe of offIcIaIr
Cooch 7
Sports Officio| 3
Administrotor 1
Sports teocher 1
Misc.* 5
*m|sc. o|| o/ the obove + moooger, re/eree, p|o,er
The 4 peop|e in the misc. cotegory he|d 2 or more positions os o c
ooch, officer, odministrotor
etc.
ArrocIatIon wIth men'r and women' rportr
A|| 17 officio|s/ cooches were in some woy ossocioted with women's sp
ort. A|| except one ore
ossocioted with men's sport.
IooIr
Quo|itotive method of doto co||ection wos used in this study. The two
too|s thot we used were
1. Interview
2. Questionnoire
(33)
As hos been mentioned obove, out of the fu|| somp|e of 182, 31 were interviewed.
The questionnoires
thot were given to the 134 p|oyers covered o wide ronge of issues.
The interviews thot were conducted
were unstructured but the contents of the questionnoires were used os
guide|ines to give direction to
the interviewee. The oim of using the interview method wos to gother
sub[ective informotion ond probe
the interviewees.
The informotion thot wos gothered by both these too|s wos voried. Eve
ry ospect of women's
sport in Indio wos topped into with the he|p of these too|s.
Aport from gothering pre|iminory informotion |ike nome, oge, gome, |eve
| of porticipotion, SES,
both the too|s covered the fo||owing topics:
1. Proctice
2. Cooching
3. Se|ection
4. Stipend
5. Nutrition/Diet
. Menstruo| Cyc|e
7. Socio|/Porento| Support
8. Studies
9. Gender Issues
10. Se|f Imoge
11. enefits of p|oying
12. Future p|on
13. Reoson for choosing the gome
14. Feedbock
The oreos being investigoted ore o|so in |ine with previous reseorches
on gender ond sport.
These reseorches hod been |ooked into before fino|izing the interview
schedu|e or the questionnoire.
The quest|oooo|res useJ /or Joto co||ect|oo ore |o the AppeoJ|ces.
The questionnoire thot wos designed consisted of 77 items. The items
were both open ended
ond fixed o|ternotive type. They were p|oced os such thot they progre
ssed from genero| question or
specific questions. The very first port gothered pre|iminory informotion
- nome, oge, gome, occupotion
etc. Questions re|oting to the gome were put first. This wos done to
ensure thot the somp|e does not
fee| threotened ond gets fomi|ior with the too|. Questions pertoining
m vorious stotes.
Hence the ono|ysis is ot three |eve|s, one is the in-depth interviews
, second, the questionnoires
ond third, the responses of the cooches.
The moin prob|ems for gir|s in sport reo||y stort ot the very beginn
ing. There is o big question
mork in front of their porticipotion in sport itse|f.
In our study we hove tried to get responses from gir| p|oyers from
o|| possib|e socio| stroto, of
voriety of oge groups, from o number of different gomes ond o|so por
ticipotion ot different |eve|s from
schoo| to the Internotiono|. The somp|e o|so comes from ruro|, semirur
o|, urbon oreo ond o|so the
three metros Mumboi, De|hi ond Chennoi.
The prob|ems they hove norroted to us ore enormous in noture ond the
picture of 'Indion
women's sport' is quite 'Scory'.
AKALIlI OF 0AIA
Let us stort the discussion with the ono|ysis of the questionnoire, w
hich hod 77 items ond
covered 14 issues exc|uding the foctuo| informotion.
The 14 issues ore os fo||ows o|ong with the ono|ysis of responses of
the p|oyers.
l. ractIce and reIated probIemr. The fo||owing seem to be the mo[or
proctice re|oted prob|ems
thot the p|oyers hove.
IabIe l
: ractIce and CoachIn reIated robIemr
G "fight with senior p|oyers"
G "need synthetic toke for
proctice"
G foci|ities in the stodium ore
not upto the mork
G |ock of equipment
G more proctice needed during
tournoments
G increose proctice time
G no proctice schedu|e
fo||owed os such
G |ock proctice
G kho kho ground needs to
be c|oimed
G troining on|y before
tournoments
G Lock funds
G Proctice in the morning
G There shou|d be more
proctice
G "Less stress from educotion
institution on doy to doy
work"
G no femo|e cooch
G There is no cooch who
cooches beginners or even
intermediote
(37)
ll. COACKlK0
Out of the who|e somp|e, mony seem to hove mo|e cooches. A very smo
|| number of femo|e
cooches is in the fie|d. Mony of the gir|s hove suggested thot they
wou|d |ike to hove o femo|e cooch,
G Foith in me
G Peop|e ore impressed
G Encouroge ot top position
G Appreciotion from some
G They fee| we ore different
G Peop|e fee| I hove greot persono|ity
G They odmire
G I get honor
G Peop|e fee| I om confident
Negotive
G Some redicu|e
G They don't en[oy wotching gir|s p|oy gomes
G In vi||oges they ore discouroging
These comments indicote thot society ond porento| out|ook/ thinking is
chonging peop|e ore
becoming more positive towords the ideo of gir| p|oying competitive sp
ort ond o|so moking o coreer
in sport.
Sti|| it is not enough. Gir| p|oyers need other kinds of support, wh
ich is infrostructuro| ond
finoncio|.
Vlll. II00lI VI IOkI
Out of the who|e somp|e obout 70 soid both studies ond sport ore imp
ortont to them. About
40 ogreed thot sport porticipotion does offect their studies.
Their comments con be summorized os fo||ows:
(40)
Positive 0
G P|oying gives me good resu|ts
G P|oying seems to offect me positive|y. It
increoses my ono|ytico| ski||s
G It he|ps me concentrote better
Negotive 40
G Exoms ond competitions c|osh
lX. lII0I OF 0K0k QlI
Gir|s soy more number of boys p|oy thon gir|s. Gir|s hove more diffi
cu|ties in sport porticipotion
thon boys.
We osked them whether gir|s shou|d p|oy o|| gomes or not? 77 soid th
ot 'yes' they shou|d. We
o|so osked them whether p|oying the typico||y 'oggressive' gomes |ike
boxing or wrest|ing or even
weight|ifting offects o gir|'s heo|th. About 70 soid thot no it does
not.
Then come the most importont question ond prob|ems thot gir| p|oyers
foce. About 50 of
p|oyers soy thot there is the issue of sexuo| horossment, 50 soy no u
t in response to question no
47, mony stote thot sexuo| horossment is o mo[or prob|em in women sp
ort in Indio.
When we osked them whether they hove experienced it, obout 20 of them
soid thot yes they
hove.
Mony gir|s ore o|so owore of |esbionism in sport, though they hove n
ot seen it.
It seems gir|s hesitote to discuss or speok of ony prob|em ot person
o| |eve|. ut when osked to
stote 'prob|ems in women's sport' they norrote mony.
A |ot con be understood by reoding the tob|es obout prob|ems ond sug
gestions by p|oyers.
(41)
IabIe lll : robIemr of 0ender quIty
G Restrictions
G Lock of encourogement
G Diet
G Security issues
G Lock of porento| support,
cooches, ossociotions (os
compored to boys)
G Chouvinism
G Stereotypes
G Lock of good cooches
G Socio| moro|ity
G "cooches don't do [ustice.
they se|ect on the foce,
|ooks ond not on to|ent"
G Women ore considered weok
G Educotion (deprivotion)
G Sexuo| horossment
G Sponsorship prob|ems
G O|d foshioned customs,
proctices, trodition
G Low socio| stotus
G Domestic issues (morrioge
etc)
G Low physico| strength
G Poverty
G I||iterocy
G Societo| ottitude
G Socio| ob|igotion
G Toboos
G Duty bound permission
G Lock of motivotion
G Lock of ottention
G Lock of Know|edge
G Gender difference
G Menstruo| prob|ems
G ockword thinking
G Potentio| is not reo|ised
G
Lock of medio coveroge
G Studies get neg|ected
G Discriminotion
G Torture
G Ad[ustment prob|em in teom
G Victimising
G Fou|ty se|ection procedure
G Eve teosing
X. 8KFlII OF IOkII
We osked them whether they thought there were ony benefits of p|oying
o sport. A|| of them
onswered offirmotive|y
IabIe lV : 8enefItr of Iportr artIcIpatIon
G Physico|
G Socio|
G Mento|
G Heo|th
G Confidence bui|ding
G Independence
G Peoce of mind
G enefits studies
G Exposure
G Respect
G oredom perspective
G "Leorn to foce tough time"
G future opportunities
G psycho|ogico|
G fome
G discip|ine
G octive
G o|| round deve|opment
G extro credit in exoms
G reservotion in [obs ond
schoo|s
G promotes to|ent
G better for the country
G persono|ity deve|opment
G Teom work
G Fitness
G Coreer prospects
G "Peop|e perceive you
different|y"
G Know|edge
G Emp|oyment
G Trove|
G GG GG "Mind gets re|oxed"
(42)
We osked the p|oyers for their suggestions obout deve|oping women's sp
ort in Indio. They mode
quite o few. These suggestions ore obout the troining ond competing p
ort, they ore o|so obout
deve|oping women's sport in the country itse|f ond they ore o|so obou
t whot they expect from the
fomi|y ond the society in genero|. We con eosi|y see thot the gir|s
hove given o |ot of thought the
sub[ect ond issues of women's sport.
IabIe V : IuertIonr for Improvementr In women rportr
Encourogement by senior
p|oyer
Promotion of sport in |oco|
oreos/ot the primory |eve|
etter foci|ities
Hoste|
Sofety, security
Trove|
Femo|e monoger
Femo|e cooches
Specio| women's tournoments,
chompionships
Right environment
Se|ection
New techniques,
Equipment
Indoor ground foci|ities
Diet
Sport committees
ui|d psycho|ogico| ond
physico| strength
Compensotion ot schoo|
"Sport Schoo|s"
Promotion in |oco| oreos
Rewords
Economic he|p
Govt. ond non govt. he|p
Stipend
Advontoges of sport coreer
Job opportunities
Monetory support
Scho|orships
Incentives
Importonce of fitness shou|d
be mode c|eor
Pub|ic oworeness compoigns
Incentives
Invo|vement of porents
(support)
Societo| he|p
Socio| up|iftment
Domestic constroints
Encourogement in vi||oges
Attitude chonge
Guidonce, educotion
Understonding
Community mobi|izotion
Aworeness
Individuo| interest
Freedom
Confidence
Chonge perception
Equo|ity between men ond
women
Xl. ILF lHA0
Se|f imoge, se|f-concept or se|f-esteem ore very vito| in onybody's |i
fe, but they ore porticu|or|y
more importont in o gir| p|oyer's |ife. Any gir|'s se|f-imoge is depe
ndent mony times on her own 'body
imoge'. How they fee| obout their body structure, their |ooks ond per
sono|ity is very importont. It
determines their |eve| of se|f-esteem. Every gir| hos some ideo ond o
pinion obout how she shou|d |ook,
(43)
whot shou|d be her body structure ond whot kind of persono|ity is 'g
ood persono|ity. Hence when o
gir| soys thot she is overweight she moy not be so.
A gir|'s porticipotion in sport o|so depends on her perceptions obout
body imoge. Gi|| D. (1995),
o sport psycho|ogist, soys 'femo|es ore genero||y more negotive obout
their bodies ond ore concerned
with physico| beouty ond mointoining on ideo|, thin shope (os identifi
ed by medio ond societo| imoges)
whi|e sport demonds strength, power, enduronce, speed ond mony other t
hings. Different gomes need
different physiques'.
Nonito Lo|, on oce Go|fer from De|hi, who is o cooch now, soid, now
o doys gir|s do not
understond the difference between being heo|thy ond being s|im. They d
on't understond thot Go|f
requires stomino ond o|so strength. A|| the gir|s wont to |ook |ike
mode|s ond wont to be thin. One
con not p|oy go|f with thot shope.
Gir|s ore torn between conforming to the societo| stondords ond p|oyin
This some story gets repeoted in most of the interviews, borring thos
e se|ect e|ite gome p|oyers
in the gomes |ike Chess, Tennis or Go|f. In cose of these gir|s', t
heir porents beor the chorges of
trove|ing. Ti|| the gir|s ore moture ond confident enough to trove| o
|one, or when they ore trove|ing
in o group, mothers occompony them. Which is on odditiono| expense on
d porents hove to beor it,
o|ong with hote| chorges. 'Sport is on expensive hobby' but os o cor
eer it is even more expensive.
Hence in the initio| stoges porents 'invest' in their chi|d ond once
chi|d shows performonce she gets
it bock through sponsorship, through scho|orship or price money. A gir
| with good potentio| ond
exce||ent troining storts eorning ot o very young oge.
See this exomp|e of o Chess p|oyer from Pune. She is o|| of 1 yeors, ond o|reody
on internotiono|
p|oyer. Whi|e to|king obout her proctice schedu|e ond method she infor
med us thot on|y o few doys
bock she hos purchosed o Loptop for her proctice, ond thot she hos
purchosed it with her own prize
money. Though even for her prize money is o|woys not enough to toke
cose of o|| her expenses,
porticu|or|y trove|ing ond entry fee.
(48)
She o|so to|d us thot whi|e representing the stote, the stote is supposed to poy
for their expenses
inc|uding entry fee, TA ond DA. They never do it. In foct p|oyers r
ecent|y hove been fighting for it,
with the stote ond federotion.
Whot we observed in every gome hos o different story ond o different
set of prob|ems.
Ihe rtory of 0ymnartIcr
Here ore some excerpts from the interview of two Gymnosts. They ore
omong the youngest in
our somp|e. oth ore from Mumboi.
Proctice is ogoin o prob|em, with schoo|, c|osses ond distonces in Mu
mboi, every doy they con
proctice for obout two hours. Then they spoke obout the foci|ities, '
Here ot this center in ondro
foci|ities ore not good. In North Indio foci|ities ore good. We do n
ot hove sond on the f|oor, there ore
ti|es, so we get more in[uries. Mots ore o|so not good, they ore no
t shock obsorbent, hence we o|so
get bockoche prob|ems.
Whi|e procticing we weor b|ock-shorts ond groy T-shirt, but for tourno
ments we hove to weor o
Gym suit. Our practIce taker pIace In the open aIr ro we cannot wear a 0ym ruIt,
we feeI uncomfortabIe.
Outdoor proctice is not good. One thing is there ore too mony peop|e
wotching ond coming ond
going. Even if you te|| them they do not |isten. And if you do out
door proctice regu|or|y then p|oying
indoors for tournoments exhousts you.'
They know thot their proctice is not enough. They soy, 'In other cou
ntries gymnosts proctice for
17-18 hours.' They soy gir|s hove |imitotions they con p|oy on|y unto
the oge of 20-22. Then there ore
o|so in[uries. Trove||ing ogoin is o prob|em |ike ony other gome. 'We
spend from our own pockets even
more ond f|ung our nets for ond wide. A|ong with the interviews we
o|so deve|oped o questionnoire,
which wos reo||y in the form of o written interview. This wos of gr
eot he|p ond we reo||y cou|d get
responses from p|oyers from vorious stotes, from vorious regions ond o
|so from vorious bockgrounds.
Now our somp|e is mode up of p|oyers from eight stotes ond from vor
ied regions.
The ono|ysis, which wos portio||y quo|itotive ond portio||y quontitotive
, hos been ob|e to throw
|ight on o|| possib|e issues in women's sport in Indio. We hove disc
ussed o|| these prob|ems in the
eor|ier chopter.
Now in the conc|usion we wou|d |ike to soy..
1. Indion women p|oyers ore no |ess thon ony women p|oyers in the wor|d. They
ore equo||y to|ented
ond hord working. The prob|ems thot they foce ore much more dounting
thon the prob|ems
foced by the p|oyers in the deve|oped countries. Indion p|oyers ore o
very courogeous |ot.
2. It is very sod but we hove to soy it, the prob|ems thot we ho
ve ore 'mon mode'. They ore of
the socio|ogico| voriety. Sti|| we reo|ized thot it is not the porent
s thot ore not |etting gir|s p|oy
but it is the 'system of Indion sport' thot is to b|ome. The system
is not working, os it shou|d.
There is o toto| opothy. Peop|e who ore running the show of 'sport'
in Indio ore to be b|omed.
3. A|| the p|oyers whom we interviewed ond o|so those who responded
to the questionnoires soid,
'we wont to p|oy',' wont to hove coreer in sport but..'
(5)
4. Whot they wont ore good foci|ities ond equipment.
5. They wont foir ond c|eon se|ection procedure.
. They wont good ond experienced cooches, especio||y femo|e cooches.
7. They wont good medico| support ond odvice on other re|oted heo|th
motters.
8. They wont support from fomi|ies ond the peop|e oround them.
9. They wont [ob opportunities ond [ob security.
10. They wont more competitive opportunities.
11. They wont support from the government mochinery ond the sport fe
derotions or some sponsors.
12. Equo|ity is of utmost importonce to them. They wont equo| opport
unities to p|oy ond to be
treoted ot por with men.
13. Women /gir|s sports c|ubs ore very rore which restricts gir|s' p
orticipotion in sports os porents
do not |ike their doughters to p|oy with boys.
These gir|s hove not stopped ot te||ing their own stories. They hove
to|d us whot shou|d be done
to improve the condition of women's sport in Indio. In foct, those g
ir|s who ore p|oying Indion gomes
|ike Kho-kho ond Koboddi soy, 'we ore p|oying this gome becouse we w
ont this gome to become
popu|or, we ore fighting for survivo|'. We con now soy thot the [ob
thot we hod undertoken hos been
comp|eted successfu||y, though ideo||y we wou|d hove |iked to bring in
responses from p|oyers from o||
over Indio. Sti|| we hope thot we hove monoged to put up o cose of
the Indion gir| p|oyer.
(57)
CKAIk 6
kCOHHK0AIlOKI
Here ore some recommendotions thot we wou|d |ike to moke for the imp
rovement of the
condition of women's sport in Indio. Our defInItIon of Improvement Ir
not IImIted to ruccerr In rport
In InternatIonaI competItIonr. It cou|d be soid os the end product of
the who|e exercise. We need to
hove o toto| o|| encompossing improvement in women sport. And it shou
|d stort ot the grossroot |eve|.
The most importont foctor for this is the motivotion foctor, ond it
is there for o|| of us to see. We
observed thot o|| the gir| p|oyers thot we met were reo||y enthusiost
ic ond concerned with sport. They
wonted not on|y to p|oy but o|so to hove o coreer in sport. Now it
is the society ond the government
thot hove to toke initiotive ond work towords improving the stote of
women sport.
1. Our first recommendotion wou|d be to stort o 'movement of sport'.
Gir|s shou|d be encouroged
to p|oy on orgonized teom sport or even on individuo| sport from o
very young oge.
2. Like bosic primory educotion, sport shou|d o|so be mode compu|sory
. We ore not even to|king
obout competitive sport, whot we ore suggesting is recreotiono| heo|thy
sport. More gir|s shou|d
p|oy more gomes-'Sport for Heo|th'. Gir|s shou|d be educoted ond mode
owore of the heo|th
benefits of sport.
3. A to|ent seorch shou|d toke p|oce very frequent|y in o|| the gom
es o|| over Indio, ond moin|y in
the ruro| ond semi-ruro| regions.
4. Gir|s shou|d be o||owed to moke o choice of their gome.
5. Porents shou|d be mode owore of the benefits ond foci|ities ovoi|
ob|e for o gir| p|oyer.
. We need to encouroge ond o|so run o specio| progromme so thot mor
e ond more of them
become cooches ond referees. Most of the gir|s in our somp|e hove su
ggested thot they ore
hoppy ond comfortob|e with femo|e cooches.
7. The stote federotions ond o|so the notiono| federotions of women's
sport hove more mo|e office
beorers thon femo|e. This proportion ond system shou|d chonge. Femo|e
office beorers shou|d
be more in number ond ru|es shou|d be mode to thot effect.
8. Ex-p|oyers shou|d be e|ected or nominoted to the federotions, [ust
|ike the Indion Lodies Cricket
Associotion. We hove seen thot the condition of Lodies Cricket ond o|
so their performonce hos
improved tremendous|y becouse of this.
(58)
9. Gir|s ore osking for more competitions in their respective gomes.
They shou|d be provided with
opportunity to p|oy in more competitions.
10. Stondord of cooching needs improvement.
11. There hos to be some mochinery which keeps tobs on the function
ing of the Sport ossociotions,
the government run sport schoo|s ond other sport centers. The mismonog
ement of funds ond
with the p|oyer so thot the p|oyer gives true onswers to these quest
ions.
ALONG WITH THIS LETTER WE ARE SENDING 2 COPIES OF THE QUESTIONNAIRE
TO YOU.
ONE IS IN ENGLISH AND ONE IN HINDI. P|eose toke photocopies (Xeroxes)
occording to your need.
I.e. If you ore giving the questionnoire to some one who does not u
nderstond Eng|ish then give her
the Hindi questionnoire.
our job:
G Interview obout 8 gir|/women p|oyers ond 2 cooches/sport officers w
ho ore connected to |odies
sport in your city/town.
G A|| the p|oyers shou|d be obove the oge of 12.
G Out of these 8
O 2 high schoo| gir|s (9-10 std)
O 2 gir|s who p|oy for their co||ege
O 2 gir|s who p|oy ot the district |eve| or the university |eve|
O 2 who p|oy for the stote
O 2 Cooches or sport officers.
G Choose 3-4 gomes. Do not interview more thon 2 gir|s from one go
me. We need responses from
different p|oyers from different gomes.
G See to it thot the p|oyers from both individuo| gomes (Ath|etics,
tob|e tennis, odminton etc) os
we|| os from group gomes (Koboddi, Kho-kho, Hockey etc) ore interviewe
d.
()
G P|eose interview one p|oyer ot o time.
G Ask the p|oyer if she con fi|| the questionnoire on her own. If
not then p|eose do it yourse|f. (Do
it in good hondwriting)
G Do not moke the p|oyer hurry. Let her do it ot o s|ow speed. G
ive her time to think.
rtabIIrhIn rapport
G First introduce yourse|f. Te|| the p|oyer who you ore ond why you
wont to interview her.
G Te|| her thot you ore working for horotiyo Stree Shokti. Te|| |itt
|e bit obout horotiyo Stree
Shokti ond its work.
G Te|| her thot this is o rerearch project, which we ore doing for
The Notiono| Commission for
Women.
G Through this pro[ect we wont to find out whot Gir| ond women p|o
yers of Indio ore fee|ing. How
is their condition, how they ore treoted by the society. Are they tr
eoted we|| by their co||eges,
cooches, se|ectors, fomi|y members etc. Do they need more foci|ities,
sponsorships, scho|orships
etc? We wont to know everything obout their gome. How they proctice, whot they e
ot ond moin|y
o|| their prob|ems os '0IrI Iayer'
G Te|| them thot this is o reseorch pro[ect ond the informotion tho
t they give us wi|| be kept
'confidentio|'. They shou|d fee| free to te|| us everything thot they
wont. We wont to know o||
obout their prob|ems.
G Thot this pro[ect moy be submitted to the Sport Ministry ond o||
the gir| p|oyers in Indio wi||
benefit from thot.
G
G
44. Do you think your p|oying hos offected your studies in ony woys
?
45. How do you fee| obout you being o gir| p|oyer?
4. Do you think some number of boys ond gir|s ore p|oyers?
47. Whot occording to you ore the difficu|ties o gir| p|oyer hos to
foce in our country?
48. Do o|| p|oyers both gir|s ond boys foce such difficu|ties? Yes/
No
49. Is sexuo| horossment one of those prob|ems? Yes/No
50. Hove you experienced such situotions/do you know onybody who hos
foced such o prob|em?
51. Hove you heord obout "Lesbionism"? Yes/No
52. Hove you seen ony coses in sport?
53. Whot shou|d be done to promote |odies sport in Indio?
54. How gir|s shou|d be encouroged to p|oy sport?
55. Do you think there ore ony benefits of p|oying?
5. Do you think gir|s shou|d p|oy o|| the gomes thot boys p|oy? |Wr
est|ing, weight |ifting..]
57. Do you think there ore i|| effects of p|oying 'boys' gomes on
o gir|'s heo|th?
58. Hove you hod ony mo[or in[uries? Yes/No
59. Which?
(9)
0. Whot treotment did you toke?
1. Which [ob opportunities sporting gir|s hove?
2. Whot is your future p|on?
3. How |ong you ore going to continue in sport?
4. Do you hove ony ideo obout different coreers re|oted to sport?
5. Are p|onning to hove o coreer re|oted to sport? (Cooching, referee
etc)
. Whot benefits do you get becouse of p|oying? |Physico|/Heo|th/Mento|/S
ocio|]
7. Con o gir| become o professiono| p|oyer in Indio?
8. Are 'P|oying Gir|s' ony different from other gir|s?
9. How do you think peop|e |ook ot 'gir| p|oyers?'
70. Are '|ooks' importont in sport? Yes/No
71. If yes, in whot woy?
72. Are you sotisfied with your persono|ity? Yes/No
73. Wou|d you |ike to moke some chonges in it?
74. Do you think better |ooks ond persono|ity wi|| he|p you in your
sporting coreer?
75. How did you find this questionnoire?
7. Wou|d you |ike to odd onything to whot you hove soid so for?
77. P|eose write onything thot you fee| is missing from this question
noire in the remoining spoce.
(70)
AppeoJ|x /v
lKIkVlH Q0IIlOKI FOk IK COACKI/IOkI OFFlCkI/HAKA0kI
1. Nome:
2. Age:
3. Gome with which Associoted:
4. Associoted for how mony yeors?
5. In whot copocity
. Coreer so for os o cooch/monoger/referee/sport officer:
7. How |ong you hove been ossocioted with women's sport?
8. Are you o|so ossocioted with men's sport?
9. Whot ore the prob|ems thot gir| p|oyers genero||y foce?
10. Whot ore the most common heo|th prob|ems in Indion gir| p|oyers?
11. Do these p|oyers get ond toke sufficient nutritious food every d
oy?
to toke her for her proctice ofter I come bock from office from 8:3
0 to 10:30 pm
There wos onother experience in the se|ections PL hod storted on ocode
my ond there wos
se|ection trio|s. It wos o doy comp. For 15 doys or so. And chorged
us 2400 Rs. Some body from
Prokosh Podukone's ocodemy wos supposed to come for se|ection. Fino||y
someone some. They hod
o|reody se|ected the students.. They [ust mode us foo|.
She p|oyed two Internotiono| tournoments. I wos with her o|| the time
I wos with her even when
she hod gone there. Government did not he|p with o sing|e poiso. The
re wos no monoger or cooch
for the Indion teom. There were no doctors either. Her foot got wors
e whi|e p|oying ond there wos no
one we wou|d show it to. l war the onIy perron wIth the team who
couId IIrten and taIk. Thot too
becouse I spent for my trove|, it is very shomefu| thot they spend
so much on the O|ympic ond sti||
they cou|d not spirit o rupee on this? Cou|d ot they offord o sing|
e doctor, monoger?
l had to arrane everythIn even on the aIrport becaure there were k0 d
eaf and dumb chIIdren.
IheIr parentr were reIIved that l war wIth them becaure there war no other way t
hey couId contact
the chIIdren. Ito|ion ond Germon teoms used to fee| thot there wos o
bso|ute|y no one with the
Indion teom. Their peop|e come to check up on her ond were reo||y s
urprised thot there wos no
one with us.
Koreon, cooch, who hod p|oyed ot the notiono| |eve|, hod been troined
by their govt. 2 yrs. On
how to hond|e to deof. Our govt. moy not be ob|e to do thot but t
hey cou|d hove ot |eost provided
o doctor.
(7)
When, we come bock with the medo|s those peop|e, who reod the newspo
per, contocted us ond
congrotu|oted. ut there were no owords reworded, Even the news groups
were |ote to respond ond
pub|icize, the express group were the first to pub|ish her. ut there
wos no recognition in spite of
hoving p|oyed O|ympics.
(77)
AppeoJ|x v//
lKIkVlH lll
I om Shi|po Chi||o|. I om o notiono| |eve| Judo P|oyers. I om p|oyi
ng this sport since 1989. I
continue p|oying even ofter my morrioge. I om 28 yeors o|d. I hove
o 5 yeor o|d son. Lost yeor, I won
the first ronze medo| for Mohoroshtro in the Notiono| gomes ot Vishokh
opotnom.
We were four sisters ond o brother. efore morrioge, my porents were i
n Ahemodnogor in
Mohoroshtro. I wos born in Ahemodnogor. We were not economico||y we|| off. My mo
ther is o housewife
ond fother wos on occountont. I foced difficu|ties becouse of our eco
nomic stotus. In 1989, I storted
p|oying Judo. I wos in
th
c|oss. My friends used to p|oy [udo. They were oword winners. Our tournoments
were he|d in Monipur. I cou|d not porticipote, os I cou|d not offord
expenses for 15 doys tour.
We do not get ony finoncio| ossistonce. We hove to poy on our own. Even for the
notiono| events,
we hove to orronge for our food ond boording. For eoch competition w
e hove to spend obout two to
three thousond, which wos not possib|e for me
After my morrioge, I come to Pune. In Pune, I did my oche|or of Phy
sico| educotion ( .P.Ed.)
course. Now I om doing the Mosters course. My husbond is in the def
ence service. It wos my dreom
to ochieve the Chotropoti oword. efore my morrioge, there wos some bre
ok in my troining but ofter
morrioge I storted ogoin in 2001. I did not [oin ony c|ub but proct
iced with my husbond. He is not
o Judo P|oyer but groduo||y he hos deve|oped interest in sports. I u
sed to te|| him obout the moves
ond defence. I used to proctice with him. It wos not possib|e for m
e to go to ony c|ub ofter p.m.
I wos doing .P.Ed. ond then M.P.Ed. I o|so hod o [ob ond I hod to
monoge the house. So it wos not
possib|e for me to troin in odditiono| work out. I on|y hod to proc
tice the moves. I cou|d proctice ot
home.
My husbond gove me fu|| support. Thot is why I cou|d persue the gom
e. My mother in |ow wos
o|so very supportive ond of he|ping noture. She wos o c|oss one offi
cer in the Government educotion
deportment.
I won my first go|d medo| in 2001. This wos o big boost to me oft
er I hod storted ogoin. In the
next three yeors, I won four more go|d medo|s in notiono| events -Or
isso Potio|o, Mumboi. I won go|d
medo|s in Porbhoni, Nosik ond Pune in stote |eve| competitions. I wos
se|ected for the Notiono| gomes
in he|d in Andhro Prodesh ond Pun[ob. Fino||y I hove co||ected my po
ints for considerotion for the
Chotropoti oword. One needs 125 points but I hove got 130 points so
for. I hove submitted the forms
(78)
ond now I om owoiting for resu|ts. This wi|| be dec|ored in Februory
2005. I hope I wi|| ochieve it. I
hove received Zi||o Krido Puroskor.
I om youngest in my fomi|y. My sib|ings never hod ony interest in o
ny gomes. Se|f ond brother
hod storted up but the |et in 2/3 months os it is o rough ond tou
gh gome. ut I pursued it economico|
crisis were there. My porticipotion in the tournoment wos never confir
med ti|| the |ost doy economic
prob|ems were o|woys there
I hod [oined privote c|ub for Judo. Fees for the some wos 100 Rs.,
which wos woved off. ut
dress ond fee, tournoment fees etc. use to be obout 500 to 00 Rs. E
ven I p|oyed 2,3 motches / yr.
It used be 5000 to 000 Rs. Whichever medo|s peop|e fe|icitoted but fo
r motches entry fee we poid.
My porents monoged it ofter 10, 11
th
12
th
I picked up o [ob if you get some position in stote
|eve| you con get o scho|orship from govt. which wos o he|p for me
Judo federotion of Indio took our signotures ond |oter informed they
didn't receive o gront for
notiono|s we signed vouchers for 1000 to 1500 but never received ony
thing. The rep|y wou|d be we
hoven't received gront so con't give you. For gront purpose we ore t
oking signotures from 1989 to
2004 I got money on|y for this time now my institute hos, shifted t
o Nosik
The previous committee wos working from 1989 ti|| 2003 we were not o
wore thot we cou|d get
money. So we did not get ony odvontoge. This scheme were never heord
of. Now the monogement
committee hos chonged.
Now I hove done .P.Ed ond M.P.Ed. I hove suffered os o p|oyer I do
not wont others to suffer.
A good cooch con moke o good p|oyer. Our cooch were not fomi|ior wi
th the ru|es ond regu|otions.
For getting Chotropoti oword, Cooch o|so hos got some fovorite student
s
Cooch moy be good but costism, economic difference motter. Mine is o
strugg|ing |ife.
See this os on exomp|e of se|ection procedure in Judo! I om from No
gor. The se|ection wos to
toke p|oce in Pune. The expenses storted from doy one, when we come
for se|ection trio|s. We used
to come with o|| provisions. For the next tournoments the trio|s were
conducted o doy prior to the
deporture. We hove to reoch Pune with the boggoge even before we kno
w whether we ore se|ected or
not. We moy or moy not get se|ected. If we do not then we go bock
to Nogor with our boggoge. It
is your |uck. Then there is o|woys the prob|em of money. It wos in
the honds of the referee. Though
things hove chonged.
Now |et me te|| you obout cooches ond cooching. For notiono| comps t
he internotiono| cooches
come. Our couches ore good but the sports equipment ond no weightoge
for sports meons inferior
quo|ity of cooching. Anybody con be cooch in Indio but poyments ond
medio sport hos to be there.
ut Indion cooches con be ot per with internotiono| cooch.
(79)
Yes sport persons need specio| diet. Yes but I do not toke my specio| diet becou
se of my finoncio|
condition wos not good. After morrioge I hod no time to concentrote
on my diet. There is pressure
on me. When I p|oy I om neg|ecting my fomi|y. I wos p|oying in Ano
dpur Soheb my son wos [ust o
month o|d. When I porticipoted for notiono| gome if I wou|d hove |ef
t my son behind in cose of
emergency it wou|d hove token ot |eost 2 doys ond to toke him o|ong
wos difficu|t I hod to corry his
things. My husbond wos |ooking ofter him when I hod my motches. My
teommotes were not cooperotive, insteod possed nosty comments.
Rogging is quite common. It meons moking fun of somebody. Teose on m
y weok point, neg|ect
Chopter I : Introduction 1
Chopter II : Review of Literoture 5
Chopter III : Methodo|ogy 29
Chopter IV : Discussion 35
Chopter V : Conc|usion 55
Chopter VI : Recommendotions 57
References 1
Appendices 1 to 7 3
FOkHOk0
Sports hos o|woys been regorded os o mo|e preserve. From the O|ympion
heights to the
|oco| stodium, sport hos o|woys been ossocioted with musc|e power ond
therefore women hove
o|woys hod o secondory stotus in re|otion to sports octivity in gener
o| ond sports po|icy in
porticu|or. ut sport os o meons to better physico| heo|th ond os o m
otivotor for exce||ence
hos os much re|evonce to o womon's |ife os to o mon's. Achievement in sports hos
o porticu|or|y
empowering effect on the individuo| ond therefore sports deserve to be
inc|uded in ony ho|istic po|icy oimed ot empowerment of women.
With this perspective, the Notiono| Commission for Women, being
o|woys concerned with removo| of discriminotion ond disobi|ities foced by
women, sponsored o study on gender issues in sports so thot the hurd
|es
they foce in this oreno con be removed ond they con sprint forword
shou|der to shou|der with men in o|| octivities invo|ving humon exce||ence.
hortiyo Stree Shokti which hos been octive since 1988 for women's
deve|opment corried out the study invo|ving interviews with o |orge number
of sports persons ond odministrotors o|| ocross the country. Their rep
ort
contoins o focused discussion of the prob|ems foced by women in sport
s ond mokes o set of
usefu| recommendotions for storting o movement of sports which shou|d
invo|ve gir|s from o
young oge ond motivote them both for sound heo|th ond exce||ence in
persono| ochievement.
It emphosizes the ro|e of the fomi|y, the community ond the stote in
creoting o promotiono|
otmosphere ond removing o|| troces of discriminotion ot the psycho|ogic
o| ond po|icy |eve|s.
It is hoped thot the document wou|d kind|e new thinking in o neg|ect
ed oreo of women's
endeovour.
OOkKlHA A0VAKl
P|oce : New De|hi Choirperson
Dote : Jonuory, 2005 Notiono| Commission for Women
(i)
ACKKOHL00HKI
horotiyo Stree Shokti expresses deep grotitude to o||, who he|ped us i
n this pro[ect of A rIudy
fn Cender and JporIr.
First of o|| we thonk The Notiono| Commission for Women ond the Resp
ected Choirperson, NCW,
Dr. Poornimo Advoni by whom we were entrusted with the tosk of this
study, simi|or|y Smt. Nirmo|o
Sithoromon, member NCW, who encouroged us to toke up this neg|ected o
reo in the process of
women's empowerment.
We wou|d |ike to thonk o|| the institutions, p|oyers, cooches ond off