Sport: A Site of Exclusion or Space for Equality?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Sport is a mirror of society and vice versa. From this perspective, this article highlights the continued existence and impact of biologist and essentialist discourses, hegemonic masculinity, and formal rules based on socially constructed gender differences in sport. Based on a literature review of gender and sport and through utilising a feminist analysis, I conclude that as long as sport remains an arena where gender inequalities are naturalized and normalized, as well as a sphere dominated by masculine structures of power, actions towards equality may have little impact. In this way, the article addresses some of the challenges for considering sport as a site for gender equality. This gains importance due to the importance of sport nowadays and to the existing expectations that it can deliver positive social outputs.