Women's Participation in Indian Sports | The Gender Divide

Designed: Abey James

Blog posted by: Kartik Nair

Note: The views of the author are strictly personal.

My initial thought of writing a blog on women’s participation in sports in India, perhaps initiated on the 25th of July 2017, a day after Indian women lost to their England counterparts in the finals of the ICC women’s cricket world cup. It started with an editorial in a popular English daily wherein it spoke about a difference between winning hearts and winning the world cup. 

What drew my attention was the stark contrast of expectations that we, as Indians collectively had when it came to performances related to their male counterparts. For the Indian women to make it to the final, was in itself considered equivalent to winning the World Cup. For men, this was not so. For some godforsaken reason, the words of Aamir Khan from the Bollywood movie ‘Dangal’ (2016) echoed in my head “Gold to gold hota hai, chora laave ya chori.” (A medal is a medal, no matter who gets it, a boy or a girl)

What got me to sit down, do tons of research and write this blog on women and sports was a good amount of discussion and dialogue with my female sportswomen friends, the recent dominant performances of Indian women in the global sporting scenario and a few things from the past I’ve learnt, heard and seen during my days as a sportsperson. Back in my sporting days, when I used to be a national level road cyclist, and as I’ve witnessed in a couple of cyclothons (cycling races) and pro-races, I could not ignore this difference in the prize money being paid to the winners of both men and women, in the same distances. One look at the competition then, and I thought that it was just, given the low participant numbers and overall performances put in, maybe, that justified this difference. Little did I realise that the same thought was a toxic one and that this very thought would be one of the triggering factors that would get me to write and publish a blog on women’s participation in Indian sports.

Women’s sports throughout the world has existed for a long time, and the participation numbers have risen dramatically in the last century, perhaps mirroring changes in developing societies which created and emphasised gender equality. Although widely accepted in the world today, there is a significant skew when it comes to participation and performance on a country-to-country basis. 

Background

Before I delve into this topic, let’s understand a bit about the origins of women’s sport, esp. during the ancient Olympic Games (796 BC-339 AD). Before these games began, before any ancient Olympics, there was a separate women’s athletic event at the Olympia Stadium, then called the Heraean Games, dedicated to the Greek Goddess Hera. Women in Sparta practised similar exercises as men, exhibiting similar qualities as those of Spartan soldiers. The Greek scholar, Plato, advocated women in sports by promoting running and sword fighting for women.

Coming back to the modern era, ~22 women made their first appearance at the Paris Olympics (1900) in events such as tennis, croquet, equestrian, golf, etc. In the years to come, there were questions asked about the physical strength and stamina of women compared to men, and this led to discouragement of female participation in physically intensive sports, but, in some cases, it led to the creation of less demanding female versions of male sports. (E.g. Netball from basketball, softball from baseball, etc.) However, due to lack of support of women’s sporting at the international arena, ‘Federation Sportive Feminine Internationale’ led by the pioneer of women’s sport, Alice Milliat organised the women’s Olympiad and Women’s world games in the second decade of the twentieth century. These events led to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) taking notice and thus, began greater participation of women across various sports at the Olympics and the international arena.

From ~65 women participants in the 1920 Belgium Olympics to ~4700 at Rio 2016, women’s participation has undoubtedly improved, with 45% of the overall participant pool being women. However, it was at the 2012 London Olympics that women competed in every sport as their male counterparts. The number was expected to be close to ~48% in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (Postponed to 2021). It is safe to say that the participation of women athletes is approaching 50%. The IOC has mandated since 1991 that for new sport seeking to be included in the Olympic program that it should have women-specific events as well. The IOC also strives to encourage national Olympic committees and various international federations to increase the participation of women in decision-making roles. 

Source: Olympics. org 

 Leading the way, the IOC Exec. Board saw an increase in female members from 21.4% in 2017 to ~31% in 2019. Gender equality and diversity are two critical topics that are part of the IOC’s People Management 2020 programme. The IOC also recognises gender equality as an integral component of effective sports administration and continues to support the promotion of women and girls in all levels and structures. The Olympic Agenda 2020 re-affirmed the commitment and priority of gender balance. 

Although my essay on women’s participation in Indian sports, is, as the name suggests, inclined towards my country, India; however, the issue of gender bias in sport is not India–specific. For many sportswomen, the journey to fame and/or success has been a steep climb, one with many hurdles, often having more thorns than flowers. Traditionally, sports has been dominated by men and gender continues to be a variable that determines the treatment of a woman in sport. A stereotypical notion that ‘Sports is for men’ is still popular in society and more often than not, gender and societal based characteristics prove to be the deciding factors for women to play sports. Looking at the broader picture, let’s try and understand the wage difference and media coverage that both male and female-specific events get. Again, the difference is widely skewed at the global level.

If we look at the most popular sport in India, Cricket-the players of the national team are divided into four categories, based on contracts – A+, A, B and C with annual salaries of INR 7 Crore, 5 Crore, 3 Crore and 1 Crore respectively. For women’s cricketers, there is no A+ category. For women cricketers, the contracts are settled across-A, B and C with annual payments of INR 50 Lakhs, 30 Lakhs and 10 Lakhs respectively. Basic percentage calculations show that women in the top tiers earn less than 10% than their male counterparts. In some cases, domestic players or IPL contracts make much more than the Indian national women cricket team does. If you look at football, an average Indian national player gets between INR 60-70 Lakhs whereas a female footballer earns between INR 5-10 Lakhs. Indian Women Football Team is globally ranked at 55 out of 159 countries, whereas the Indian Football Men’s team ranks at 108 out of 210 nations. Well, this is some problem, don’t you think? 

If you look at the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) – the highest-paid women’s league in the world; you might notice a stark difference too. The women players were given a max pay of ~$1,10,000, and the average male player had a salary of ~$5,25,000. In PGA (Golf), the prize money set up was $340 Mn for men’s tournaments, compared to $62 Mn for LPGA (women’s golf tournaments). 

There are few positive instances, where changes can be noticed as well. Cricket Australia announced that equal prize money would be given to both men and women in the 2020 T20 World Cup. Norway sliced 5,50,000 Kronor from the men’s team budget and raised the budget for its women’s team by 3.1 Mn Kronor. In 2018, the World Surf League announced equal pay for both male and female athletes for all events.

Participation of women in sports

The Indian culture looks up to a woman as a ‘mother of a race’ – but the very Indian society is bound into this belief that women are naturally inferior to men as they must birth a child and take care of her family.

In his book, “Education, Intellectual, Moral and Physical” (1894), Herbert Spencer describes the way physical education was looked at in his times – in both girls’ and boys’ schools. The boys’ playgrounds were described as an “open gravelled space with ample room for sports and exercises”.” In contrast, the girls’ playgrounds were described as “grassplots, gravel walk, shrubs and flowers, with absolutely no chance for any physical recreation”. This reason, as Spencer explains, is the way the society defines the role of a woman and how sports was considered to ‘diminish feminine exterior’. 

In the first-ever Olympics that we played as an Independent nation (1948, London) – There was not a single female athlete in the Indian contingent. In 2012, it stood at 28%, and in 2016, it was ~45%. There is some progress. But then, what are the other hampering factors?

In India, it is a different story altogether, and besides finances and interest, there are other ‘elements’ which hamper the growth of women’s participation in sports in India. In India, sports were considered a patriarchal element of the society and frequent myths regarding societal norms and biology-related issues often hindered the participation of women in sports in our country. If you are a sportswoman, or a gym-goer or a sportsman in India, you’ve likely either thought or said or listened to any one of the following phrases, “She has developed muscles like a man” or “There is nothing so feminine about her” or “Nobody would want to marry her” or even “How can you let her go to places to play?” Well, this is the reason, this is why we fail collectively. In a good number of researches conducted, there is one common thing which shows up, time and again. Studies find that the respondents want to play or engage in a sporting activity, but often, lose the battle to their families, peers or society. What I’ve seen in my days as a young teenager was that my female friends were allowed to come, play with us, once they were done with their household chores. There are more likely chances of getting a family’s support if you would want to make your careers in Engineering or Medicine or Business Administration. Sports, well, is not anywhere in the picture. You also have these common myths of how sports affects a woman’s reproductive ability, menstrual cycles, sometimes even pregnancy, etc. Safety, security, access to facilities and infrastructure, etc. are other impeding factors. 

If you look at the Olympics – Only five women till date have brought home medals so far – Karnam Malleshwari, Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik. There have been media-worthy and world-class performances by Hima Das (Athletics), Dutee Chand (Athletics), Manu Bhaker (Shooting) and a lot of others. In a vast pool of available players, what is the problem then?

The problem starts at the grass-root level – Absence of support to female sportspersons compared to boys, economic reasons, societal reasons and social taboos, security issues and sexual harassment, domestic reasons, marriage, in-laws, etc. You might observe that a lot of schools have a boys’ team, but not a girls’ team. Women are viewed with raised eyebrows when they try to learn an ‘unsuitable sport’ – some of which includes, wrestling, boxing, weightlifting, etc. The good and the sad part is Indian women have shined in all 3 of those aspects.

The one thing that you subconsciously relate to sports comes next – Politics and favouritism. They somehow go hand in hand. Unlike individual sports, a lot of players, especially in team sports allege selectors of bias. There have also been frequent sexual allegations by women against coaches and players in government facilities such as the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and various federations. In 2010, 31 members of the national women’s hockey team filed sexual harassment cases against their coach. Again, women are subject to harassment and sexual jibes.

The National Commission for Youth, in 2004 analysed the participation of women in sports and observed that sports had become an ‘elite activity’. They stated that government campaigns such as ‘National Sports Festival for Women (1975)’ were reduced to mere ad-hoc award sessions. Again, various state and national institutes do not take the issue of women sports seriously, and there is no serious backing or support system. For example, gymnast Dipa Karmakar’s request for her physiotherapist before her vault finals at the Rio Olympics was also conveniently ignored.

Also, various athletes and experts have commentated on the coaching programs of the SAI and its impact on the sports budget. More coaches in more programs may not result in efficient results. More often than not, athletes who’ve won medals at the higher levels were trained by individual coaches. Lack of infrastructural facilities is also a possible reason. There is a lack of media coverage in women’s sport, both in terms of presentation and attendance. While covering women’s events, broadcasters, instead of being analytical, tend to show the ‘fluffy’ side of women sports instead of critiquing. A significant reason for the divide, as I see it, is lack of women representation on national selection boards of various sporting federations as decision-makers.

So, these are the problems. So, what can be done to improve the participation of women in sports in India?

• To start with, a higher representation of women in the selection, decision making and national sporting boards will bring significant change, not just to maintain gender parity, but to engage in open dialogues and other mechanisms. 
• Sports should be engaged as a compulsory activity right from schooling days to break women-specific societal sporting taboos gradually. Regular talent hunts can be organised to scout prospects.
• The pay scales should be kept at part with their male counterparts (wrt. various sports) – To bring in more participation. The government should also provide security in terms of jobs so that finances, etc. are not a hindrance to sports. This should also apply to competitions.
• Capable administrators (Canadian Sporting Model) should be appointed to oversee the performance of athletes across various domains. More tournaments should be organised at multiple levels, and there should be more representation of athletes across all levels. This should start right from the school level.
• Infrastructure and logistics-related decisions must be appropriately planned to ensure the safety and security of all participants involved.
• Financial assistance, depending on the level of athletes and sports, should be given. (This also includes bonuses to athletes winning at various levels.)
• Efforts should be made to make sports a ‘gender-free’ activity and should be used as a medium to bring all sections of the society together. More efforts should be put in to bring broadcasters and viewership to various sporting events.

Well, although a lot of the things I’ve stated above can maybe, help women come up in sports, and can perhaps, make a difference. However – The final challenge lies in creating a conducive environment in which they can progress. How far is that day when a parent and society is open to a woman accepting sports as a professional career?

The answer is an open-ended one. Feel free to share your opinions in the comments section below.

Lastly, before ending this blog, I would like to thank my friends and fellow athletes-Pragnya Mohan (World Championships, Triathlon), Krishna Patel (National Level, Hockey) and Merlyn Martin (National Level, Athletics) for their willingness to share their experiences, stories. I wish them all the best.

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