Gender Inequalities in Sports Highlighted and Exacerbated by COVID 19

GENDER INEQUALITIES IN SPORTS HIGHLIGHTED AND EXACERBATED BY COVID 19
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Gender Inequalities in Sports Highlighted and Exacerbated by COVID 19
Introduction
Women's sport has always been a contentious area of debate, interacting with many sociological theories, including social functionalism, naturalism, feminism, conflict, and symbolic approach. Even though women's participation in sports now has deep historical evidence, roots continue to be seen as masculine (Ogilvie & McCormack 2020; Steidinger 2020; Musto et al. 2017). Therefore, unsurprisingly, women have always struggled to rise to the same level of acceptance, popularity, and financial return in sports as men (Hyre et al., 2017; Hargreaves & Anderson, 2014). Hence, sports have always been surrounded by a sense of gender inequality.
However, women had seen a significant rise up through the glass ceiling, as their participation in sports significantly grew over the past decade. However, this uptrend met a substantial roadblock as COVID 19 brought all outdoor activities to a standstill (Evans et al. 2020; Byers et al. 2021). A close investigation reveals that COVID 19 has not only exacerbated gender inequality by causing women to lose comparatively more working hours, engage in household responsibilities at a greater level, experience greater precarity of contracts, and receive lower salaries; but it has also spotlighted the gender inequality underpinned by structural, symbolic, and conflict-oriented norms.
Main Sociological Analysis
COVID had a multidimensional impact on women's ability to participate in sports. Since women have always been subject to restrictions and constraints, the wave of conditions in the wake of the pandemic was massively disconcerting. In response to this, Dr. Ali Bowes, a sports sociologist, hinted at the possibility that women are likely to "walk away" if the situation persists (Morgan 2021). She further pointed out that COVID 19 has only highlighted the hidden aspects of gender inequality in sports (O'Reilly & Abeza 2020; Morgan 2021). It shows that the women in sports are constantly afraid of getting their careers cut short.
The threat that COVID 19 has brought women in sports and the fears that they entertain indicates that inequalities are structural and long-existence rather than a pandemic product. A variety of research works and media reports reveal that women had long suffered financial constraints, harassment, lack of media coverage, and several other deterrents that were unknown to the men's world of sport (Antunovic 2018). In a recent survey, 66% of UK women footballers reported having experienced gender discrimination (BBC 2020). As COVID 19 brought about barriers where even men athletes are no exception, women are understandably worried about their careers. Their fear is rooted in the fact that they were already trailing well behind despite their participation being on the short-term rise before the outbreak of COVID 19. Hence, a sense of inferiority is undetachable from women's sports. This sense gives them reasons to be more concerned than men in a situation where even their superior counterparts struggle to make a comeback (Bowes & Culvin 2021; Cooky & Antunovic 2021). In other words, if men, despite having all privileges, are left struggling, women have slim hopes of survival.
A notable factor that COVID has brought to light is the naturalization of women's unsuitability for physical activity. The medical advisors are more concerned about women's fitness amid COVID 19 than men's. Therefore, women are granted more days off the field than their male counterparts (Faganel et al., 2021; Velija 2021). For example, in a report, Schaverein (2020) serves the example of a father whose daughter's soccer training club was shut down on the pretext of COVID 19 while boys carried on. Even though these different approaches by medical advisories are framed as precautions, they carry a visible element of discrimination. It revitalizes the functionalist school of thought that naturalized women's unsuitability for the roles that involve outdoor and physical activities (Levitt 2019; Visvanathan et al. 2011; Lindsey 2015). Functionalist perspective becomes activated when women are considered at comparatively a higher risk of catching COVID 19. Their misfit aligns with the misfit deemed in the broader theoretical background steeped in history and embedded in the social structures (). This approach is intrinsically deterrent to the motivation that has been behind the momentum of women's growing participation in athletic sports activities. Therefore, it spawns new questions and resurrects some older ones, such as the question mark on women's suitability for sports and outdoor activities in general.
The worse part of this plan is that the medical advisories have no concrete justification for keeping women from participating longer than men. Their silence over this issue, along with responsiveness at the greater general level, further highlights the structural loopholes in the social system (Naples, 2020; Andersen, 2019). It shows that society, in general, is immune to the precarious situation in which sportswomen are situated. Bowes et al. (2020) bring insightful firsthand information by interviewing 95 elite sportswomen and thematically analyzing their responses. The majority of interviewees showed deep concerns over having less access to equipment and support than men during COVID 19. These findings further conform to the earlier indications about women's subordination in sports. Bowes singles out structural inequality as responsible for sportswomen precarious treatment in his critical commentary. He believes that COVID has highlighted inequalities inherent in the system. A key highlight of his study is the pessimism accompanied by discriminative treatment of women since its unlikely to backfire with intensity as required to have the think tanks rethink and take corrective measures.
A part of COVID 19's critical impact on women's sport is the lack of financial sport. The difference in salaries between men and women in sports has always been undeniable. This issue has also been revealed in greater intensity by the pandemic through which women face comparatively much greater financial constraints (Bratland-Sanda et al., 2021). These financial constraints are predominantly behind women's ability to rely solely on their careers in sports. For these reasons, most sportswomen are juggling between jobs and their role as an athlete (Pedersen et al., 2020). It leads to divided concentration and challenges women's ability to rise to the men's level of competitiveness and remove the tag of being inferior (Newman, 2021). The pandemic’s critical revelation gives a new angle at women's lack of competency in sports, away from the conventional functionalist vantage point.
The above issues brought into the limelight by COVID 19 demonstrate how the conflict approach comes into play. In this scenario, the conflict plan needs to be understood from gender inequality. As evident, men continue to dominate the scene by asserting their superior power rooted in their access to resources women are denied (Collins & Sanderson, 2010; Brewer 2018; Joffe & Neil 2013). This power difference is embedded in the time-honored structural norms. Men have always been resourceful for their higher-level engagement in outdoor and creative ventures. Their demand has always been greater than women (Wheaton & Thorpe 2018; Norman 2021). Hence, it is natural for them to subordinate women and widen the power gap by utilizing their resources to multiply the same.
In sports, the conflict-based aspect of the gendered impact of COVID 19 manifests itself in multiple dimensions. For example, women have always been made to compromise their salaries. They have to combat financial constraints that make them maintain their side jobs (Kono et al. 2020; Harper 2019). Besides, it is evident that despite the growing emphasis on the need to promote women in sports, they have failed to draw adequate media coverage. Even most elite women's sports lack coverage by sponsors and media (Staurowsky 2016; Cronn-Mills 2021). It is one of the critical barriers to the women's race to equal access to financial resources. The question of why women are failing to draw the attention of media outlets can be answered through conventional wisdom, suggesting that media sells "what sells." However, the question of why women's sport has less demand in public affecting their salability will trace through sociological patchwork to find its answer. Indeed, most sports viewers are under the impression that men's sports have greater symbolic value than women’s (Messerschmidt et al., 2018; Risman et al., 2019). Their perception stems from the male-dominated traditions of sports.
This overview suggests that men's superiority in power places women in a perpetual vicious cycle. Their inability to draw enough attention due to their structural inferiority, causing them to lack the advantage of media coverage and eventually culminated in their restricted access to potential financial resources. COVID has given a fresh push to this destitution by enabling the authorities to take advantage of the situation to find the grounds for a discriminative approach.
While looking through a sociological lens, it is essential to consider the additional burden of household responsibilities for women that COVID 19 has accompanied. Sportswomen had to assume the role of caregivers in the best interest of their families (Gillard & Okonjo-Iweala, 2021). Their spectrum of responsibilities outgrows men, which is questionable while seen in conjunction with the growing acceptance of the constructionist perspective. Through the rise of constructionism, sociologists rejected women's naturalization and enabled them to compete against men in outdoor and physical activities, including sports (Berger et al. 1966; Seidman 2014). How their participation peaked before the pandemic descended was an indication of the success of efforts aiming to promote the understanding of social functioning based on interaction and experience that follows an evolutionary trajectory (). However, the pandemic reverses these trends where women are thrown back to their functionalist origins.
Furthermore, it is playing its role in desensitizing the society to this structural aspect which is evident from the silence over current sufferings of sportswomen (). Therefore, it is appropriate to state that COVID has not only highlighted the issues that have long been embedded in the social systems but have also exacerbated the situation by thwarting the positive efforts and reversing the position. Even worse, the public is left clueless as the pandemic has engendered an unorthodox scenario with unprecedented implications.
The situation in which sportswomen are placed since COVID 19 also reminds me of the Marxist approach to gender inequality. Advocates of Marxism consider inequality in all its permutations, including gender, a product of broader structural and systematic arrangements. To them, capitalism lies at the bottom of the disenfranchisement of women (Brown 2012; Musto 2020). Capitalism has high visibility in sports along with other domains of life. It is now hardwired in the system that further perpetuates the conflict-based superiority of men over women in sports (Giménez 2019; Trauger & Fluri 2019). It requires policymakers to adopt an equity-based approach beyond the bounds of profit orientation. However, such an approach is implausible in a contemporary capitalistic society where resources are the sources of more resources and power of more power. Therefore, men being inherently powerful, can retain an edge over women in the current scenario. All the deprivations of sportswomen in the face of COVID 19 can largely be attributed to the capitalistic social norms.
The discussion reveals that COVID 19 had a dual impact on sportswomen. On the one hand, it highlighted the issues inherent in the system. Simultaneously, it added to the intensity of those issues by reversing a few trends that had a positive outlook in the pre-pandemic period.
Post-Pandemic Outlook
As discussed, COVID has brought several questions following the constraints and restrictions; more centered on sportswomen than men. Based on these facts combined with their research findings, Clarkson et al. (2020) opine that the future of women's football in the UK is uncertain. They hold organizational and economic repercussions mainly attributable to this uncertainty and conclude that substantial efforts need to be made to ensure the survival of women's football. The Post-pandemic era has yet to unfold, but sports sociologists will have to grapple with several issues relevant to the construction and recognition of gender.
As mentioned earlier, sportswomen are under constant fear of the demise of their careers. It shows that the structural loopholes surrounding gender inequality in sports strengthened during COVID 19. If this trend goes unnoticed and unchallenged, it is likely to deter the sportswomen's competencies and ability to achieve a level-playing field (Clarkson et al., 2021). It is expected to revive the old school of social functionalist that restricted women's role in household activities. Imaginably, if many young female sports enthusiasts lose their position and interest, it will result in a downward spiral of inspiration. Hence, it will send red signals for aspiring sportswomen who prefer to resort to more stable occupations than sports. Therefore, the trends instigated by COVID 19 can result in an eventual downfall of ...