What is it about?
It has been assumed that the development of new female competitions in sports that have traditionally been played exclusively by men, such as many of the football codes and ice hockey, is automatically empowering for the female participants and for the position of women in the broader society. This work agrees partially with the first idea of individual empowerment, but suggests that the broader feminist goals are unlikely to be achieved in these new sports competitions for women.
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Why is it important?
This paper proposes a set of commitments that would be necessary, although not sufficient, to see these women’s leagues as feminist organizations that politically challenge patriarchal power in sport, and in the broader society. These commitments are: 1. The importance of consciousness-raising so as to strategically use power 2.The need for collective and women-centered organizations that place control of administration and coaching in the hands of women 3. A radical challenge to the broader patriarchal discourse, including its contextualization in neoliberal sports capitalism
Perspectives
The important foundational question that this paper discusses is 'why now?' Some of these sports actively discouraged participation of females only 10-20 years ago. Once the economic imperatives of expanding participation in these sports, by including women, are foregrounded, then women can use this need to create more powerfully feminist interventions in the world. In simple terms, the 'why now' answers shifts the debate to redressing past inequalities, rather than suggesting that the development of these leagues are some sort of favor that men's sport is doing for women.
Dr. Michael Burke
Victoria University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Is football now feminist? A critique of the use of McCaughey’s physical feminism to explain women’s participation in separate leagues in masculine sports1, Sport in Society, October 2018, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1080/17430437.2018.1504772.
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