In society today, women are immensely separated from males in the vast world of sports. In one particular sport, swimming, females are held to lower time standards in comparison to males and sometimes may be seen as the slower gender with lowered expectations. The discussion between the segregation of men and women in sports is diverse worldwide with multifold that claim it to be either reasonable or inequitable. One part of society claims that females should be given the same chance to prove themselves equal amongst their male counterparts. Whereas others will disagree, claiming that men are naturally built to be physically stronger and faster than women. Even though it may seem discrepant to many, females should not be allowed to compete in a league with the same time standards held for men. Males and females have different body structures and having two leagues separated by gender allows both men and women to excel.
When it comes to the complex world of swimming, one of the major advantages that males have right from the start is the difference in body composition. There are multiple physiological differences between genders and unlike men, a woman’s bodily conformation causes too great resistance to her progress through the water. Even if a woman were to be extremely thin, she would still be handicapped by this bodily difference and would experience an increased drag opposed to her male counterpart. In addition to the drag, studies have shown that “on an average, the men were found to have a lower stroke rate” (ncbi.gov). The stroke lengths were found to have correlations with the final times achieved by competitors. Average males were found to have increased strength with each pull and were able to ...
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...More Upper Body Strength than Women?"HowStuffWorks.com. How Stuff Works, INC, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
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Kosuke, Kojima. "USA Swimming Age Classification: Are Current Competitive Age-groups Appropriate?" Https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/6928. Indiana University, Apr. 2010. Web. 026 Nov. 2013.
"NCAA Men's and Women's Swimming and Diving Records." Www.ncaa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
Phillips, Allan. "Should Female Swimmers Train Differently Than Males? Swim Sci."Http://www.swimmingscience.net/2012/05/. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
“Physiological Differences between Genders. Implications for sports conditioning.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 01 Dec. 2013.
Taking a measure of strength as a function of some other criteria would be defined as relative strength. Typically, males are stronger than females, they have 50% more upper body and 30% more lower body strength. However, relative testing’s show no difference between genders (Kenney et al., 2012).
It goes without saying that a person's gender, racial and social origins influence their participation in sports. Particular races and genders often dominate certain sports. African Americans, for example, tend to dominate football and basketball, while Caucasians tend to dominate ice hockey. The same holds true for gender as well. Football is an entirely male dominated sport, while horseback riding, gymnastics and figure skating are much more female oriented. How and why did these divisions come about? Determining the origin of gender goes beyond the scope of this paper, however one can speculate about how gender classifications and stereotypes affect one's role in the sports arena.
Throughout history, men have competed on a higher level than women. A program called Sports Science, conducted a survey on a race that was ran by both men and women. The test was conducted on a 100-meter race and an enormous, 100-mile race. After the races, the program found that in both the 100-meter and 100 mile races, the female times were 10-12% slower than the men. The program is still currently measuring times from both men and women using Olympic
"In athletics there are more males than females; therefore, it shouldn't mean that men should limit their numbers considering that the population of males is a lot higher than that of females," said Lewis.
... women, but especially athletic women, and is socially constructed to dictate women’s appearance, demeanor and values (Krane et al, 2004).” Females, for example, are expected to look and behave in a feminine way in order to satisfy heteronormative practices such as marriage. However, to participate in a sport, a traditionally male dominated realm, female athletes must acquire more traditionally masculine characteristics like strength, aggression, competitiveness, and assertiveness; characteristics that betray hegemonic gender and societal norms. Issues pertaining to feminine behavior and appropriate gender roles continue to be the root cause of discrimination not only in sport, but also in modern society as “sport is a sub culture within a larger society, therefore nothing typically occurs in sport that does not occur in the larger culture (Vodden & Schell, 2010).”
I happen to be a petite 5 foot 3 stick. The majority of swimmers my size happen to be 10 year olds. Because I do not have the typical “swimmer build” I have been thrown into a wide variety of events. Swimmers are often classified by their build. If you have broad shoulders and “bulk up” with weights and protein shakes, you’re expected to be a phenomenal butterfly swimmer. While the tall and lanky swimmers are predicted to be the breaststrokers. Taking a closer look at what makes each stroke, I’ve realized that this method may not be all too accurate. Although these strokes appear to be very different, from body position, body undulation, and the muscle groups used, both the butterfly (fly) and breaststroke (breast) happen to be very similar
Women have forever had this label on their back of being too small, too weak, too feminine, and too boring. The traditional gender roles of the female interfere with the extortionate nature of competing in sports. Men are usually the ones to go 100% and give whatever they got, and to show masculinity while doing it. The standard masculinity of being strong, smart, and taking charge over dues the feminine traits of being soft, gentle, and polite. That’s what society has taught us to learn and accept. But the traditional female gender role is diminished when participating in athletics and people may think it’s weird to see females compete at the same level as males do. Men have always had the upper hand in the professional, collegian, and high
Throughout history, women have had to struggle for equality in all elements of our society, but no where have they had a more difficult time than in the area of athletics. Sports is a right of passage that has always been grafted to boys and men. The time has come for our society to accept women athletes and give them the attention they deserve.
Pertaining to images of women and women athletes, this same type of cyclical pattern of change occurred. As notions of women's roles and perceptions of women change, so too did the portrayal of female athletes, and the acceptance of female athleticism into cultural norms. There are still many barriers to break in society as well as in athletics, but we have come a lone way from worrying about damage to our reproductive organs, and as women keep challenging the gender barriers in sport, the perceptions of women's roles too shall change.
Geadelmann, Patricia L. (1977). Equality in Sport for Women. Washington: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation.
In summary, Despite opponents argue, fans want to see thunderous dunks and incredible athleticism over the lesser abilities of females, male competitions is more intense and there is more at risk, and male driven associations produce more revenue than female driven associations. It is apparent that male and females are built differently therefore they have different abilities, females go through the same types of events and often have more on the line, and female athletics aren 't given the same recognition or praise. Then, maybe one day female will receive the same amount of pay as their male counterparts. As, Vera Nazarian once implied, “A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human.”
Conger, Cristen. “Do men really have more upper body strength than women?” How Stuff Works. HowStuffWorks, 2013. Web. 8 Dec. 2013
Hult, J. S. (1994). The story of women's athletics: Manipulating a dream 1890-1985. In D. M. Costa & S. R. Gurthrie (Eds.), Women and sport: Interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 83-106). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Gender equality in sports is still an issue that will be dealt with many years to come. Great advancement has been made through history and accomplishments did not go unnoticed. There is the fear that Title IX, with time will not be as strong or it might be ignored with time. But it is also a powerful weapon that can be used in the legal system to make sure women have their rights protected and saved. We can say that female athletes have enjoyed the fruits of this law to provide them with confidence and empowerment. Although, some women athletes will still face adversity because of racism and ignorance, but looking back at the past decades the fight for gender equality is well worth the fight and determination.
Ann, 2007, pg. 57), however this is not true. This mentality causes males to resent the female athletes, thus rendering it even more difficult for them to succeed. Without a shift in gender ideology, females will continue to face adversity, regardless of the amount of change that has occurred over the last 30 years. There does not need to be equality between the genders within sports, however equity must be seen, with the perception of the abilities that female athletes possess not being compared to that of males. This would aid males to not feel as threatened by females participating in sports and physical