Gender Norms and Regimes in British Sport

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Introduction

Sport is an important element of British culture, and is one of the most popular leisure activities of British people. Sportsmen today are heroised when they break physical barriers, endure adverse conditions, overcome impossible obstacles and drive their bodies to limits. On the other hand heroines are defined differently – caring, kindness, motherliness and morality. According to these feminine characteristics, there is discrepancy in becoming a sporting heroine. Throughout the history of sport there have always been a small number of adventures women who have challenged gender roles, taken up “manly sports” and broken up records equal to those of male sporting heroes. But the public response has been ambivalent and women were labelled as “mannish“ or “freakish”.

According to that the central elements of this essay should be based upon the woman role in sports and how male domination over women rules through centuries also in sport. The essay is divided into six paragraphs under different titles, but including connected information about gender issues in sport. The first paragraph contents of basic information about gender and gender relations and also gives introduction into women`s empowerment in general and in sport. The following paragraph describes gender inequality and proves some examples of how women in sport were seen and norms which were included in women`s sports. In the third paragraph we find the information about history of sports and how women had to struggle to achieve their rights. The fourth paragraph implies the development in sport in Britain and what lead to achieving equality of opportunities. The following part provides theories by Althusser and Bourdieu. Their analyses are about sport...

... middle of paper ...

...(1994). Women and Sport: Interdisciplinary Studies.

J. Larkin, S. Razack & F. Moole, “Gender, Sport, and

Development” in Literature Reviews on Sport for Development

and Peace, (Toronto: SDP IWG Secretariat, 2007), online: International Platform on Sport and Development, see more:

Reviews/literature%20review%20SDP.pdf>. [Larkin, “Gender,

• Sport and Development”

Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group, Governments in Action, (Toronto: SDP IWG Secretariat, 2008). [Governments in Action].

• Sporting females : Jennifer Hargreaves , see more : http://books.google.com/books?id=w1C2PwmTeQUC&lpg=PP1&dq=sporting%20females%20jennifer&hl=de&pg=PA19#v=onepage&q&f=false

• World Health Organization, “Health Topics: Gender,” online:

WHO, .

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