What Are Gender Roles In Sport?
When it came to supporting their claim that cheerleading is not merely a “girl’s activity” and that it was an actual sport, Grindstaff and West gave much reasoning behind their seemingly paradoxical view. Throughout history, people socially constructed categories as a means to better organize society. Consequently, males and females were given specialized roles in society. Men were often given active roles while women were given passive roles. Going off of this basis in the world of sports, men were given more competitive roles, while women were directed to the supportive roles for men where they would be much less involved in the game. From a sociological point of view, this contrast in gender roles would imply that these gendered meanings are legitimized at that point of time.
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Moreover, these roles, differences, and separation between genders further emphasized the socially constructed inferiority of women and their perceived inability to participate in sports with men simultaneously.
Due to the men's full participation and women’s lack of participation in sports, most sports in the majority of countries are considered to be male dominated, which means that men would be highly encouraged to participate in it, while women would be prevented from playing it or redirected to do something else. These concepts of preserving gender roles in the world of sports contribute to the paradoxical view because there are instances where women are afraid of being labeled with masculine adjectives if they were to participate in sports, which are considered to be hegemonic. In other words, both men and women might be afraid of facing social consequences if they were to participate in activities that go beyond the boundaries of gendered norms. For instance, a woman may not like to be described as being “manly for a
woman”. The same rules apply for men when they try to get involved in activities that are considered to be feminine, since they do not want to be seen as “gay”, which downplays their masculinity.
Moreover, these roles, differences, and separation between genders further emphasized the socially constructed inferiority of women and their perceived inability to participate in sports with men simultaneously.
Due to the men's full participation and women’s lack of participation in sports, most sports in the majority of countries are considered to be male dominated, which means that men would be highly encouraged to participate in it, while women would be prevented from playing it or redirected to do something else. These concepts of preserving gender roles in the world of sports contribute to the paradoxical view because there are instances where women are afraid of being labeled with masculine adjectives if they were to participate in sports, which are considered to be hegemonic. In other words, both men and women might be afraid of facing social consequences if they were to participate in activities that go beyond the boundaries of gendered norms. For instance, a woman may not like to be described as being “manly for a
woman”. The same rules apply for men when they try to get involved in activities that are considered to be feminine, since they do not want to be seen as “gay”, which downplays their masculinity.