Stand Up and Shout Out


Book Description

Today, women have greater opportunities to participate in sport than ever before, particularly due to the passage of Title IX in 1972. Yet, despite all this growth, women still struggle to hold leadership positions, become coaches of both girls and boys teams, receive equal pay, and get even adequate coverage in the media. In Stand Up and Shout Out: Women's Fight for Equality in Sports, Joan Steidinger explores the three crucial areas in sport that remain huge concerns for women: leadership, money, and media. Steidinger looks at the number of ways in which women experience vast inequalities by examining topics such as the politics of sport, sexual assault, the #MeToo movement, pay equity, women in coaching positions, and the experiences of women of color and LGBTQ athletes. Interviews with leading authorities in the field and prominent female athletes are interwoven throughout to add both expert and personal perspectives to the conversation. Stand Up and Shout Out does more than justinform readers about these important issues; its purpose is to create enlightened discussions around the unequal treatment of women and present readers with “action steps” so we can all become active contributors toward improving this situation. This is an ideal time to fight for women’s equality in sport, as it draws attention to the growing need for advocacy for girls and women around the world in all areas of life.




Gender Equality and the Olympic Programme


Book Description

This innovative study examines the Olympic programme from a critical feminist perspective, to shed new light on the issues of gender and inclusion at the Olympic Games and in the Olympic Movement. Incorporating both quantitative and qualitative data, the book identifies and analyzes the changes – and remaining gender differences – made on the Olympic Programmes for London 2012, and each of the subsequent Summer and Winter Olympic Games (Sochi 2014, Rio 2016, and Pyeongchang 2018), as well as the Tokyo 2020 and Beijing 2022 Games. The book draws on the IOC’s own publications, information from International and National Sport Federations, and media sources to describe and explain the IOC’s slow and uneven progress toward gender equality at the Olympic Games. This is important reading for any student, researcher, practitioner or policy maker with an interest in the Olympic Games, sport studies, gender studies, women’s sport or major events.




Sex Testing


Book Description

In 1968, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) implemented sex testing for female athletes at that year's Games. When it became clear that testing regimes failed to delineate a sex divide, the IOC began to test for gender--a shift that allowed the organization to control the very idea of womanhood. Ranging from Cold War tensions to gender anxiety to controversies around doping, Lindsay Parks Pieper explores sex testing in sport from the 1930s to the early 2000s. Pieper examines how the IOC in particular insisted on a misguided binary notion of gender that privileged Western norms. Testing evolved into a tool to identify--and eliminate--athletes the IOC deemed too strong, too fast, or too successful. Pieper shows how this system punished gifted women while hindering the development of women's athletics for decades. She also reveals how the flawed notions behind testing--ideas often sexist, racist, or ridiculous--degraded the very idea of female athleticism.




Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport


Book Description

While efforts to include gay and lesbian athletes in competitive sport have received significant attention, it is only recently that we have begun examining the experiences of transgender athletes in competitive sport. This book represents the first comprehensive study of the challenges that transgender athletes face in competitive sport; and the challenges they pose for this sex-segregated institution. Beginning with a discussion of the historical role that sport has played in preserving sex as a binary, the book examines how gender has been policed by policymakers within competitive athletics. It also considers how transgender athletes are treated by a system predicated on separating males from females, consequently forcing transgender athletes to negotiate the system in coercive ways. The book not only exposes our culture’s binary thinking in terms of both sex and gender, but also offers a series of thought-provoking and sometimes contradictory recommendations for how to make sport more hospitable, inclusive and equitable. Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport is important reading for all students and scholars of the sociology of sport with an interest in the relationship between sport and gender, politics, identity and ethics.




Women in Sport Leadership


Book Description

Although women and girls participate in sport in greater numbers than ever before, research shows there has been no significant increase in women leading sport organizations. This book takes an international, evidence-based perspective in examining women in sport leadership and offers future directions for improving gender equity. With contributions from leading international sport scholars and practitioners, it explores the opportunities and challenges women face while exercising leadership in sport organizations and evaluates leadership development practices. While positional leadership is crucial, this book argues that some women may choose to exercise leadership in non-positional ways, challenging readers to consider their personal values and passions. The chapters not only discuss key topics such as gender bias, intersectionality, quotas, networking, mentoring and sponsoring, but also present a variety of strategies to develop and support the next generation of women leaders in sport. A new model of how to achieve gender equity in sport leadership is also introduced. Women in Sport Leadership: Research and Practice for Change is important reading for all students, scholars, leaders, administrators, and coaches with an interest in sport business, policy and management, as well as women’s sport and gender studies.




Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports


Book Description

'In the Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports, Leeds and Leeds put together an impressive list of heavy hitters in the sociology and economics literature on sports to produce a tour de force volume. The entire spectrum of international perspectives is covered, from US, Korean, and Australian sports to world competition at the highest level of the Olympics and international championships. Whether your interest is attendance at women's events, performance and rewards in women's pro sports, gender issues in US college sports, or international performance and how women compete, this handbook is a must read for any serious fan, and for all serious scholars interested in the impacts of being female on sports performance and competitiveness.' Rodney Fort, University of Michigan, US 'Leeds and Leeds have filled a gaping hole in sports economics with this revealing collection of essays. The economics of women in sports has been too long neglected. By covering everything from women as sports spectators, to women as participants in individual and team sports at the collegiate and professional levels, to women's sports internationally, Title IX, and women's differential response to incentives, this volume not only demonstrates that there is much fertile ground to be studied, but also that the subject matter is both interesting and important.' Andrew Zimbalist, Smith College, US Women's sports have received much less attention from economists than from other social scientists. This Handbook fills that gap with a comprehensive economic analysis of women's sports. It also analyzes how the behavior and treatment of female athletes reflect broad economic forces. Contributors to this volume use current theoretical models and econometric tools to examine the legal, social, and economic forces that affect the experiences of female athletes. They address such traditional topics as discrimination against female athletes and coaches and the effect of athletic events on the economies of host countries. They also apply theory and estimation to new settings, such as how women respond to tournaments in skiing and figure skating or how the growing dominance of Korean women on the LPGA tour is a form of immigration. This groundbreaking book is a valuable resource for professors, students, and researchers in sports economics, sports management, and women's studies.




Action Sports and the Olympic Games


Book Description

Based on a decade of research by two leading action sports scholars, this book maps the relationship between action sports and the Olympic Movement, from the inclusion of the first action sports to those featuring for the first time in the Tokyo Olympic Games and beyond. In an effort to remain relevant to younger audiences, four new action sports, surfing, skateboarding, sport climbing, and BMX freestyle were included in the Tokyo Olympic program. Drawing upon interviews with Olympic insiders, as well as leaders, athletes, and participants in these action sports communities, the book details the impacts on the action sports industry and cultures, and offers national comparisons to show the uneven effects resulting from Olympic inclusion. It reveals the intricate workings of power and politics in contemporary sports organisations, and maps key trends in this changing sporting landscape. Action Sports and the Olympic Games is a fascinating read for anybody studying the Olympics, the sociology of sport, action sports, or sport policy.




Global Perspectives on Women in Combat Sports


Book Description

This volume offers a wide-reaching overview of current academic research on women's participation in combat sports within a range of different national and trans-national contexts, detailing many of the struggles and opportunities experienced by women at various levels of engagement within sports such as boxing, wrestling, and mixed martial arts.




Handbook of Sports Medicine and Science


Book Description

This new International Olympic Committee (IOC) handbook covers the science, medicine and psycho-social aspects of females in sports at all levels of competition. Each chapter focuses on the specific issues that female athletes confront both on and off the field, such as bone health, nutritional recommendations, exercise/competition during menstruation and pregnancy, and much more. Fully endorsed by the IOC and drawing upon the experience of an international team of expert contributors, no other publication deals with the topic in such a concise and complete manner. The Female Athlete is recommended for all health care providers for women and girl athletes internationally for all sports and all levels of competition. It is a valuable resource for medical doctors, physical and occupational therapists, nutritionists, and sports scientists as well as coaches, personal trainers and athletes.




Women's Sports


Book Description

Although girls and women account for approximately 40 percent of all athletes in the United States, they receive only 4 percent of the total sport media coverage. SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship program, dedicates less than 2 percent of its airtime to women. Local news networks devote less than 5 percent of their programming to women's sports. Excluding Sports Illustrated's annual "Swimsuit Issue," women appear on just 4.9 percent of the magazine's covers. Media is a powerful indication of the culture surrounding sport in the United States. Why are women underrepresented in sports media? Sports Illustrated journalist Andy Benoit infamously remarked that women's sports "are not worth watching." Although he later apologized, Benoit's comment points to more general lack of awareness. Consider, for example, the confusion surrounding Title IX, the U.S. Law that prohibits sex discrimination in any educational program that receives federal financial assistance. Is Title IX to blame when administrators drop men's athletic programs? Is it lack of interest or lack of opportunity that causes girls and women to participate in sport at lower rates than boys and men? In Women's Sports: What Everyone Needs to Know®, Jaime Schultz tackles these questions, along with many others, to upend the misunderstandings that plague women's sports. Using historical, contemporary, scholarly, and popular sources, Schultz traces the progress and pitfalls of women's involvement in sport. In the signature question-and-answer format of the What Everyone Needs to Know® series, this short and accessible book clarifies misconceptions that dog women's athletics and offers much needed context and history to illuminate the struggles and inequalities sportswomen continue to face. By exploring issues such as gender, sexuality, sex segregation, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, media coverage, and the sport-health connection, Schultz shows why women's sports are not just worth watching, but worth playing, supporting, and fighting for.