Cracking the sport code - addressing the gender and disability gap in participation International Women’s Day 2023

Professor Simone Fullagar, Dr Georgia Munro-Cook and Dr Adele Pavlidis
Griffith Inclusive Futures: Reimagining Disability, Inclusive Play, and Sport and Gender Equity research hub

The theme of International Women’s Day - cracking the code to pursue gender equality – has invited us to reflect upon the experiences of women who are often invisible within hyper visible cultural spaces like sport. Despite there being over two-million women and girls with a disability (approximately 20% of all women), an Australian report has identified a persistent gender gap in knowledge about the impact of inequities that contribute to invisibility within policies, services and programmes and resources. Within Australian sport we have seen growing public conversations about improving both disability inclusion, as well as gender equity, through the ‘Green and Gold’ decade of major events such as the Brisbane2032 Paralympics and Olympics and the Commonwealth Games in 2026.

Paralympics Australia have importantly emphasised equity as a key principle to improve participation pathways, ‘We know that of the 4.3 million people with a disability, only one in four participates in sport, while three in four want to participate’. A broad focus on equity can, however, unintentionally disguise gender disparities. Hence, there is a need to develop intersectional understandings that make the cultural and structural inequalities visible as they continue to impact women, girls and also nonbinary participants with a disability. At the elite level, the Tokyo Paralympic team had only 43.6% women identified athletes, which though above the worldwide average for the games (42.08%), was well below the 54% of women in the Olympic team. At the community level, AUSPLAY 2022 data shows that women with a disability have lower rates of organised sport participation (19%) compared to both nondisabled women (34%) and men with a disability (27%).

From the limited research that exists, we know that women with disability tend to have less support than men with disability, and their bodymind capacities are underestimated by parents and medical professionals. Engaging in sport allows women, girls, and gender diverse people with a disability to challenge these limitations, their body coming to represent physical capacity rather than lack, as they can explore and push the limits of their embodied capabilities. Sport allows women with disability to build a communal space where they can negotiate their own understanding of their disabled bodies and capacities with others who are experiencing similar issues, building not only friendships, but a site of knowledge transfer. Through their exclusion from sport, not only are women with disability missing out on the traditional benefits of sport (body competence, leadership skills, friendship), they are unable to challenge the masculine, able-bodied nature of sport or reformulate the notion of what disabled bodies can ‘do’. Importantly, research informed by feminist disabilities studies can guide change beyond ableist models by drawing on the experiences of women, girls and gender diverse people who have developed innovative ways of living with disability and ways of imagining cultural change within and beyond sport.

Gender matters in the analysis of sport systems and research, given the historical norms that value nondisabled masculine bodies, and where unconscious bias, willful ignorance and discrimination are major barriers to cultural change. There is scope to develop a focus on gender and disability in the new National Sport Research Agenda (2022-23) that seeks to engage the sector to better understand ‘why sports participation in both playing and non-playing roles is, or becomes, less inviting or appealing for some’ (specific populations and Australians of all abilities). This is also important with respect to the other key priorities focussed on the value and benefits of sport, high performance, major sport event legacy and sport system sustainability. If Australia is to be true to its ‘sport for all’ ethos, then the intersectional inequalities that women with disability experience, need to be addressed in our sport system to move beyond siloed thinking that perpetuates both ableism and sexism.

To date disability and gender have been largely considered as separate categories in various policy, programs and funding arrangements which has resulted in gaps in provision. While there has been significant investment in growing ‘women’s sport’ this has largely excluded disability (expansion of elite competitions (AFLW) and major events, FIBA and FIFA world cups), at the same time, there has been little strategic focus on gender inequity in most disability sport organisations. While good practices and programmes certainly exist (e.g. WSNSW Her Sport), this is ad hoc rather than systemic change in sport organisations. With a number of major sport events on the horizon, there is an opportunity to build on the momentum for change that recognises disability inclusion and gender equity as key to a future that is responsive to different bodies, desires and ways of living (universal design, safe spaces, belonging, social connection etc).

The Griffith Inclusive Futures: Reimagining Disability research programme on Inclusive Play recently held a co-design event to develop collaborative ideas for change. Out of this process we identified the need to advance research to close the gender gap in disability sport to improve participation and contribute to a more equitable future. Australia is increasingly an ageing society with diverse experiences of disability, there are multiple benefits to be gained from applying a gender lens to accessible spaces, safe and innovative services. Our research conversations and collaborations seek to bring a ‘gender lens’ to future innovation in disability sport provision that will have enduring benefits for women, girls and nonbinary people with a disability (and indeed for men who may not identify with stereotypically masculine sport identities). The ‘benefits of sport’ for all is a common refrain in the promotion of government investment in major sport events, yet research points to the difficulty of facilitating change in participation, especially for marginalised groups.

The Brisbane2032 games seeks to create a participation legacy that will engage 500 000 more people with a disability in sport, however, without an intersectional focus on gender (including income, culture, Indigeneity, sexuality, age, location) such initiatives are likely to exacerbate rather than reduce inequities for women. Especially given the negative impacts of Covid-19 on Australian women and in particular, those with disability and health conditions (economic, mental health, violence etc). Given this context there is a strong argument for why public funding and investment in sport should be gender responsive to maximise the potential health, social and economic benefits of sport for women, girls and nonbinary people with a disability.

Our recently funded Australian Research Council project will enable a step forward to address inequities in sport participation for girls, women and non-binary people (with disability and nondisabled) by exploring how lived experience can inform legacy planning for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games. Addressing existing gaps in knowledge about sport legacy planning, the research will produce an evidence base to guide equitable and inclusive sport participation processes for those who are disengaged or marginalised from sport. Using a unique collaborative approach the project will contribute different voices and insights from diverse experiences of inequality to engage key stakeholders involved in legacy planning for 2032.

If we are going to ever ‘crack the code’ to gender equality, we need to start disrupting those spaces and practices where normative assumptions about sport remain unquestioned (able bodied, masculine, white, heterosexual). Sport is one of those areas of cultural life that is potentially one of the most powerful everyday spaces for challenging what has been considered natural and normal. Playing, watching, managing and transforming sport with a focus on disability led innovation and gender equity can turn normative practices upside down and inside out, making room for diverse bodies and abilities in mega-sport events, local clubs, professional codes, media stories, policy and research frameworks.

Social media links

Twitter –
@GriffithUniSAGE
@simonefullagar
@adele_pavlidis
@Gmunrocook
@GU_Incl_Futures

Inclusive Futures LinkedIN - https://au.linkedin.com/showcase/inclusive-futures-reimagining-disability

Image Credits:
Madison de Rozario copyright Griffith University
Photograph by Luke Marsden

Feminist Sport Poetry Workshop
Photography by Simone Gorman-Clark

Women's Competitive Football
Taylor-Adeline Mapusua and Lauren Brown
Copyright Griffith University