Gender Equality at the Commonwealth Games, Part I: a Historical Perspective
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CENTRE FOR SPORT POLICY STUDIES RESEARCH REPORTS GENDER EQUALITY AT THE COMMONWEALTH GAMES, PART I: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Bruce Kidd and Mark Norman University of Toronto June 2014 CSPS Research Report www.sportpolicystudies.ca The Centre for Sport Policy Studies (CSPS) in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto is engaged in empirically-based research in the service of sport policy, monitoring and evaluation studies, and education and advocacy for the two most important ambitions of Canadian sport: ‘sport for all’ (widespread grassroots participation) and healthy high performance in elite-level sports. The Research Reports represent an important part of the work of CSPS. Research Report Editor: Peter Donnelly (Director, Centre for Sport Policy Studies) [email protected] Kidd, B., & Norman, M. (2014). Gender Equality at the Commonwealth Games, Part I: A Historical Perspective. Centre for Sport Policy Studies Research Report. Toronto: Centre for Sport Policy Studies, Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto. Creative Commons License All CSPS Working Papers, Position Papers and Research Reports are the intellectual property of their author(s) and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. CSPS Working Papers, Position Papers and Research Reports may be distributed or cited as long as the author(s) is/are appropriately credited. CSPS Working Papers, Position Papers and Research Reports may not be used for commercial purposes or modified in any way without the permission of the author(s). For more information please visit: www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. Copyright for this paper: Bruce Kidd ([email protected]) Centre for Sport Policy Studies Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education 55 Harbord Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2W6 www.sportpolicystudies.ca 1 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Executive Summary 4 The Commonwealth Games 5 The Commonwealth Games: An Overview 5 The CGF and Gender Equality 6 The Report: Context and Methodology 7 Gender Inequality in Sport: The Problem 7 Context and Rationale 7 Methodology 8 Gender Representation at the Commonwealth Games: A Historical Perspective 11 Gender Equality at the Commonwealth Games: 1998-2010 15 Medal Opportunities and Total Entries 15 Gendered Differences in Sports and Events 18 Gender Exclusive Events 19 Events with Gender Differences 20 Events with Similar Rules and Structures for Men and Women 21 Co-ed Events 21 Conclusions and Recommendations 21 References 23 Appendixes 24 Appendix 1 – Tables: Gender Exclusive, Gender Similar, Gender Different, and Co-ed Events, 1998-2010 24 Appendix 2 – Tables: Total Entries and Medal Events by Core and Optional Sports, 1998-2010 34 Appendix 3 – All Sports and Disciplines on the Commonwealth Games Programme by Year, 1998-2014 38 Appendix 3 – Minimum and Maximum Number of Entries for Individuals Sports (provided by the CGF) 41 Appendix 4 – Master Tables: Total Entries in all Events, 1998-2010 44 2 Acknowledgements Peter Donnelly and Michele Donnelly (Donnelly & Donnelly, 2013) established a model for gender equality audits within the Centre for Sport Policy Studies, and it is in the spirit of their initial analysis that this Report has been conducted. We must first acknowledge both scholars for their leadership in this area. We would also like to recognize the contribution and cooperation of Michael Hooper, Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Games Federation, who supplied much of the data used in this report; Louise Martin, Chair of the Commonwealth Advisory Board on Sport, Malcolm Dingwall-Smith, Commonwealth Secretariat, and Brian MacPherson, Chief Executive Officer of Commonwealth Games Canada, who made helpful comments. This Report retrospectively examines four Commonwealth Games and a wide range of sports, disciplines, and events. While we have made every effort to correctly interpret the rules and regulations governing all events on the programme at these Games, and to acknowledge the limitations of our ability to retroactively analyze certain data, we recognize that there may be instances in which we misinterpreted or misrepresented rules or missed instances of gender differences. Thus, although we present this Report as the “final” edition of this retrospective examination of gender equality at the Commonwealth Games, we consider it to be a living document and we would welcome any feedback or corrections (with any relevant supporting documentation or references) that might improve the accuracy of our analysis. If there any corrections required, the Report will be appropriately amended and republished. Bruce Kidd ([email protected]) Mark Norman ([email protected]) 3 Executive Summary This audit of opportunities for competition and medals is the first of two reports from the Centre for Sport Policy Studies examining gender equality at the Commonwealth Games. It will be followed by a second report later this year that will provide a detailed examination of gender equality at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games. The reports are being conducted in the spirit of the Commonwealth Games Federation’s clear and admirable commitment to gender equality, and aim to identify areas in which the Federation is achieving this commitment or in which it needs improvement. These reports build on the work of the Centre for Sport Policy Studies on gender equality at sport mega-events, specifically the 2012 London Summer Olympics (Donnelly & Donnelly, 2013) and 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (Donnelly, Norman & Donnelly, 2014); and in Canadian interuniversity sport (Donnelly, Kidd, & Norman, 2011; Donnelly, Norman, & Kidd, 2013). This Report retroactively examines gender equality at the past four Commonwealth Games: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1998), Manchester, England (2002), Melbourne, Australia (2006), and Delhi, India (2010). At the past two Commonwealth Games, women’s events have made up a greater percentage of the total programme (47 percent in 2006 and 46 percent in 2010) than they did in London’s so-called “women’s Olympics” of 2012 (45 percent; cf. Donnelly & Donnelly, 2013). Nonetheless, women in these Games constituted only 40 percent (Melbourne) and 41 percent (Delhi) of the total entries in all events, suggesting that Commonwealth Games Associations (CGAs) are not entering women as readily as they enter men. The major finding of this Report is thus that, while medal events and total entries are increasing for women, a gap remains between men and women in both measures. A secondary finding is that, while the majority of events on the Games’ programme do not contain major structural inequalities, a large proportion of events remain gender exclusive or involve significant differences between the men’s and women’s competition. Given that the Commonwealth Games Federation and the Glasgow 2014 Organizing Committee have enacted further competition opportunities for women in Glasgow, the authors will postpone specific recommendations until they have analyzed the data from the upcoming 2014 Games. For now, the authors propose only the broad recommendations that the Commonwealth Games Federation continues to move toward equal medal opportunities for men and women, continues to work with the CGAs and their respective governments to increase the actual and proportional participation of women athletes at the Games, and begins an examination and discussion of the number and nature of gender-different events. We also recommend that Commonwealth governments continue to their work to advance opportunities for girls and women in every aspect of sport and physical activity. 4 While the challenge of gender equality affects coaches, officials, decision-makers and the representation of women in the mass media, this audit only addresses opportunities for athletes. We hope to obtain the data necessary to analyse these other categories of participation in Commonwealth sport for future Reports. The Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games: An Overview The Commonwealth Games are a quadrennial sporting competition for 71 nations or territories that are part of the 53 countries comprising the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth Games is the world’s third largest, regularly scheduled, multisport event; at the most recent Games, held in New Delhi, India, 6,127 athletes and officials participated (Organizing Committee, 2010). The Games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), which is “responsible for the direction and control of the Commonwealth Games” (CGF, 2014c, para. 3). The Games have been held every four years since 1930, with the exception of a hiatus from 1938-1950 due to the Second World War. The Games have had four different names in their history: British Empire Games (1930-1950), British Empire and Commonwealth Games (1958-1966), British Commonwealth Games (1970-1974), and finally Commonwealth Games (1978-present). The 2014 edition of the Commonwealth Games will take place in Glasgow, Scotland and the 2018 Games will be hosted in Gold Coast, Australia. In 2015, the host of the 2022 Games will be selected from two bids: Edmonton, Canada and Durban, South Africa. As explained by the CGF (2014b), the Commonwealth Games programme consists of 10 core sports and a variety of optional sports. Each Games must feature the core sports (which may be expanded to include women’s events in boxing and rugby sevens) and up to seven optional sports or disciplines. As an example,