Gender Discrimination in Indian Sports

Nidhi Katti
Research Scholar (PhD)
Department of History and Archaeology
Rani Channamma University, Belagavi
Dr. P.G Halakatti Post Graduation Centre,
Vachan- Sangam Torvi, Vijayapura - 586108
Email id: - [email protected]
Mobile number: - 8618363062

Dr. Ramesh Kamble

Assistant Professor
Department of History and Archaeology
Rani Channamma University, Belagavi
Dr. P.G Halakatti Post Graduation Centre,
Vachan- Sangam Torvi, Vijayapura – 586108

Introduction: -
Sports in Indian has always been gendered specific. The patriarchy has equipped the sports
system in India. Sports in India has a huge history of gender discrimination from Vedic age.
The modern 21st century too has not provided equality and equity for women in sports.
Resources, opportunities, motivation, support from family, facilities in all these matters Indian
sports imbibes gender discrimination. There are lot of acquittances of India sports women with
gender biasness, which are documented by reporters, and many are unmentioned and
unreported. The scope of the paper geographically is restricted to India. The paper covers the
social, economic, cultural, educational, political, and administrative reasons for gender
discrimination in Indian sports. The scope of the paper specifically concentrates on gender
discrimination issues of Women and Transgenders in Indian sports.
Objective: -
The main aim of the paper is shed light on the gender discrimination issues being faced by
women in Indian Sports. Through a holistic approach the paper evaluates how, why, where and
from whom the gender discrimination is taking place in Indian Sports. The paper also focuses
on the solutions to eradicate gender discrimination in Indian Sports.
Methodology: -
Qualitative research design and has been used in the formation of this paper. Analytical
method, critical evaluation method, observation methods have been imbibed to this research.

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Primary and secondary both type of sources is the database for this research. Personal
experiences and observations are used as primary source.
Historical Background of Gender Discrimination towards Women in Indian History
Common women in ancient India used to play Indoor entertainment games but they were not
allowed to play outdoor games. Some ancient and medieval periods queens and princess used
to learn some outdoor games but there are no frequent mentions about women being part of
general outdoor sports. On the outer walls of some temples, we find the sculptures of women
at war with armoires. But when seen ancient and medieval society women were not permitted
to play sports. After the impact of colonial women on Indian women they started playing games
such as table tennis, badminton, carom, and chess. But that was restricted to private playing.
Still women in India were not allowed play Infront of public. . Pandit Ramabai, Annie Besant,
Savitribai Phule many other women who provided opportunities for women to play games
through their organisations can be called as the pioneers of women sports in India. From 1952
active participation of Indian women in sports started.

Indian Women and Discrimination in Sports

Indian sports are filled with patriarchy same as the Indian society. From Vedic age women in
India are kept away from sports. Outdoor games were never made for women. Sports was seen
and being seen as a sign of masculinity in India from centuries. The impact of colonial rule
changed a bit of environment which provided opportunities for women in sports, but it didn’t
change the mentality of Indian society. It was believed that women don’t have enough physical
stamina to be part of sports. The orthodoxy is rooted so deep that sports in 20th as well as in
21st century became a common career option for women. There are many reasons and
phenomena for the discrimination in sports concerned with women. Some of them have been
listed below
1.From childhood girls in India are given feminine toys such as dolls, kitchen set etc. Whereas
boys are given trucks, cricket set, football, basketball etc. Girls are not allowed to participate
in co-ed sports activities by parents and schools and colleges. Many times, mothers themselves
restrict their girl child only to study and not allow them to participate in any sports computation.
Indian parents think that if girls play sports outside house, then their skin tone will get darkened,
and it will create lack of grooms. Girls who can win many Talukas level, District level and
state level school sports computation are drowned under the prejudice mentality of parents.
Before educating girls to participate more in sports there is a need to educate Indian parents
about the opportunities a girl can gain through sports, Government should start an initiative in
which through advertisements, social media, and regional administrative sections awareness
about the welfare of a girl through sports can be spread all over India.
2. There is lack of good physical education teachers or sports instructors in schools and colleges
both in urban and village areas. If a girl wishes to learn any sports, she doesn’t have anyone
around her to teach her in village areas from where the major female participants in sports can
be grabbed. If a girl wishes to learn any sports, she doesn’t have anyone around her to teach
her in village areas from where the major female participants in sports can be grabbed. In urban
areas girls can learn their beloved sport outside their educational institution. Government

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should induce an educational law which should contain sports instructors as compulsory
element of all the educational institutions of the country.
3. There is a huge political submissiveness on sportswomen in India. Politicians easily don’t
support their own state sports playing state and national level champions. Many of the
politicians don’t provide any special facilities concerned with sports for sportswomen. The
funds released by the government for these female sports champions will be swallowed by
greedy politicians. The true beneficiaries of the fund will not get the benefit.
4.The administrative section which handles getting permissions for sportswomen to participate
in state, national and international sports computation is filled with parochialities, bribe,
unworthy rude behaviours of the officers, molestations, sexual harassments etc. Sportswomen
get stuck with these officials at regional level to get permission. Many sportswomen keep
themselves away from sports because these administrative issues subsequently some are
purposely and forcefully kept away from sports by administrators.
5.Economy of family matters a lot for females to get into sports. Girls from economically lower
background Girls from economically lower background most of the time skip their passion for
sports due to balance their family’s condition.
There are many free training centres for sports women in India; but there is lack of awareness
about these institutions in youths so the needy girls who could be an asset for Indian sports
miss out their opportunities.
6. In Indian educational institutions sports is an optional activity during free periods for girls.
The sports as a subject are not taken seriously particularly for girls in schools, colleges, and
universities. Many schools, colleges and universities don’t have a separate as a separate subject.
There are no sports instructors, physical education teachers or lecturers in these institutions.
Female students who are interested in sports are not getting information about the opportunities
in sports. But after the evolution of internet students can get information about everything
through just a single tap. Schools, colleges, and universities should provide computer facilities
and should encourage female students to operate them and get information about their career
plans. Government should announce a mandate according to which every school, college and
universities should have both male and female sports instructors for both girls and boys of the
concerned campuses.

7.The orthodox culture and traditions are cause root for present day actions. According to the
Indian tradition and culture women are not meant to play like a man outside on the ground.
Females should be grounded and feminine in personality. Earlier sports were symbol of
masculinity. Subsequently, women were not allowed to watch the sports too in public. Sports
was a gender-based profession or passion and was restricted to only male gender. The same
orthodox mentality has been continued and till today sports is seen as sign of masculinity in
India. A very small population of the country knows women sports teams of different sports
games and watches them compared to the male sports teams of different sports in India. There
is need to remove sports from gender specific act tagline. Parents, teachers, educational
institutions, and society as whole should try to eradicate gender discrimination in sports
towards women.

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8.The equity between the participation ratio of men and women at regional state, national, and
international level is mirror of gender discrimination in sports. The participation in sports
percentage for men is 58% whereas only 28%of Indian women are part of sports.
9. Parents, teachers and educational institutions create a homophile sports environment for girls
where the other gender cannot enter, and the inner gender cannot enter the outer genders walls.
Sportsmen and sportswomen never compete against each other; they always compete with
same gender individual. This gendered category of sports in biased and unscientific. For new
generation intergender computation should be introduced where men and women can compete
against each other in every sports.
10. Lack of physical education and sports studies departments and courses in colleges and
universities degrade the percentage of women choosing sports as a subject for higher education.
Particularly in rural sector colleges should provide sports as subject and course option because
girls in rural areas usually have more physical stamina because they imbibe themselves in more
physical activities per day.
Indian Transgenders and Discrimination in Sports
Indian society does not see transgenders as part of the society. There not even a single
transgender in India who has played high level sports [state or nation] or was not allowed to
represent their own land in international games. Trans men and trans women are not accepted
well by coaches, teams in India. There is not separate category of team for transgenders to get
into sports. They must fit in themselves in the women’s or men’s teams according to their birth
sex. Hesitation, confusion, mental trauma etc occurred the mind of ‘sportstransgender’;
because physical they will be of other gender and from mentally, behaviour, attitude they will
of another gender. Many sportstransgenders quite their ambition and passion for sports to not
quite their gender identity. The sportstransgenders face lot bullying, dressing room harassments
and insults from teammates which will cause a huge mental trauma. Asian games and Olympics
have given permission for transgenders to participate. But Indian government has not taken
any action in the construction of equal sports laws in the country for men, women, and
transgenders. There is huge transgender population which is interested in sports and wants to
be part of sports. In 2017 Kerala State Sports Council at Thiruvananthapuram had organized
India’s First Transgender Sports meet in which around 100 sportstransgenders from 14
districts had participated. The transgenders are getting hindrance from, administrators who are
main authorities to send the participants for national and international level games. Their signs
are required on the documents concerned with participation. These administrative officers
many of the time do not co-operate with transgenders and ask for sexual pleasures or bribe.
Cases of sexual harassments, insults of sportstransgenders stay unnoticed, unreported, and
unmentioned. The government should take actions in creating national and state level separate
teams for transgenders for all outdoor sports. This step will bring regional level change and
provoke transgenders to participate more enthusiastically in sports.
Gender Test as Symbol of Gender Discrimination
Gender test in Indian sports is only restricted to sportswomen. Sportsmen do not undergo
through this test. It was introduced by International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF)
in 1950 at India. This was a biased, prejudiced, unscientific test which used to authenticate a
womanhood based on hormones of a woman’s body. According to this test if a sportswomen

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used to high testosterone, then she was not considered as women was prohibited to participate
in sports from female category. This unworthy gender discriminative test destroyed the sports
career of many women in India. In 1992 this gender biased test was prohibited.
Conclusion: -
Sports in India should free from all type of discrimination. Society should try hard to create
equity and equality in sports. Not only for women but all the existing genders (LGBTQUA)
should be accepted equally as men. Sports is free from all rigidness of society; sports are not
played by the gender but by the soul of that gender. It is the responsibility of mothers to enrol
their daughters more in sports without caring for darkened skin. If today’s mothers take this
step, then our future generation will face less gender discrimination in sports.
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