Sport and the French language have this in common: it is the masculine that dominates them. The sporting planet still grants a minimal place to women, a stubborn paradox in our Western societies, which are nevertheless increasingly egalitarian. Many dream of breaking down the wall that separates girls and boys. On the other hand, diversity is not a panacea and it cannot exempt sport from a deeper reflection on its values.
A sportswoman since childhood, Sylvie Béliveau would have liked, as a child, to play on the same team as the boys. “I wish my parents had the voice to ask, ‘Our daughter wants to participate so badly, can she join a men’s team?’ At 7 or 8 years old, it is not young people who have the voice to express this demand. These are claims that must exist elsewhere than in the little hearts of our children. »
Today director of gender equality in sport at Égale Action, an organization that makes equality and equity in sport its raison d’être, she believes that diversity in all directions is not not the miracle solution to such a complex and nuanced problem.
“In an ideal world, everyone would have a choice. Girls who want to play with boys could do it, girls who want to play with girls too, explains Sylvie Béliveau. The problem is not necessarily that gender segregation exists in sport. The problem is when there is no choice, when a girl who wants to play with boys simply has no right to do so. »
The corollary of this ban, according to the headmistress, is often a strong prejudice that girls and women are too fragile and too sensitive to play in the boys’ yard. A stereotype that never comes alone, this image that sport attaches to women just as erroneously labels men, notes Mme Béliveau, presenting them as bearers of an aggressiveness and a competitiveness that is far from being universal among the representatives of the supposed “stronger sex”.
Tenacious stereotypes
Until society cuts to pieces this persistent binarity in sport, diversity could even fuel the prejudices it originally seeks to extinguish.
“Mixing genres can be super productive in breaking down stereotypes, but in some cases, it can also have the opposite effect,” says researcher Marilou St-Pierre, from the new Laboratory for the Progression of Women in Sports in Quebec, established at Laval University. Often, when people don’t really believe in equality, diversity updates stereotypes instead of correcting them. »
The researcher observes that this phenomenon even affects recreational leagues, where pleasure must normally take precedence over performance. “There are cosom hockey leagues where a goal scored by a girl is worth two. It’s meant to be an incentive for the guys to pass to the girls, otherwise they’d be playing with each other, protests the researcher. It’s the same thing in softball, even in given-ball leagues: sometimes there are two different rules, one for the hitters, another for the hitters. The infield, for example, is not allowed to catch the ball when a girl is at home plate. These are contexts of diversity that perpetuate the stereotypes according to which girls are less good, more fragile, biologically less “sporty” than guys. »
“Absence speaks loudly”
The media have an important share of responsibility in the durability of this prejudice. During her postdoctoral studies, Marilou St-Pierre explored how newspapers, television and the web represented non-gendered sportswomen and athletes in Canada. “The absence, she summarizes, speaks loudly in the case of sports. »
In 2019, she continues, sportswomen occupied less than 6% of media space. “It is especially professional sports that receive the media spotlight, an area where women are very little present. To receive some light, women must be exceptional, the elite among the elite. You have to be Bianca Andreescu, who wins the Canadian Open and the US Open in quick succession, for example. On the other hand, underlines the researcher with spite, if you are on the fourth line of the Laval Rocket, it is possible that you have two pages in a major Quebec daily. »
“Neutral” topics, such as stories about the best type of fly to tease salmon or the best hiking backpack on the market, take up more space than women’s team sports in the Canadian media. “Women’s team sport just doesn’t exist in the Canadian media. Don’t look for them, you won’t find them! »
The problem is not necessarily that gender segregation exists in sport. The problem is when there is no choice, when a girl who wants to play with boys simply has no right to do so.
Mixed sport finds no more favor in the eyes of broadcasters. The amateur must go back a long way in his memory to remember the last mixed doubles tennis match broadcast on TV. “However, recalls Sylvie Béliveau, the Olympic Games prove that when we present the prowess of men and women, it is not true that the public shuns the seconds. The very commercialization of sport perpetuates this misconception that girls are less good and put on a worse show than boys. »
This media void feeds a reality that is not only experienced on the pitch, but also behind the benches and in the offices of sports directors. According to a survey on physical activity conducted by the Quebec government, approximately 15% of Quebec teenage girls practiced an active leisure activity in 2018 and 2019, compared to 23% for boys. Three years ago, women made up just 22% of coaches in the province and held only 28% of seats on the boards of sport organizations.
Fear of “distorting” the sport
There is no evidence that women are less able than men to understand sport, to teach it or to direct the destiny of a men’s team. However, the belief that expertise necessarily comes from experience dies hard in the world of sport. No men’s professional sports franchise, for example, has yet given its team to a woman.
It took until the summer of 2022 for a first NHL team to hire a full-time woman on its coaching staff. Emily Engel-Natzke works as video coordinator for the Washington Capitals, and the team is not running out of steam. She climbs to thirteenth place in the league and remains in contention to participate in the elimination round.
“There is this old refrain that says that the inclusion of girls could “distort the sport”, deplores Marilou St-Pierre. I have a big announcement to make: sport does not exist in nature. You can’t go into the forest and find hockey in the wild. Sport, intrinsically, is a social construct built on rules that have changed in the past and will undoubtedly change in the future. »
No one is moved, for example, to see athletes from all walks of life rubbing shoulders within the same team. However, this mix seemed unthinkable and impossible in the West 100 years ago, at a time when white Europe and America cultivated centuries of contempt for their colored brothers and sisters.
“Change is possible and it is underway, believes Marilou St-Pierre. But the sport won’t change on its own — don’t adopt a wait-and-see posture, it won’t work. »
Sylvie Béliveau already dreams of a time when sport will no longer be defined according to gender, but according to each person’s own abilities.
“The goal in sport is to reach a zone of delightful uncertainty. To have fun and improve, you have to be good compared to others, but not too much! If a participant does not master the technique, he will quickly feel excluded. On the other hand, if he dominates, he will have no challenge, he will be bored and find it boring. The goal is to achieve a balance between these two poles. Gender has nothing to do with it: it’s first and foremost abilities that should count. »