Gender Discrimination in Sports - Essay Example

Gender discrimination in sports is a big problem for women. They are still neglected by the sports event organizers and countries’ sports associations. In the case of athletics, football, cricket, and some other sports, women are totally neglected. Countries are not interested to spend more money on women’s sports development. Football is one of the most well-accepted sports globally. One can see the differences between the interest and encouragement of the soccer World Cup of men and women. Not only in football but in every sport we can easily observe this discrimination.

Women players or athletes are under many constraints related to economic, financial, social, and political issues. Most of the conservative countries are not permitting women to participate in any sports event. The social and political rules and regulations are against women. Some countries are not providing enough financial assistance to the women's team or women's athletics but they are very much interested in putting more money into the men’s team or athletics. According to Kirsch, “In today's world female athletes are learning the hard way that even if they train harder than their male counterparts and outperform them they will still not receive the same recognition or money that the guys make”. (Kirsch)

Recently, some countries are giving importance to their women players and athletics. United Nations, China, and some other developed and developing countries are trying to remove this discrimination through the proper implementation of new policies, which help women players to come out from those constraints.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) introduced innovative ideas to solve this discrimination problem. This was a great achievement for women athletes and players. It was implemented to create gender equality in sports. In 2002, the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development took the initiative to give more importance to this discrimination issue in sports. They suggested some steps by which they can create gender equality. The steps are as followed,

1. To remove extreme poverty and hunger.
2. To achieve at least the basic or primary education for all women.
3. Promote gender equality for the benefit of women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal condition health.

(Sandys)

By implementing these processes, a country can create gender equality in sports and other aspects also.

Drug abuse by athletes and sports persons is an international issue in sports. For instance, East German succeeded in sports during the 1970s and 80s fighting back the United States and even the Soviet Union with the help of the intake of several performance-enhancing medicines. This was meant to prove their power in sports against the West. Swimmers like Kornelia Ender, Barbara Krause, and Carol Mitschke were the victims of the doping schemes. In 1989 the athletes themselves came forward to explain the instances of drug intake. The court declared jail sentences to ex-East German sports manager Manfred Ewald and his medical director, Manfred Hoeppner. These schemes were exposed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Another example may be taken of rug abuses in the case of the 1983 Pan Am Games in Canada. Guy Greavette became the victim of the first international drug disgrace in sports. He and his teammates were deserted from their awards and condemned to a two-year suspension period after being tested positive in favor of steroids. (10 Drugs Scandals)

In such examples of drug abuse issues in international sports, the stakeholders are many including the players and athletes, the managers, coaches, and medical practitioners looking after them. These corruptions may come to a stop with strict legal control and monitoring but this hardly happens and the urge and flavor of victory takes away the sense of ethics and morality. The value of the award in hand becomes more lucrative than the spirit of sportsmanship. The coaches and practitioners sometimes cheat the players thinking they are doing it for the nation but not understanding that rights are limited when one thinks of something which is risky to the athletes’ health and future life.

The issue of drug abuse reflects that egotism has gained priority in current times, especially in the fight for prizes and medals in sports. This field has entailed a lot of glamour and has become lucrative to people where sportsmen and women are portrayed as real stars. This issue shows that sports no longer encourage the strong and spontaneous spirit which one calls sportsmanship. Rather it has been commercialized and turned into an industry.

Sports do not contribute to drug abuse but it alleviates the issue in society. Sports events spur the urge to win and in this urge, one tends to commit sin. The best way to deal with this issue is to spread self-awareness such that the players are aware of their intakes. Apart from this, the coaches and medical practitioners should be monitored strictly especially their interactions with outsiders during the tenure of sports events. The incentives and money promised in sports are quite high and hence this leads to a loud lifestyle apart from excess cash to be spent on such harmful products. Proper checking needs to be done when players are participating in any sports event. Lastly, the level of exposure the winning team gets accompanied by the hype of the media is another strong attraction.