Gender Inequality in the Olympic Games

Equality in the Olympics: How far we have come, but need to go

A question that is constantly raised is whether or not women can compete with men in sports. Is it even possible for women to be on the same playing field as men? Would it be possible in the Olympic Games for a woman to compete against a man in a long distance running event? These questions may never be answered and only continuously speculated, but what we do know for sure is that women have come a long way from where they once were in the realm of Olympic sports. Women have overcome incredible discrimination and inequality, but there is still a long way to go. It may seem like things are equal now among men and women, but unfortunately that is just a common misconception in the general public.

Women have faced an overwhelming issue; it is a general assumption that there is no way a woman can come close to competing with a man, but when they actually do, they are thought to be male. In my opinion this is quite ridiculous, sure women can't do something that men do, but for the most they can compete and have success at the highest levels with that of males. Women aren't treated equally to men in the Olympic Games. They still do not allow the same number of participants as men in the games. Then as soon as women begin competing with men it is thought there is no way it could even be possible. Females are discriminated against and judged based off of their performances. It really is a lose lose situation for them.

It is commonly perceived that women have made substantial gains in their overall levels of participation in Olympic competition since the inception of the Modern Olympic Games in 1896. These visible benefits, however, have served to mask the overall inequality of male/female participation in the Games. Large gaps in participation rates of males and females still remain and, at the Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic Games, women constituted only 21% of participants. Women fared little better at the 1988 Summer Olympics, at Seoul; they represented 26% of participants (Chase 2005). This disparity in athlete participation is indicative of gender inequality throughout the Olympic Movement, inequality which is even more visible at the organizational and administrative levels. (Chase 2005)

Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the Modern Olympic Games, used women's exclusion in ancient times to justify their exclusion from the modern Games. "The young I.O.C. set to itself the task of renewing the Olympic Games in the spirit of the ancient ones and as no women participated in the Ancient Games, there 'obviously' was to be no place for them in the modern ones"(Chase 2005) This was how women were treated originally at the Olympic games. The founder himself stated that there was no place for them in the realm of athletics and the competition amongst "Olympians."

When the modern Olympic Games began in 1896 women had absolutely no part in the competition. Baron Pierre de Coubertine felt that rather than seek records for herself, a woman's greatest achievement was to encourage her sons to excel. This seems to be quite the contradiction considering he developed this creed for the Games, "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle." Women had to work to gain a presence in the Olympic arena and force open the door to one sport after another. Swimming for women was included in the Games in 1912 and a limited program of track and field was added in 1928. Women's races longer than 200 meter were banned until 1960 when the 800 meter was reintroduced. The women's marathon was not added until 1984. In 1992 the 10,000 meter walk was introduced and recently, waterpolo -- which had been the domain of men since the Olympics first began -- was added to the 2000 Olympic Games program for women. (Balassone 2013)

Even with all this progress in the most recent Olympics--London 2012--there was still an interesting dilemma. Although The 2012 Olympic Games in London was the first time all participating nations allowed women to compete, but there were still 1,233 more male athletes and 30 more medal events exclusively for men. A report shows that in what was billed as the "Women's Olympics," international rules severely limited the number of female competitors who were allowed to compete in 11 of 26 sports. In boxing, for example, as many as 250 male boxers were allowed to compete but the number of female competitors was capped at 36. In water polo, up to 156 men could compete as compared to 104 women. Judo allowed for up to 221 male competitors and 145 female competitors. In men's racewalking, canoe/kayak, rowing, shooting, boxing, and wrestling there was no matching event for women.(Balassone 2013)

"The perceptions of equality that led to London being called 'the Women's Olympics' by some commentators are inaccurate," says Donnelly 2013 she continues, "The focus is almost always on medal counts and success stories, but it's important to point out that the experience of men and women athletes is still substantially different. "

"Following the celebration associated with women's involvement in all sports for the first time at the