Introduction

Sporting contests reflect societal values, as fair competitions are defined by equality of opportunity and gender equity. Morally, this means each individual should have the equal chance to be selected to participate in sport games without any discrimination or stereotypes based on gender. Hence, the necessity of separation of sex plays a crucial role in achieving such equality, owing to the reason that the division of sex not only provides advantages for both sexes, but also gives women fairer competition and platforms that they will not gain in mixed-gender competitions. Therefore , I argue that the exclusion of boys from girls’ sport events lays the foundation of achieving fairness.

Sports as the reflection of societal values

Sports are increasingly a mass part of culture in a society and tend to reflect societal values in a number of ways. The degree of participation of different gender, races, religious and income levels in sports reflects the society’s value of diversity and inclusion among its population.

In particular, gender issues in sport contests have also become a topic of growing interest for demonstrating these societal values. I argue it has centered itself on the concept of an ideal masculine in the past hundreds of years. Generally speaking, masculinity encompasses the various socially constructed ways of being and acting, values and expectations associated with being and becoming a man in a given society, location and temporal space.(OECD, 2019, p. 11) Moreover, as Clarke and Clarke (1982) stated, sports appear as a sphere of activity outside society, a domain with its own rules and practices, and particularly as it appears to involve natural, physical skills and capacities, it presents these ideological images as if they were natural. Historically, during the industrial revolution period in the 18th and 19th century, men were more involved in training physical or natural skills. From recruitment of male soldiers to the construction of railways and bridges to mining, preference was given to strong male laborers, (Rafferty, 2017) so that men generally received more natural opportunities for exercise because of their innate strengths, whereas women, because of the social background, were still obliged to work in factoies or take up domestic responsibilities such as; keeping a slim body, getting married and raising children at home. (The Role of Women in the Industrial Revolution, n.d.)

The historical consequence of this meant that on average, men had developed more advanced physical skills and fostered the sense of having strength and athleticism, thus constructing a potential cultural environment of male chauvinism in sport events. For example, in the current context television programs prefer to broadcast males’ sporting events, social media tend to report stories of male athletes and top male athletes usually make more money than top female athletes even in the same category.(Cooky et al., 2021) At the same time, in the workspace, during entry interviews, females in China are often asked a question: “When are you going to get married?”or “Since you are married, when will you have your child?”or “Do you have plans for having a second/third child?”(Liu, 2023) These condescending and reductive questions that pry into women’s privacy rather than those asking of women’s professional experience are being used to assess their suitability for the job, showing a stigma for women in the society. Similarly, this is also reflected in one of the many aspects of male bias in sport – when the focus of women’s athletic success is diminished and undermined by reporting on their stereotypical domestic duties which tend to not be relevant to the reporting at all.

This treatment directly contradicts the societal values central to sport – fairness. It creates barriers to women, hinders them to fully participate in the society or sport events and prevents them from reaching their potential by implicitly reducing them to their stereotypical domestic nature – failing to perceive them as an outright athlete. By empowering women as well as constructing gender equality, a more inclusive and equal atmosphere in sporting contests is established, allowing them to be able to have equal opportunities in participation. Thus, equality of opportunity, which requires that social positions be formally open and meritocratically allocated, but, in addition, each individual is to have a fair chance to attain these positions,(Fair Equality of Opportunity, n.d.) upholds the fairness of sport.

Therefore, I argue that equality of opportunity plays an essential role in reaching the concept of ‘fair play’ in sport. It ensures that all the athletes have the same chance to be chosen to attend the Olympics through their hard work. However, sports used to create this ideal masculine, results in girls lacking lots of opportunities in participating sporting contests, further leading to an unjust condition in the sport events today.

Sex segregation and fairness

To achieve the societal values of sport, fair play, and equality of opportunity, sex segregation in sporting contests is necessary, as reflected in the rules of sports themselves. These rules should be interpreted in a way that maintains and fosters the excellence inherent in achieving the goal of the game (Russell, 1999, 35). According to Suits’ definition, sports can be categorized as either “referred games” or “judged performances.” Referred games involve overcoming obstacles set by constitutive rules, while judged performances lack these constitutive rules and instead focus on skills, with athletes striving to approach an ideal performance that embodies virtues such as power, grace, and imagination (Suits, 1988, 2). Typically, male athletes excel in referred games like football, basketball, and swimming due to their physiological advantages, such as greater speed, muscle development, and oxygenation rate, which are crucial for overcoming the obstacles in these sports. Female athletes, on the other hand, often excel in judged performances like figure skating and rhythmic gymnastics because of their superior rhythm, grace, artistic performance, and lower center of gravity, which aids in balancing.

However, even in some judged performances, male athletes have an advantage due to their physical strength. For example, in figure skating, men’s skating style is typically more rigid to emphasize masculinity, while women’s style is more artistic. Despite this, the performances of male and female skaters often converge and become softer over time (Meyers, 2022). In a mixed-gender figure skating competition, female athletes might score higher in artistic sections like performance or the Biellmann spin due to better flexibility and balance from a lower center of gravity. Conversely, male athletes generally achieve higher technical scores due to superior quality and difficulty of technique (Mercado, 2018). This dynamic would likely result in female skaters having fewer opportunities to showcase their skills, overshadowed by male dominance in technical areas. Additionally, judges would face significant challenges in fairly scoring the distinct technical and artistic styles of male and female skaters in direct competition.

Consequently, rules that require the separation of gender promote equity and also fosters athletes’ excellent performance. It provides girls with a moral right to attend the competition without boys in order to further develop their specialization as well as giving boys a chance to show their technically difficult elements such as the jumping height and rotational speed in figure skating. What’s more, segregation allows the psychological competing pressure to cancel out for both sexes, especially girls. Eventually, more girls will be willing and able to enter the game so that they can develop their skills more efficiently. Thus, the increasing participation and enhanced technique in sports absolutely give girls more opportunities than before.(Academy, 2018)

Furthermore, considering the lack of opportunity for girls in the historical contest, boys do not necessarily have the moral right to exclude girls from their contests. For example, equestrianism has a strong relation to war in the past (Equestrian at War, n.d.) and thus embodies strong masculine ideals. In 1900, equestrian entered the Olympics as an official sporting contest. But not until 1952 female athletes were allowed to participate in equestrian competitions in a mixed-sex form, leading to a lack of opportunities for girls to be chosen to enter the game in a total 52-years time. Nowadays, in the top competitions the proportion of male riders is still much greater than female ones while the condition is totally different in leisure riding.(Dashper, 2012) As a result, girls should also be allowed to compete in a mixed-gender competition when there are clear and similar physiological characteristics between the sexes, to remedy previously lost opportunities and inequality in resource distribution that girls face. Thus cultivating a greater sense of equality of opportunity.

Nevertheless, some criticism asserts that the segregation of sex in sporting contests is unnecessary, which prevents women from accessing many sporting opportunities on the same terms as men. Women face more gender discrimination, such as the stereotype of weakness and the involvement of gatekeepers based on such stereotypes, rather than barriers due to biological differences, resulting in a lack of fully participating in sport events.(Halpin, 2024) Take, for instance, few years ago, the US women’s National Soccer Team filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, stating the gender discrimination in the payment since the women’s soccer team has been paid significantly less than the men’s soccer team despite the great performance and success for the women’s team. (Treisman, 2022) In this case, sex segregation in soccer not only leads to a further stereotype and gender discrimination on female athletes, but also prevents women from taking part in the highest level of certain sports. The same with soccer, women are excluded from men’s soccer leagues and competitions, denying them opportunities for careers in that sport, which halt the development of female soccer and thus prohibit the chance for women of competing on equal terms as men for prestigious titles, records and prize money available only in men’s events. Additionally, sports like yachting, and shooting have events without sex-based segregation, demonstrating fair competition across sexes is achievable in sports not relying on upper-body strength.

However, I argue women face a lot more disadvantages beyond gender discrimination but in aspects such as the sport-life balance and differentiation in training pattern, so providing both sex segregated and mixed-sex competition better demonstrates equality of opportunity by reducing the impact of these varying disadvantages. Women have the right to choose to build a family or have a child. But on average, having a child affects women’s free time and livelihoods more than men because of the pregnancy process but also social expectations to be present when the child is born. (The Motherhood Penalty – AAUW : Empowering Women Since 1881, 2024) Getting pregnant, breastfeeding and raising children are two things that women are directly involved with and take lots of time and energy. After that, another few months are taken for restoration of physical function, leading to the loss of opportunities in participating sporting contests while male can still actively enter sport games during their wife’s pregnancy. Moreover, biological differences still exist between sexes, constructing different training schedules. As female athletes, they have to face their menstrual cycle and have to relatively decrease their training intensity to ensure good health. This kind condition happens every month for every female athlete. As a result, the sex segregation ensures the health of athletes, preventing them from being exhausted from overwork. At the same time, it provides more opportunities for girls, as much as those provided to boys.

In conclusion, girls have the moral right to participate in sporting contests that exclude boys. This not only ensures fair equality of opportunity, it is also about keeping female athletes in a moderate workload, guaranteeing their health.

References

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Treisman, R. (2022, February 22). The U.S. national women’s soccer team wins $24 million in equal pay settlement. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2022/02/22/1082272202/women-soccer-contracts-equal-pay-settlementuswnt  

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