Important Area In Sports And New Zealand example essay topic

The essay will discuss whether Sport in New Zealand has had a positive influence on gender relations and does it creates opportunities for women? The discussion will focus on information from research, readings and personal experiences. Gender is a social phenomenon which shapes our sense of personal identity, the nature of our everyday interactions with others and the sets of social relations embedded in institutions such as family, the workplace, the school, the state, the media and sports. "Gender is something that societies make" (Court & O'Neill, 2001, p. 7). The writer acknowledges that gender relations are fluid and dynamic, they are constantly changing within times and places. That is part of the answer; however we as a country need to evolve and improve our gender relations.

Sport is a vehicle for promotion and or regression of these principles. The majority of the literature in the area of 'gender and sports' has come from the USA and therefore is related to American culture and ideologies and has some relevance to the New Zealand setting. It was found in North American families that young girls were not discouraged from playing sport and engaging in physical activity but they were likely to be treated by their brothers in three respects. One being that fathers spend considerably less time in shared physical activities and exercises with their daughters in comparison to their sons.

Playtime is more likely to be regulated and controlled by parents and thirdly girls are less likely to learn that physical activities and achievements in sport can or should be uniquely important sources of rewards in their lives. It is no wonder that girls end up playing different kinds of games than those their brothers play, in the majority of childhood experiences in the past and even now, Lever (1976, 1978 cited in Coakley, 1998, p. 242). However Jim McKay a senior lecturer in the department of Anthropology and Sociology at the University of Queensland, Australia is the most visible and significant scholar of managing gender relations in sport in the Commonwealth. His book 'Managing gender' Affirmative action and Organizational power in Australia, Canadian, and New Zealand Sport. Evaluates the implementation of affirmative action programmes in these countries and how these action initiatives usually have been marginalised, trivialized, or incorporated into the corporate-managerial and masculinist cultures that pervade sporting organsiation, the media, and the government (McKay, 1997). McKay provides evidence and examples in which legislated equity initiatives can be resisted by the state and by some women.

There are many barriers to 'break-down'. Some of them are administrative while others are opposite gender related, however many of the problems stem from traditional role models. The writer has included studies of participation numbers and gender differences from Australia and New Zealand. These studies identify the problems that we face and need to resolve in issues of equity. The primary problem, is the need to promote a healthy lifestyle for all with particular emphasis on affirmative action programmes for women and girls. Legislation could also provide a further catalyst for the enhancement of these programmes.

Participation in Sport and Active Leisure by New Zealand Children and Adolescents survey was undertaken by Sue Walker, Jenny Ross and Alistair Gray. They surveyed 1518 five to seventeen year old New Zealanders. 36 per cent of girls were inactive and 26 per cent of boys were inactive, with 64 per cent of girls active an 74 per cent of boys were active. 2.5 hours per week of sport and active leisure were considered as the guideline between inactive and active categories. "If appropriate physical activity enhances the lifetime health and well-being of individuals and if childhood experiences influence adult behaviour, then a first step in promoting physical activity in younger age groups is to establish the baseline level of physical activity" (Walker, et al. p 4, 1999). Some gender differences in physical activity reveals that boys are significantly more active than girls.

These results are consistent with Physical activity of New Zealand teenagers report based on the Life in New Zealand survey (Wilson, Hopkins, Russell. 1993) and an Australian survey of participation in sport and physical education activities (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1998). These surveys and reports tell us that we need to promote equality of participation, but is it enough to identify the problems that we already know? The answer is categorically NO! Only when we use a multi-dimensional approach to enhancing the activity and development of girls and women will we be able to say sport and leisure has contributed to positively to gender relations in New Zealand. The writer would like to critically examine three areas in sports that girls and women are involved with; participation, coaching and administration in elite sports.

It is important to also describe the role the Hillary Commission and it's promotion of equal opportunities for women and girls. Participation numbers in New Zealand are lower in female than male but we have a number of role models that will enhance the promotion of gender relations. The Black Ferns have transcended the culture that females should be encouraged to participate in sports that reflects dominant definitions of femininity". Prior to 1970's, females were widely believed to be naturally frail and inclined towards graceful movements". (Coakley, 1998, p. 222).

The Black Ferns display strength, power and speed, which are widely, perceived as 'mainly' traits. These facts are based in gender logic and has changed what girls and women could and could not do in sport. Promoting sport by breaking down the gender barriers are important to increased participation and are role models for the future. How do men feel about women excelling in New Zealand's' most 'manly's port?

I personally don't have a problem with elite athlete displaying their athletic ability. However my view stems from a physical education background and not from a 'traditional' male view. It is interesting to note that, while women's' coaching programmes have increased, men still dominate the coaching scenes. The four highest profile sports in New Zealand.

Netball, Hockey, Basketball and Rugby Men coach three of the four elite teams. We acknowledge that equality is important at elite level however we don't promote women coaches. New Zealand team should use quota systems to promote female coaches. Do we get the best 'man' for the job or do we promote and advance the gender balance.

The writer concludes that, the long term benefits of promoting gender balance will enhance the abilities of all coaches and define a pathway for both male and female coaches. Administration is an important area in sports and New Zealand seems to have a proliferation of women involved in secretarial work which reinforces the traditional female role. New Zealand politics is an successful model with the two leading officials being women. I hope that the Hillary Commission policies will help breakdown the traditional barriers for women in sports administration.

The Hillary Commission believes females deserve an equal opportunity to be involved in sports The Winning Women Role Model programme was set up in 1994 in Wellington and until recently operated in eight regions. In 2000 the Hillary Commission relaunched the programme in all regions. It primary objectives is to raise the profile of female athletes among school students and to boost the numbers of young people participating in physical activity. In response to key national and international covenants, charters and legislation relating to women and girls, the Hillary Commission have developed a national policy to address the issues that affects the involvement of women and girls in sport and physical activity.

The policy is outlined below. Winning Women: National Policy for Women and Girls in Sport, Recreation and Physical Activity. This document gives practical examples of how a wide range of organisations have helped to increase the participation of women and girls in sport, as well as guidelines for good practice. The Hillary Commission has also developed resources to assist individuals, clubs and organisations to understand and address the needs of women and girls in relation to sport and physical activity. The workbook can help organisations assess their level of equity, and offers strategies to help achieve full equity in all areas (Hillary Commission, 2001, p. 1). These include: Harassment policy, Women in Sport Projects, Leadership Courses and Seminars, Role Model Programme, Education Programmes, Winning Women's Charter, Sports Mark, Women on the Run, Winning Women Role Models.

I would like to briefly explain the types of programmes that are being promoted to help gender relations and equity. These policies are positive and proactive and help offer strategies in developing full equity. These programmes have been successful in other countries, however they are only part of the answer. Junior Sports Policy This policy encourages girls and women into sport and making their experiences positive and enjoyable that would have long-term benefits. Harassment Policy The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has provided its expertise and resources to further the international development of women and sport programmes. New Zealand has adopted the ASC's Harassment-free Sport Strategy and will be adopting The Mentor as Anything!

Programme, (Winning Women Role Models). The Australia New Zealand Sports Law Association (ANZSLA) Anti-Harassment bilateral policy is committed to providing an environment free of harassment. This policy applies to all ANZSLA members and all persons and organisations which by agreement or otherwise are bound to comply with this policy including but not limited to contractors, regional representatives, Board Members, employees, administrators, officials, volunteers and attendees at functions of ANZSLA (ANZSLA, 2001). Women in Sport Projects The Hillary Commission is working with national sporting organisations on strategies to get more women involved in all aspects of playing, coaching and administration. Leadership Courses and Seminars Leaderships courses are been held nationwide with high profile women athletes giving motivational seminars. Role Model Programme Nationwide there are 120 winning women available to speak in schools through the Role model Programme based on the Australian model (Mentor as anything).

The role models have been trained in public speaking and media relations. Education Programmes Sports education is carried out in schools with the Kiwis port programmes based in primary and intermediate schools, and Sport fit at secondary levels. These programmes are based on the Winning Women charter that is committed to encouraging women and girls to get involved in sports through playing, coaching and administration. The writer acknowledges that these programmes are positive and are based on good research. The question that I pose is; Is New Zealand committed to these programmes and should we legislate to promote affirmative action by central government? The writer would like to state that New Zealand has not gone far enough to promote affirmative action.

We need to legislate action plans and increase funding to benefit the country by increasing participation levels that in turn decrease New Zealand's health funding. The Sport, Fitness & Leisure ministerial taskforce headed by Trevor Mallard included John Graham, David Collins, Dame Susan Devon, Janet McKay, Farah Palmer, Mark Simmonds, and Glenn Turner. This taskforce present a series of recommendations based on their critical examination of current structures and perspectives in sport. This taskforce included a good balance in gender but did it answer questions about issues of equity related to gender? I have found it difficult to find any information on gender equity in the report. It defines issue of equity related to race and disability but not gender.

It appears that the traditional gender roles have been reinforced and that the female members of the taskforce are their to appease the traditional gender order. Have we moved forward as a nation? The female members of the taskforce will be able to answer the true question. New Zealand were proactive enough to get strong characters on the taskforce, however affirmative action in pushing gender relations should be integral to future plans of sport in New Zealand. Adults, especially coaches and teachers, are important in reinforcing or challenging the gender order because children constantly see themselves through adult eyes, checking how adults react to ways of being, and look for signs from adults that are correctly gendered. Learning gender is an on-going active struggle by children to make sense of messages around them.

Coaches and teachers must be actively engaged in dialogue with children that challenge what children will have already learnt about the 'correct' way to be masculine or feminine. Sociology of sport could be the future tool to enhance performance in sport in New Zealand. Everyone can have a fitness trainer, sports nutrition alist, bio mechanist etc but New Zealand is unique and we must develop a New Zealand culture to overcome finances, and populations to perform on the international scene. I writer would like to explore one part of 'sociology of sport' by addressing the following issues. Sport is a site for the reproduction of gender relations and a crucial site for intervention and change in the social construction of gender. Many approaches to gender equity in sport attempts to treat all children / students the same, regardless of sex.

This does not mean however that girls and boys have similar experiences at sport. Despite coaches' attempts to compensate for inequalities between girls and boys there is no doubt that sexist messages do exist in sport. Assuming that by simply changing the messages that girls receive, and treating all children the same, we can change their behaviour is being seriously questioned more and more. Notions of femininity and masculinity have long been recognised as central to sport. Historically, sport of girls and boys has been overtly and explicitly different, as it has been based on supposed, biological ' differences and differences in 'life roles' as at the time and culture in the environment. It was not too many years ago that sport for boys was considered more important than for girls.

The writer considers times have changed significantly as many females become confident to express themselves on the sporting field and the Hillary Commission 'Winning Women Charter' reinforce that their quality of life improves through participation and achievement in sports and active leisure. The primary preoccupation with gender is characteristic of a gendered culture but the social construction of gender itself is a universal phenomenon among human societies, its categorisation based on social attributes. Societies socialise their members into gender roles and expectations and they associate various traits or qualities with gender categories. All societies engage in the social construction of gender. A gendered culture is one in which all social relations are structured and understood through a prism of gender relations, through concepts of femininity and masculinity. It is one in which femininity and masculinity, structure, express, and make sense of, at a popular level, the conflicts, interests and inequalities, which are integral to a society, (James, Saville-Smith, 1989, p. 11).

New Zealand is a gendered culture, regarded as a natural (unlike Britain whereby their gendered culture is class based), because every aspect of social relations is suffused and shaped by understandings of femininity and masculinity and the female and male cultures which arise around them. Cultures have dominant motifs, which ultimately structure the practices associated with different groups. In New Zealand, we have a gender motif. While subordinate groups such as Maori, Polynesians, women and working- class people in our society may engage in resistances against dominant elite, that they do so within an overall cultural framework. In that framework, there are distinct female and male cultures, which together constitute our gendered cultures. Within these cultures, social problems exist e.g. violence, domestic and sexual abuse, impoverishment, which imposes costs on all members of our society.

The writer is optimistic in believing that these two distinct cultures are moulding together and that the cultures are becoming less distinct. Political passing of gender legislation related to sports is important in breaking down perceptions and barriers in our culture as to what is the considered' normal ' behaviour of a particular gender. Up until recent times the New Zealand 'male culture' had a strong focus on sport and especially so in provincial and rural areas the female culture centered on the home and family. The Writer has experienced the so-called traditional male models through teaching at a Boys High School and coaching rugby from School-boys to the New Zealand Maori team. I consider that my experiences have allowed me to perhaps fit in to the so-called male model of New Zealand society.

Sports influence people's ideas about masculinity and femininity. There is a strong link between gender and gender relations in sport with the social construction of gender. What explanation can there be that half of the worlds' population traditionally has been excluded or discouraged from participating in many sports? Ideology is so deeply rooted in our cultural being we seldom question or think about how assumptions and 'logic' have led women to be excluded from many sports. One is optimistic in the fact that this is changing and the barriers are beginning to break down the so-called gendered forms of common sense in relation to sport". Sporting skills are seen to epitomize differences created by nature not differences created by civilisation".

(James & Saville - Smith, 1989, pg. 88). Coakley discusses that the dominant forms of sport in most cultures are played and organised in ways that work to the advantage of most men and to the disadvantage of most women. (Coakley, 1998). He also states that " sports emphasizing aggression and competition fit with the dominant definition of masculinity in many cultures and they do not fit with most ideas about femininity".

(Coakley, 1998, p. 236) The writer still hears as a teacher and coach in the playground and sporting fields 'uniformed' adults of both sexes making comments such as, "he throws like a girl... she is a real tomboy". Until there is widespread acceptance of alternatives to dominant definitions of femininity and masculinity women will continue to have difficulties in connection with partaking in sports at all levels. In conclusion, the critical examination that Sport in New Zealand has had a positive influence on gender relations is a social phenomenon involving the understanding of New Zealand history and goals for the future. This discussion has focused on information from research and readings and personal experiences. The writer feels that more work is required for equity to occur and we should continue to develop new strategies including; legislative intervention, a lifestyle change for male and female, and further enhancement of existing programmes.

Bibliography

Australia Bureau of Statistics. (1997).
Participation in sport and physical education activities, Australia 1995-96.
Canberra, Australia: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australia New Zealand Sport Law Association. (2001).
ANZSLA anti-harassment policy. web Coakley, J, J. (1998) Sport In society: Issues and controversies.
Irwin McGraw, Singapore Court, M. and O'Neill, J. (2001) Special field: Managing gender in education.
Study guide. Palmerston North: Education Faculty, Massey University Hillary Commission. (2001).
Winning women: Women and girls in sport Hillary Commission, Wellington. James, B. K, Saville - Smith (1989) Gender, culture and power.
Auckland: Oxford University Press Mallard, T. (2001) Getting set - for an active nation.
web McKay J, (1997) Managing Gender: Affirmative action and organisation power in Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Sport.
web Walker, S., Ross, J.J., Gray. A. (1999).
Participation in sport and leisure by New Zealand children and adolescents. Journal of Physical Education New Zealand, 32 (1), 4 - 8. Wilson, N. Hopkins, W. Russell, D. (1993).