The biggest challenge for women in sports is discrimination

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a discussion titled “Gender Discrimination in Sports.” I also had to speak during the event. What emerged from the discussion is that injustice, discrimination, and neglect towards female athletes and organisers in the sports arena have not decreased; rather, they are continuously increasing. Opportunities and rights for women are becoming more limited. Women are still subjected to social scorn when engaging in sports. In most cases, society fails to realise that, like men, women also have equal rights to participate in sports. They have the right to represent the country through sports. In Bangladesh’s sports landscape, men have always had dominance in various sports, and individualism has prevailed.

A group of male organisers engage in dirty and vile politics in sports, and they do so for their personal and collective interests. There is no denying that there are several examples where women, driven by jealousy and resentment, have joined hands with men to harm female players, athletes, and organisers to serve their own interests. One female organiser said in the discussion that Kamrul Nahar Hiru, the elected General Secretary of the Judo Federation, who is not only a renowned judoka but has also represented the country for years through her organisational skills in the Asian Judo Organisation, has been removed in the wave of current changes—despite not even completing a full term of her elected period.

A former female judoka and organiser played a major role in her removal. It is unfortunate that women are opposing women—this is a bad omen for sports. We want all kinds of irregularities to be eliminated from sports. Sports should be based on equality. If both women and men can move forward equally, it will not take long for the sports sector of the country to flourish. A female athlete mentioned in her speech that in the second week of March, the Bangladesh Olympic Association organised a two-day workshop titled “Gender Equity and Women’s Leadership.” Nearly 50 female organisers and athletes from 24 Olympic federations participated in it. The goal was good—to increase awareness about women’s empowerment in sports.

The question is, what is the reality in our sports scene? Where do the real obstacles lie? What needs to be done to overcome them? And how can the problem be solved? She also said that in this workshop, there were discussions on various topics such as “Gender Equity and Women’s Challenges in Sports,” “Women’s Leadership Development in Sports.” Her point was that we want true protection for female athletes and sportswomen. And that has to come from male organisers in this male-dominated sports world. The end of authoritarianism in sports can only be possible when men and women unite and stand against it. A female athlete said, “To succeed in sports, to achieve victory, one must bring three powerful forces under control—desire, belief, and expectation.”

No matter how many problems arise, stopping means the goal cannot be reached. Therefore, one must fight through many adversities in the field of sports. Yet, women’s participation and success in sports continue to rise. There is no alternative to recognising the problems women face in sports; denying the problems will not lead to solutions. Our weakness is that in many cases, we don’t have many good policies. And what policies we do have, we are unable to implement properly. A certain group stands in the way. When they see a policy not going in their favour, they reject or obstruct it.

We are observing progress in women’s football with great joy. We must understand that if awareness and financial infrastructure are not strengthened, Bangladesh’s female footballers will not be able to dominate beyond South Asia into the broader Asian arena. Mere discussions on women’s football won’t suffice—practical initiatives must be taken to implement them. Last month, a news item by AFP attracted my attention. For the first time, the number of individual “Ballon d’Or” awards for male and female footballers will be equal. France Football magazine, which launched the Ballon d’Or awards in 1956, and UEFA have announced that awards for Best Female Goalkeeper, Best Emerging Female Player, and Highest Goal-Scoring Female Footballer (across club and national levels) have been added to the women’s category. That means six equal awards will be given in both men’s and women’s categories.

In addition, the Socrates Award—granted since 2022 for various social and solidarity initiatives—can be won by anyone from either the men’s or women’s category. In 2022, Senegalese forward Sadio Mané won the award, in 2023 Brazilian winger Vinícius Júnior, and last year it was awarded to Spanish women’s team star Henny Rehmoné. This is a revolutionary step towards equality in football. A major step forward in eliminating discrimination in football. Meanwhile, for the next eight years, the new president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been elected—Kirsty Coventry. The 41-year-old Zimbabwean swimmer is the first female president in IOC’s 131-year history, and also the first African.

Ikramuzzaman: Columnist and analyst; former Senior Vice-President of AIPS Asia; lifetime honorary member of the Bangladesh Sports Press Association and panel writer of Football Asia