Representation of gender dominant discourses in women's sports with a sociological approach

Subject Areas : Sociological studies of sports

Samaneh Nazari ¹ , Rahim RamezaniNejad ² , Hamid Reza Goharrostami ³ , Mohammad Mahdi Rahmati ⁴

1 - Department, of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Gilan University, Rasht, Iran.
2 - Department, of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Gilan University, Rasht, Iran.
3 - Department, of Sports Management, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Gilan University, Rasht, Iran.
4 - Department of Sociology, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran

Received: 2022-06-11 Accepted : 2022-09-11 Published : 2022-09-23

Keywords: gender equality, gender norms, women's sports, gender,

Abstract :

Objective: Deep analysis of women's issues in sport and especially in the sociology of sport has always been among major scientific approaches and paradigms, and one of the most special discourses in sport is its gender issues. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to represent and analyze gender-dominant discourses in women's sports with a sociological approach.Methodology: The current research was qualitative and used a thematic analysis method. Therefore, 150 valid research articles were analyzed and coded based on conceptual commonality and purposive sampling techniques. The textual data with these samples continued until the researcher reached the theoretical saturation stage.  The research data were classified in the form of analysis of the topics related to the discourses. In general, from 11 basic (main) themes, 3 organizing themes and finally a semantic theme were extracted, which draws and analyzes the network of themes related to gender dominant discourses in women's sports. The research validation method was also applied based on the presentation and feedback of the research results to the experts for its final approval.Results: Based on the theme analysis of the research data, three basic themes including the domination of gender norms in sports, media representation of women's sports and gender discrimination in sports were identified, which were able to represent the central theme of gender dominant discourses in women's sports. In a general view, all of the themes extracted at the middle level and the basic concepts at the micro level were all related and there was a close relationship between these categories for drawing gender discourses in women's sports. Based on the network of drawn themes, it can be concluded that the sum of these themes can well represent the semantic theme.Conclusion: Based on three basic themes, the change in the roles, attitudes and beliefs of the society towards women's sports can change the dominance of gender norms in sports; Quantitative and qualitative representation of women's sports in the media and social media to make appropriate objectification of women's participation; And finally, the establishment of gender equality in rights and benefits, resources, education and management can lead to a better understanding of women's sports and, as a result, create policies and strategic plans in this field.

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