Gender Inequality in the Olympic Games

Olympic Games

Annie Thomas

The Olympic Games held in London in 2012 was heart-warming to many. People were engaged in events they had never heard of before, and patriotism was at its peak. The motto to ‘inspire a generation’ encapsulated the happiness and aspiration for success of future sport in Britain and, ideally, internationally.

To a large extent it gave women’s sport a platform. Athletes such as Jessica Ennis-Hill, Rebecca Adlington and Jade Jones became household names, figureheads for the games, and inspirations to many women. Nicola Adams became the first female Olympic champion in boxing history; a landmark achievement in the fight for equality, despite the while it took for them to deem women capable of taking part in such a discipline. 

Victoria Pendleton became the most successful female Olympic athlete, with 2 gold medals and a silver medal, leading the way for women in an effort to inspire a new generation of female sporting champions.

However, the Olympics still failed to perform in regards to providing a truly fair and equal summer games. 

It fell at the first hurdle, when it was found that only 5% of the contracting workforce for the Olympic Park, and an even more shocking 3% of those employed for the Athlete’s Village, were women. This amounts to an already determined attitude towards the effectiveness of women before the games had even begun.

Another startling finding was when Saudi Women raised the issue that their country would only be bringing an all-male team to the Olympics. Further investigation led me to discover that in Saudi Arabia girls are banned from participating in sport in state schools, and strict rules and regulations have to be followed in order for them to exercise in a gym.

Sheikh Abdullah al-Maneea, who represents the official Supreme Council of Religious Scholars in Saudi Arabia, produced a declaration that the excessive “movement and jumping” involved in sports such as basketball and football could cause girls to lose their virginity, as they could tear their hymen.

Neither are females allowed to attend sporting events held in stadiums as spectators, and they are publicly slammed if they become professional participants for going “against their natural role”. Although this was not a direct action of the Olympic Committee in Britain, there was a lack of action. Could an agenda have been put in place?

First-hand viewing and additional research has, in fact, enabled me to discover the true injustices of some of the sporting events held in an Olympic games. 

Cycling, for instance; the road race held in and around the city of London was an event that many geared-up spectators came out to see, yet the lengths of the courses were vastly different for male and female cyclists - giving a very different experience for the separate races. With the men’s race being set over 250km, the women’s race over 140.3km looked pitiful in comparison.

Former Olympic champion Nicola Cooke summated this excellently, stating, “There is no doubt that there are important physical differences between men and women… That, of course, is why we separate men and women for the purposes of competition. But the short answer is: there’s no good reason that women don’t have the events that men do.”

This along with diving, which allows men to take six dives, but limits women to five, is one that I personally cannot physically comprehend, to even begin to understand. I suppose they must believe female athletes, after taking their fifth dive, suddenly lose the ability to function, let alone take another dive!

And tennis is another one, with women only able to play in three sets despite men playing five. 

I could go on; gymnastics, swimming, athletics, are all examples of sports that contain unequal rules and events, and it’s upsetting to think that budgeting and “organisational difficulties” are excuses being used to stop women from having the same opportunities and experiences as men.
Whatever the incomprehensible reasoning behind it, I don’t believe they’ll change it in a hurry when there are traditions to maintain.