SPORT AND GENDER EQUALITY
4. ULUSLARARASI TÜRK VE DÜNYA KADIN ARAŞTIRMALARI KONGRESİ, İstanbul, Türkiye, 12 - 14 Aralık 2025, ss.68-74, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
- Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
- Basıldığı Şehir: İstanbul
- Basıldığı Ülke: Türkiye
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.68-74
- Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
It has been observed that female athletes have long faced structural barriers shaped by gender norms, stereotypes, and patriarchal values that have persisted in the field of sports. The historical construction of sports as a male-dominated domain has placed female athletes in a disadvantaged position in terms of both visibility and equal opportunities. Existing literature reveals that female athletes struggle with multifaceted issues such as lack of media representation, inequalities in access to sponsorship and financial resources, gender-based prejudices, body politics, and psychosocial pressures. However, a significant portion of current research focuses on specific sports (such as football, basketball, or tennis) and professional-level female athletes, while giving limited attention to the experiences of women engaged in sports at amateur levels or within different cultural and local contexts. This limitation hinders a comprehensive understanding of how gender relations manifest differently across various spheres of sport. This study aims to systematically evaluate the existing literature and identify research gaps concerning the gender-based experiences of female athletes. In addition, it offers suggestions for future research directions. Proposed areas of study include examining the impact of gender norms on female athletes across different cultural contexts, exploring gender inequalities in amateur sports settings, and investigating how media representations affect athletes’ performance, motivation, and identity perception. In this regard, employing both qualitative and quantitative research methods will contribute to a more layered and holistic understanding of female athletes’ experiences. The study seeks to deepen the academic literature on the relationship between gender and sport, providing a theoretical and methodological foundation for future research.
Keywords: sports, women, female athletes, gender equality, inequality