Policy and politics of women’s sport and women in sport
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Abstract
Research on women’s sport (i.e. specifically on sport played by women, e.g. participation) and women in sport (i.e. more broadly any roles hold by women in sport, e.g. leadership roles) has been increasing over time, particularly in the last decade. In the social sciences, humanities and management disciplines of sport (as opposed to sport sciences, e.g. physiological demands and player physical characteristics), this growth has been highlighted by several recent literature reviews (Burton 2015, Fink 2015, Valenti et al. 2018, Hartzell and Dixon 2019, Evans and Pfister 2020). Another illustration of this growing trend is provided by special issues in academic journals focusing on women’s sport and women in sport. Based on a review of the special issues related to the social sciences, humanities and management disciplines of sport from 2014 to 2020, Scelles (2020) identifies research on females and gender as one of the 21 main themes covered by the special issues. Fifteen special journal issues focussing on females and gender in the context of sport have been edited in the period studied, with Susanna Hedenborg and Gertrud Pfister being identified as the most prolific editors on the topic with three issues each, including two together (Hedenborg and Pfister 2015, 2017). A special issue with a relation to sport will soon be edited by Susanna Hedenborg with Aage Radmann (Radmann and Hedenborg to come). Another is the present issue of International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, edited by Gertrud Pfister with Nicolas Scelles. It is also worth noting the editors and authors of three special issues, which are focussing on the intersection between policy and politics as well as on women and gender. One of these issues, edited by Chawansky and Hayhurst (2015), is entitled ‘Girls, International Development and the Politics of Sport’: it focuses specifically on sport for development and peace. Another issue on ‘Football Feminisation: Political, Sociological and Cultural Issues’ is edited by De Waele and Bernoud (to come): it provides specific insights as it deals with a sport which is still dominated by men. The third new special issue is the present publication. It aims to be broader in nature than the other two publications by focusing on a broad spectrum of policies, politics and practices of women’s sport and of women in sport. This special issue is timely given the current international interest in and importance of the development of women’s sport and of gender equality in sport. These trends are highlighted by a number of relevant organisations such as the International Olympic Committee (2018), UNESCO (2019), UN Women (2019), the Council of Europe (2019) and the European Institute for Gender Equality (2019). These different organisations underline the role that policy (e.g. a policy specifically implemented in sport), political (e.g. the broader national political context) and governance (e.g. the structure and processes by which a sport organisation is directed and controlled) discourses and practices play or can play in promoting, but also in preventing gender equality in sport. In line with these claims, this special issue provides in depth analyses of policies, political and governance activities in relation to gender equality, as well as generally to women’s sports in different geographical and cultural contexts. We are delighted by the interest this special issue generated among potential authors. Indeed, we received 28 expressions of interest, and later 22 abstracts and 13 full papers. This would not have been possible without the help provided by the Editor-in-Chief Prof Jonathan Grix, the Editorial Assistant Dr Qi Peng, the Co-Editor Dr Kirstin Hallmann who managed the submissions we could not handle ourselves due to conflicts of interest, Ms. Usha Sangar who oversaw the production process, and of course the anonymous reviewers who gave very useful and constructive feedback. We want INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPORT POLICY AND POLITICS 2021, VOL. 13, NO. 2, 201–206 https://doi.org/10.1080/19406940.2021.1936881