Both sport and the associated images of sporting bodies that are routinely packaged for the consumption of international audiences are heavily gendered - (Stevenson, 2002:209).
As indicated in my research questions, this study is concerned with issues relating to how the experiences of migrant female cricketers differ from the possible experiences
of male migrants in cricket, and how the athletes’ perceptions of women in sport influence this.
Sport is predominantly regarded as a masculine pastime and historically women have struggled to be treated equally alongside their male opposites. In the literature reviewed, there are indications that sport was developed first and foremost for men, and that modern sports are segregated to suit either femininity or masculinity. Hargreaves (1994) mentions that females have been socialised to behave in ‘feminine- appropriate’ ways, which is reflected in the sports that females can compete in, and argues that the idea of gender-role socialisation results in inequalities between the sexes and discriminates against women. Furthermore, Hartmann-Tews and Pfister (2003) believe there is convincing evidence to suggest that sport is based around the hierarchy of the sexes, which is created through discourse, and is constructed and labelled through sports seen as male or female. They also explain that women and men develop preferences for certain sports in accordance with gendered social rules, values and expectations. For example, men choose sporting disciplines that portray strength and aggression because these are seen as masculine characteristics; however, women are expected to behave in feminine appropriate ways, so are socially expected to participate in sports that do not challenge the ‘natural’ framework of female behaviours (Hartmann-Tews and Pfister, 2003). Women’s sport is marginalised and the lack of academic literature that considers women as participants and consumers in sport needs to be addressed, because “an understanding of the gender dimension of global sport will contribute to more general academic knowledge of globalisation processes” (Stevenson, 2002:210). As we shall see in chapter four, the fact that the
participants are women rather than men has significant impacts on the experiences of the cricketing migrants that I researched.
In regards to the globalisation of sport, Hargreaves (1994:158) argues that the gradual growth of female sport is linked to the “commercialisation of the body and the commercialisation of sexuality”. Hargreaves (1994) believes that it reflects obsessions about the female body, which involves the process of consumerism and profit. Sports that emphasise balance, co-ordination, flexibility and grace, such as gymnastics or dance, affirm a popular image of femininity, which draws attention to the sport because it displays ‘ideal’ feminine characteristics. Sport contributes to the gender order and has substantial consequences for both sexes because the “gendered institutions are always dynamic arenas of tension and struggle, but perhaps there is no other institution in which gender is more naturalised than sport” (Anderson, 2008:260). Men who take part in ‘feminised’ sports, like ice-skating, tend to be ridiculed for not behaving in masculine ways, and the reverse applies to women who participate in masculine sports, such as rugby or cricket, because they are regarded as not behaving in accordance with ideal feminine behaviour (Anderson, 2008).
The impact that the global media has in constructing gendered ideals through the packaging of sports and sporting bodies heavily influences the consumption of sport by local and international audiences (Stevenson, 2002). The lack of media attention on women’s sporting events means that it barely enters the national sporting marketplace, let alone the global field (Stevenson, 2002). Sport allows men to affirm their masculine identity and their dominance over women, while the media have struggled to deal with female athletes who challenge ideal femininity. The
sexualisation of female athletes is an attempt to place women in sport within a feminine framework (Stevenson, 2002).
Sexuality in sport also considers the idea that female athletes play like men and “the term playing like a man can be a negative comment on the women’s sexuality” (Stevenson, 2002:218), which contributes to the sexual ambiguity of female athletes. Stevenson uses Tennis as her example and explains how former world number one Amelie Mauresmo was constantly ridiculed for having masculine traits, and how the media and fellow female tennis athletes negatively perceived this. Stevenson (2002) explores tennis and the notions surrounding gender because it is a game played by both sexes. Women only competed with the popularity of the men’s game through sexualising the athletes in the media through the clothes they wore. Stevenson (2002:222) states that the acceptance of certain female tennis athletes by the media and the public “highlights the importance of dress, adornment, and sexuality in the marketing promotion, and media coverage of international women’s tennis, underlining the nexus of global consumer culture and celebrity”. The ideas explored by Stevenson (2002) can be applied to this research because cricket is widely considered a ‘mans’ game and women could directly struggle to be seen as equal because they ‘play like men’, and challenge ideal feministic characteristics, which could contribute to the reasons why women’s cricket has not broken into the global sports market.
As anthropologists have pointed out, sport is a site of contested gender ‘ideals’. Ferguson (2004:14) uses feminist theory to analyse gender within sport and concludes, “we have no essential sense of self; that our ideas of femininity and
masculinity do not derive from nature but develop through the discourses we encounter”. Research into gender relations in sport places importance on questions such as why women participate or do not participate in sport, and explores the relationship between gender and the social construction of sport.
Gender relations can be examined through sport because it “creates and reflects tensions surrounding definitions of sex and gender roles, and perhaps more clearly than any other institution reveals how status, functions and power are assigned on the basis of biological differences” (McCrone, 1988:1). Sport has the power to affirm dominant values because it is essentially a “male preserve related to other forms of patriarchal control, sport embodies and recreates the principals and practices of gender inequality and male dominance and privilege in other realms of life” (McCrone, 1988:1).
These findings surrounding gender and sport allow for a greater understanding of why female sports that do not display ideal feminine traits or are not socially aligned with feminine expectations are not as highly valued or as ‘globalised’ compared to the rapidly expanding world of male sport. This helps to contextualise the findings of the research on the experiences of female cricketers in England, since gender relations and expectations play a crucial part in contouring a migrant's life, which is discussed in chapter four.