11:00 - 12:30
Room: Muirhead Room 109
Stream: Open Stream
‘’We Feel Like Escorts And Supporters For The Male Team’’: Sportswomen Experiences With University Sports.
Lydia Amoah
Institute Of African Studies, University Of Ghana, Legon, Accra
DAAD/SDG Graduate School Performing Cultures And Sustainabilities in West Africa, Accra

Within the past four decades, there has been the increased presence of women in Ghanaian University sporting activities. Sportswomen have demonstrated rare skills, agility and in many cases, outperformed their male counterparts in several areas. In spite of such milestone, it appears that the gender cards are still unequally placed, as many sportswomen feel discriminated against in sporting activities. Using sportswomen in the University of Ghana sports teams as a case study, I explored the female students’ perceptions, lived experiences and motivation that drives their decisions to participate in sports. It emerged, that while most of the sportswomen participated in University sports because they felt it was an enabling environment to express their competences, they experienced various degrees of discrimination and gender stereotyping (eg. sexism and tagging). Most of them also faced difficulties and opposition to their interest in particular sports on the basis that such sports were ‘masculine’. The study contributes significantly to the gender discourse from the perspective of how cultural factors inform perceptions about sportswomen in Ghana.


Reference:
Th-OS Gender, Inequality, and Intersectionality 1-P-002
Presenter/s:
Lydia Amoah
Presentation type:
Panel
Room:
Muirhead Room 109
Date:
Thursday, 13 September
Time:
11:15 - 11:30
Session times:
11:00 - 12:30