I argue that gender separation in sports is both useful and necessary, and there are several reasons for that. Gender-separated sports provide better opportunities for all gender involved while also respecting gender-related patterns of building social relations, and replacing gender with other criteria, such as athletic performance, would likely undermine women’s position.
The main advantage of gender-separated sports is that it provides better competitive opportunities for everyone involved. While gender is not synonymous with biological sex, there is still a strong correlation between the two and, correspondingly, the physical characteristics of athletes. Creating gender-mixed teams based on athletic performance would result in the best teams being utterly dominated by men with few chances for women. Hence, as Ore (2018) puts it, “sex-separate competitive opportunities are the best route to equal opportunity and fair competition for all” (p. 107). One may argue that gender separation in sports may impede the athletes’ ongoing socialization. However, even if one considers children and youth shoes socialization is not yet complete, sports is only a secondary socialization mechanism as compared to family or school (Dalen & Seippel, 2019). Moreover, there are significant gender differences in building social relations in sports teams, meaning that gender separation may provide for better team cohesion (Dalen & Seippel, 2019). Thus, gender-separated sports are both useful and necessary in terms of equality and efficiency alike.
The issue has practical implications for ensuring better opportunities in sports in all settings. It can inform one’s practice by highlighting the fact that the abolition of gender separation in sports will most likely diminish opportunities for female athletes. One’s awareness of gendered social patterns of building social relations in sports teams may also be useful to ensure better cohesion.
References
Dalen, H. B., & Seippel, (2019). Social networks and gender in organized youth sports. European Journal for Sport and Society, 16(4), 323-341.
Ore, T. E. (2018). The social construction of difference and inequality: Race, class, gender, and sexuality (7th ed.) Oxford UP.