Gender Norms in Sports: Women's Participation in Rugby in France and Japan
Overview
This essay examines how gender norms have historically restricted women's participation in sports, specifically analyzing women's involvement in rugby in France and Japan since the 1980s. The paper argues that despite significant social barriers and stereotypes, women have progressively challenged gender norms in both countries, with notable figures like Noriko in Japan demonstrating how individual determination can lead to broader social change and institutional recognition.
What this essay covers
- Introduction defining gender norms and their role in shaping access to sports and society
- Historical context of women's exclusion from sports in France and Japan, including institutional barriers and gender stereotypes
- Analysis of women's rugby movements in both countries, featuring Noriko's pioneering efforts in Japan and France's gradual inclusion of women in rugby post-2007
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Gender Norms in Sports
The social standards that define what actions are accepted and are right for men and women can be referred to as gender norms. Gender norms play the role of shaping how men and women access freedom and resources, which affects how they feel, their voice, and their power. Sports culture provides a suitable environment to analyze and understand how society views gender. Before modernization, women's role in society was to take care of the homestead and their families while men participated in other fields. As industrialization continued to spread, civilization became a package where people changed their view of women's role in society. Women began to be involved in social, political, and economic activities that aimed at developing society. There has been an increase in women's number in sports and entertainment (Senne, Joshua 7). In this essay, a comparison of women's involvement in rugby in France and Japan and how it has fought against gender norms will be discussed.
The sports sector helps people understand the way society designs social structures of women and men who take part in sports and how feminism and masculinity are allocated in social bodies. In Japan and France, the sports sector has been a male-dominated area for a long time, which led to the policymakers of gender equality, focusing on the area. In Japan, women's participation in games like rugby was not known in the late 1980s.