Gender Parity, False Starts, and Promising Practices in the Paralympic Movement

Abstract

Although women have been a part of the Paralympic Movement since its inauguration, they remain underrepresented in almost all aspects of parasport. Noting these gender-based discrepancies, the International Paralympic Committee and several National Paralympic Committees have made commitments to address the issue of gender balance across the movement. Guided theoretically by feminist and disability sport scholarship, this article explores the various initiatives and strategies implemented by the International Paralympic Committee and National Paralympic Committees to address the issue of gender parity. Through 29 qualitative interviews with Paralympic athletes, organizers, academics, and journalists, our study illustrates that initiatives and strategies implemented by these organizations have affected women differently based on a range of social, cultural, and political factors.

Gender representation and policy implementation in the governance of international Paralympic organizations

“…These (male-led) organizations are focusing their limited resources on advocacy work combined with establishing sustainability for the operation of disability sport rather than overcoming (gender) inequalities within the Paralympic Movement. We agree with Dean et al (2021) who advocate that bespoke support and training must be provided to Paralympic organizations on how to generate more opportunities for women within the Paralympic Movement. However, importantly, this needs to be provided in combination with strategies to support the ongoing development of Paralympic organizations' activities.…”

“…More recently, the IPC has worked to encourage greater self-governance and autonomy of Paralympic sport governance, including an intention of gender balance across its organizations (Dean et al, 2021). Yet, in practice, this does not exist.…”

“…Paralympic organizations have historically held lower economic, political, social, and symbolic capital than their Olympic counterparts due to receiving less visibility, legitimation, and funding. This means that they must prioritize resources more carefully, with income generation, marketing/promotional work, and the operational functioning of organizations and sports being prioritized over efforts towards gender parity in their governance (Dean et al, 2021).…”

“…We discussed how Paralympic sport has historically been Gender representation and Policy Implementation in the Governance of International Paralympic Organizations marginalized and those with responsibility for its advancement prioritize limited organizational resources toward its sustainability and their own mobility status (Cohen, 1999). As Dean et al (2021) argued, the ability of national Paralympic organizations to commit resources to developing opportunities for gender-inclusive actions are hampered by a lack of agility in their structure, meaning operational functioning remains the core concern. This contributes to a continued lack of support for women to obtain positions within Paralympic organizations, including women with disabilities who have been found to encounter double discrimination in relation to both their gender and disability status.…”

“…At the time of writing, we are aware that the IPC are reviewing the Paralympic Movement's provision of actions for gender-inclusivity. Following Dean et al (2021), we recommend that greater support of international Paralympic organizations is required to share knowledge on how to encourage more gender-inclusive governance and grow the resources dedicated toward achieving genderinclusive governance. This should, in turn, begin to challenge the dominance of privileged (male) members within these marginalized organizations.…”