Martha Saavedra

Dilemmas and Opportunities in Gender and Sport-in-Development

Sport can be a powerful, and potentially a radical and transformative tool in empowering girls and women and affecting gender norms and relations throughout a society. As with able-bodiedness/disability and youth, gender emerges at the intersection of the physical and the social, and this is precisely where sport also resides. The embodied nature of both gender and sport suggests possibilities for intertwining the two for development interventions. Programmes such as the Go Sisters EduSport in Zambia1 and Moving the Goal Posts in Kenya demonstrate this as they provide physical, psychological, and social benefits, targeted at girls and young women. However, seeking to empower females through sport is somewhat paradoxical given that the world of sport can be a bastion for male privilege and power, an important arena for asserting a particular kind of male dominance over women (and some men), as well as furthering EuroAmerican hegemony vis-a-vis the Global South. Indeed, objections to women’s general involvement in sport (which varies according to the type of sport and location), often rest on the ways in which ‘gender norms’ (viewed historically and spatially) are challenged by external forces, which can range from NGOs to the state and to international cultural flows. With variation across settings, there remains a strong link between sport, body practices, gender and sexuality.

Football feminine – development of the African game: Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa

Football is by far the most popular sport throughout Africa. More than a sport, football in most African countries has deep political, social and economic ramifications. Yet, the game that garners this position is explicitly the mens game. What of the womens game? African women are playing football. In some nations, officials, both in sport and political realms, have actually prioritized the development of the womens game. Yet, women footballers are often greeted with scepticism, neglect, and sometimes outright hostility. This study explores the major issues facing the development of African womens football and suggests many avenues for research, policy and advocacy.

Esther Phiri and the Moutawakel effect in Zambia: an analysis of the use of female role models in sport-for-development

In the burgeoning field of sport and development, ‘role models’ have been invoked as an important element to increase the participation of girls and women in sport. Grounded in the African sport-in-development experience and in a case study of Zambian womens sports and the boxer, Esther Phiri, this essay examines the discourse around the use of ‘role models’ and begins to elaborate a theory around the use of this hitherto elusive notion specifically in the experience of sport-in-development projects and programmes which have gender-specific outcomes. We consider how role models may function to encourage and sustain female involvement, as well as to contribute to achieving goals set for sport and development projects, including (positively) altering gender roles and expectations. We conclude with a look towards promising areas of future research as well as a critical reflection on the limits of role models as a tool, especially given real-world intrusions.

Introduction: China, Africa and Internationalization

The changes in both the scale and the visibility of Chinas dealings in Africa in the last decade have been astonishing. Trade, particularly in imports of natural resources to China and exports of Chinese merchandise to Africa, has grown exponentially since 2001. Lucrative deals have been signed with a range of African governments. A Chinese merchant presence in African cities and town is increasingly visible. And China now has a high diplomatic profile in Africa, not least as a guarantor and protector to important individual states such as Sudan. These quickly moving developments have occasioned a first wave of comment, excitement and reflection. Yet much of what has been published to date has been broad brush overview, policy analysis or opinion piece.1 Academic work based on primary research has been relatively scarce.