Nancy Theberge

Sport and women's empowerment

Abstract This paper provides a discussion of the extension of Nancy Hartsocks work on feminism and power to sport. The paper first considers the conceptualization of power. In Western thought power has usually been defined as strength and domination. This defination has been reproduced in sport, where masculine ideals of force and aggression are emphasized. An alternative feminist conception of power stresses energy and creativity. The second part of the paper considers the possibilities for political change through sport that is consistent with the feminist vision of power. It is suggested that the potential lies in the opportunity for women in sport to experience their physical strength and capacity and to build organizations that develop these qualities in the community of women. Some examples of womens empowerment in and through sport are presented. Although there is nothing like a feminist revolution taking place in sport as yet, the instances of change that have occurred are reason for optimism.

“IT'S PART OF THE GAME” Physicality and the Production of Gender in Women's Hockey

Contemporary developments in sport pose a powerful challenge to the historical connections between gender, physicality, and power. This process is examined through an analysis of the production of gender in womens ice hockey. Drawing from fieldwork and interviews with players and coaches who participate at elite levels, the author considers the place of physicality in the practice of womens hockey. The analysis suggests that while womens hockey provides an important challenge to historical constructions of gender, the challenge to masculine hegemony is weakened by its construction as an alternative to mens hockey, the version of the sport that “really counts.”

Toward a Feminist Alternative to Sport as a Male Preserve

This paper examines the sociological implications of sport as a male preserve. Sport is a gendered cultural form that has been dominated by men and masculinity. The effects of this domination upon broader patterns of social relations have been misrepresented in much of the literature on sport and gender, where sport is often conceptualized as a static fact, rather than as a dynamic social practice. Analysis of sport as social practice directs attention to the manner in which sport gives meaning to broader patterns of social relations. In the case of gender relations, sport as a male preserve has contributed to the oppression of women through the objectification and dornination of their physicality and sexuality. A feminist alternative to sport as a male preserve challenges gender inequality by challenging sexual stereotypes and patriarchal control of womens bodies.

Process and implementation of participatory ergonomic interventions: a systematic review

Participatory ergonomic (PE) interventions may vary in implementation. A systematic review was done to determine the evidence regarding context, barriers and facilitators to the implementation of participatory ergonomic interventions in workplaces. In total, 17 electronic databases were searched. Data on PE process and implementation were extracted from documents meeting content and quality criteria and synthesised. The search yielded 2151 references. Of these, 190 documents were relevant and 52 met content and quality criteria. Different ergonomic teams were described in the documents as were the type, duration and content of ergonomic training. PE interventions tended to focus on physical and work process changes and report positive impacts. Resources, programme support, ergonomic training, organisational training and communication were the most often noted facilitators or barriers. Successful PE interventions require the right people to be involved, appropriate ergonomic training and clear responsibilities. Addressing key facilitators and barriers such as programme support, resources, and communication is paramount. Statement of Relevance: A recent systematic review has suggested that PE has some effect on reducing symptoms, lost days of work and claims. Systematic reviews of effectiveness provide practitioners with the desire to implement but do not provide clear information about how. This article reviews the literature on process and implementation of PE.

Reflections on the Body in the Sociology of Sport

This paper provides a discussion and synthesis of selections from three literatures that are concerned with the body, culture, and society. Work in the sociology of the body, informed by feminist poststructuralism, has important connections to themes and issues in the sociology of sport. Specific topics considered are the body, disciphry practices, and domination; gender, sport, and power; and the structural bases of disciplinary power.

The Construction of Gender in Sport: Women, Coaching, and the Naturalization of Difference

Analyses of the significance of sport to the construction of gender have for the most part concentrated on the practice or performance of sport. This article examines the construction of gender in the work of women coaches. Women coaches experience the marginalization common to token members of a workgroup. Their token status provides a context in which gender is highlighted through accounts of gender stressing the physical differences between men and women and the superiority of mens sporting experiences.

“No Fear Comes” Adolescent Girls, Ice Hockey, and the Embodiment of Gender

This article examines the relationship between gender, physicality, and embodiment among a group of adolescent girls. The analysis is based on interviews with 24 girls who play ice hockey. In their accounts of the practice of hockey, respondents emphasize the importance of being aggressive, which they define as being powerful and sometimes fearless in use of the body. Whereas aggressiveness is a feature of both mens and womens hockey, the mens game is generally understood to be more physical and aggressive. Players understand that contrasts between mens and womens hockey arise out of both the material advantages that boys and men enjoy and the gendered ideologies that underlie the practice of sport. The article concludes with a consideration of the potential of hockey and other confrontational sports to challenge contemporary gender constructions and the limitations and possibilities of sport as an arena for change in gender ideologies and relations.

“SAME SPORT, DIFFERENT GENDER” A Consideration of Binary Gender Logic and the Sport Continuum in the Case of Ice Hockey

This article responds to a call by Mary Jo Kane in an earlier Journal of Sport & Social Issues article to consider the “sport continuum” as a counter to conceptions of sport as an “oppositional binary” in which gender is naturalized. The continuum emphasizes womens participation in male-identified team contact sports. Drawing from field work and interviews with elite-level players, the analysis examines the dynamics of the continuum in the context of ice hockey. Player accounts of the practice of mens and womens hockey and their own experiences in gender-integrated settings highlight the many ways in which the construction of hockey and hockey players are distinctly social experiences. The conclusion offers an assessment of the sport continuum as a strategy to challenge the oppositional binary.

A content analysis of print media coverage of gender, women and physical activity

Abstract This paper presents the results of an investigation of print media coverage of gender and physical activity. The analysis was based on an examination of two samples: all issues of four Canadian daily newspapers for a 6-m-onth period and all issues of Chatelaine, a monthly Canadian womens magazine, for a period of 10 years and 6 months. Results indicate the media provide little support for the promotion of womens physical activity and little challenge to gender stereotyped imagery of physical activity. This is particularly true for newspapers, which are a largely conservative influence in the contemporary fitness movement. The magazine analysis indicates Chatelaine plays a positive if limited role in the promotion of womens fitness and physical activity.

Effectiveness of a participatory ergonomics intervention in improving communication and psychosocial exposures

A participatory ergonomics programme was implemented in an automotive parts manufacturing factory in which an ergonomics change team was formed, composed of members from management, the organized labour union and the research team. It was hypothesized that the participatory nature of this change process would result in enhanced worker perceptions of workplace communication dynamics, decision latitude and influence, which in conjunction with anticipated mechanical exposure reductions would lead to reduced worker pain severity. Utilizing a sister plant in the corporation as a referent group, a quasi-experimental design was employed with a longitudinal, repeat questionnaire approach to document pre-post intervention changes. Nine participatory activities (psychosocial interventions) were implemented as part of the process. Communication dynamics regarding ergonomics were significantly enhanced at the intervention plant compared to the referent plant. However, there were no significantly different changes in worker perceptions of decision latitude or influence between the two plants, nor did pain severity change. Possible explanations for these results include limited intervention intensity, context and co-intervention differences between the two plants, high plant turnover reducing the statistical power of the study and lack of sensitivity and specificity in the psychosocial measures used. Further research should include the development of psychosocial tools more specific to participatory ergonomic interventions and the assessment of the extent of change in psychosocial factors that might be associated with improvements in pain.