Developing safer cultures and policies to prevent violence against women in Australian Commonwealth Games sports
Professor Simone Fullagar, Griffith University, Dr Kirsty Forsdike, La Trobe University, and Dr Sheree Bekker, University of Bath, UK.
Sport is a complex cultural site that is empowering for women and girls, yet it is also a site where violence, harassment and inequality are perpetuated. To enhance women’s right to safe sport this project aims to identify how Australian sport organisations affiliated with the Commonwealth Games (2022) are addressing gender-based violence, harassment and inequality through policy frameworks targeting women’s participation and employment (safeguarding, gender equity). International research has documented the unique context of violence and abuse in sport related to coach relationships, sexist attitudes, lack of organisational processes and a history of male domination in key decision-making roles (Brackenridge & Fasting, 2002). In the wake of high profile governance failures, such as USA gymnastics where 150 female athletes provided testimonies of systematic sexual abuse by doctor Larry Nassar, sport organisations are under pressure to review their policy responses (Lang, 2018). Contemporary sport policy also needs to respond to the digital challenges of online violence and harassment, and requires an intersectional understanding of victimisation related to disability, ethnicity, age, religion, sexuality and gender diversity. This research will advance knowledge that is highly relevant to the Commonwealth Games Federation Gender Equality Strategy and Human Rights policy framework, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals (No. 5. Gender equality and the prevention of violence against women and girls).
Using a ‘gender lens’ to understand how cycle tour events can develop inclusive practices
Professor Simone Fullagar led a project (with contribution from Dr Adele Pavlidis) that developed a ‘gender lens’ to better understand how women experienced a mass cycle tour event (Bicycle Queensland). Women’s participation in this annual, non-competitive event had increased over time which provided an interesting contrast to typically lower levels of participation in other forms of cycling. Using an ethnographic methodology and insights from postâstructural feminism, the research identified the experience of the tour as a ‘shared journey’, the centrality of the ‘body’ in event design (comfort, safety, enjoyment) and the importance of an event culture of ‘respect’ (encouragement, skill development, safety, knowledge sharing). An important dimension of this project recognised how cycle tour events can offer non-competitive and ‘slow sport’ experiences for women looking for alternatives to overtly masculine or competitive sport.
The findings identify a number of gender issues for sport, event and tourism professionals to reflexively consider in designing, promoting, managing and evaluating mass cycle tour events. The findings have implications for how sport and active tourism events are conceptualised, promoted and managed to attract and retain women.
Publications
- Fullagar, S., & Pavlidis, A. (2012). “It's all about the journey”: Women and cycling events. International Journal of Event and Festival Management, 3(2), 149-170.
- Fullagar, S. (2012). Gendered cultures of slow travel: Women’s cycle touring as an alternative hedonism. Slow tourism: Experiences and mobilities, 99-112.
- The Conversation, 2013 More than speed, strength and winning: the pleasures of ‘slow sport’ cultures.
What contributes to parkrun’s success and how can it be improved?
With funding from Cancer Research UK Professor Simone Fullagar has led a participatory action research project with parkrun UK to identify what has contributed to its success as a free, weekly, volunteer-led community sport. Being a ‘run not a race’ parkrun attracts non-traditional participants with a high proportion of women, first time runners, those recovering from illness or living with disability, and older adults. parkrun is well positioned to engage a diverse range of people who are less active due to the effects of health and social inequalities. parkrun’s approach offers a unique opportunity to better understand “how, what and why” this informal sport is successful and where engagement can be improved. The project involved volunteer organisers across several parkrun sites to identify a range of inclusive strategies that can be used to engage more participants from diverse backgrounds to become physically active. parkun is now being ‘prescribed’ by GPs in the UK and Australia to support physical and mental health, reduce isolation and encourage community connections.
Publication
Read More In 'The Conversation' and follow Simone’s research on Twitter @simonefullagar
Empowering track & field coaches for para-sport development in the Pacific
Dr Clare Minahan, Duncan Free, OAM, Dr Caroline Riot, Dr Sean Horan, Dr Wendy O’Brien
This Commonwealth Sport Development and Educational Project is framed by the mission and goals of the Commonwealth Games Federation to advance the next generation of coaches in para-sport. The project targets the design and delivery of an online short-course for track-and-field coaches in developing countries of the Commonwealth with the aim to empower track & field coaches (including female coaches) in Pacific countries to encourage, accept, and accommodate para-sport male and female athletes alongside able-bodied training squads. This project aligns closely with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) strategic ambition, “to create a more diverse, inclusive and fairer society with greater opportunities for all as showcased in the Commonwealth Games…” by providing a pathway for athletes with a disability to train alongside their able-bodied counterparts to reflect the fully-integrated Commonwealth Games.
Publication
External collaborators:
- Richard de Groen, Director
- Development, Commonwealth Games Federation
Gendered and racialized fitness cultures on the Gold Coast
Dr Diti Bhattacharya and Dr Adele Pavlidis
In this project we consider the rise of ‘fitness cultures’ on the city of Gold Coast and the implications of these for considering the geographies of gendered and racialized bodies. Nestled on the border of Queensland and NSW and popularly known as Australia’s ‘glitter strip’ the city of Gold Coast has cultivated a distinctly characterised female body- hyper sexualised, blonde beach babes with ‘fit’ and ‘toned’ bodies. As a consequential by-product of this heavily sexualised identity of the female body, spaces of everyday fitness as such as gyms have often perpetuated a narrative of ‘being fit’ that is stereotyped and restricted. The everyday embodied experiences of women as far as understanding and engaging with fitness both as a process and concept is, thus, synonymous with being trapped within the confines of whiteness and a westernised hyper-sexualisation.
Mirroring this social reality, is the growing endeavour on behalf of the city council of Gold Coast as well as the state government to market the Gold Coast as a growing international student friendly city. Study Gold Coast records that about 32,000 international students from over 130 countries are studying on the Gold Coast, currently. While the city council continues to work on the diversity of students and the broader community in general, the everyday realities of the city’s fabric suggest otherwise. This calls for urgent attention to the ways in which the growing number of gendered and racialized bodies are using as well as experiencing geographies of fitness such as gyms. In this project we consider the implications of negotiating complex non-western identities within the fitness industry. In doing so we examine whether the concept of wellness essentially centralise white feminism while marginalising women of colour and in what ways can wellness mean the same thing for women of various backgrounds.