Gender, Sport and DevelopmentBudapest, Hungary

December 2006Martha Saavedra

Contemporary Moment

• Sport and Development– Surging popularity as a tool

• 2005 – UN Year of Sport and Physical Education– Embraced with enthusiasm by many

• Sport Federations• Corporations• NGOs• Athletes• In the North and South

http://www.unicef.org/sports/

Sport and DevelopmentSelected Projects in Africa

Moving the Goalposts, Kilifi

CHILD - Christian Home in Liberating Destitute

Maendeleo ya Michezo (Tanzania)

Sport and Development• Projects are emerging all over the place…• Exemplifying contemporary global networking possibilities –

they are not limited to official or established channels.

Kirinyaga, Kenya, 2006 – Andrew Papworth was a short term volunteer with the Kirinyaga Sport Foundation – an NGO established by Edith Munubbe, a retired school teacher and widow.

Linked by advocates to the 8 Millennium Development Goals

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.2. Achieve universal primary education.3. Promote gender equality and empower women.4. Reduce Child Mortality.5. Improve maternal health.6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.7. Ensure environmental sustainability.8. Develop a global partnership for development.

And withPeace, reconciliation and post-conflict healing

added in for good measure.

Sport and Development

Djibril Diallo, Director, UN New York Office of Sport for

Development and Peace and Sepp Blatter, FIFA

Adolf Ogi, former President of Switzerland, Special Adviser on

Sport for Development and Peace

Kofi Annan

Gender, Sport and Development• My project – preliminary thoughts & provocations

– Contextualize and Assess SAD• Highlight the larger historicized framework• POV - critical development and gender studies

– Evaluate specific programs and projects• ‘Best’ approaches and practices• Political and institutional location, opportunities and constraints

– Advocate• Am not be unbiased objective observer• Am involved in SAD (Toolkit, Sport and Development Platform,

Corporate social responsibility, University-based service learning)

– Africa centered, but not limited

Gender, Sport and Development• What I want to emphasize

– GSAD is hard and serious work– Doesn’t take place on blank-slate– Requires several areas of knowledge

• Local – language, culture, history, geography• Sport-specific – love of sport isn’t enough• Organizational, business, managerial & entrepreneurial skills• People skills – it is all about the people involved

– Is inherently political, and thus potentially contentious and risky

• Resources are being mobilized and created for change (a la CLR James), hence this is about Power, and

• Disrupting current distributions of power.

Gender, Sport and Development• Case study in progress –

– Moving the Goalposts, Kilifi, Kenya, mtgk.org

Context - Sport and Development• Historical Context

– Not new that sport might be directed towards achieving ulterior social outcomes.

– History of modern sport– Links with rise of modern state

• Concern with physicality of agents and general population– Readiness for war– Hygiene and health

– Sport and social movements• Muscular Christianity• YMCA

Context - Sport and Development• Modern Sport in Global South

– Colonialism and Imperialism• Used as tool of change and ‘discipline’• Controlled to avoid subversion and resistance• Western forms of sport were adopted, adapted, modified,

ignored and rejected by colonial subjects– Hesitate on notion of “dissemination”

• Suggest not “disseminated” so much it as parallel emergence as well as some visceral links with colonialism, imperialism and global capitalism.

– e.g. high jumping techniques, gusimbuka-urukiramende and Ernst Jokl (Bale, Imagined Olympians, 2002)

– International mode of sport dominated by and signifying the West.

Context - Sport and Development• Sport follows many trajectories

– local influences impact evolution of sport in one place, later re-inscribed elsewhere.

• Still - Western hegemony of institutions and structure remains – though not without regular and continued

contestation.• As such, it carries historical and cultural

baggage…

Context – some baggage at the hegemonic core

– Gendered systems of sport in global North• Hegemonic heterosexual hyper-masculinity

– situated within a consumerist, individualistic ethos

• Posited against any homosexual visibility• Rules out muscular femininity

– In a binary and exclusive definition of sexuality

– Women’s pursuit of sport • Possible, but peripheral and always problematic• Challenge to hegemonic norms of sexuality

Context – some baggage at the hegemonic core

– Gendered systems of sport in global North• Hegemonic heterosexual hyper-masculinity

– situated within a consumerist, individualistic ethos

• Posited against any homosexual visibility• Rules out muscular femininity

– In a binary and exclusive definition of sexuality

– Women’s pursuit of sport • Possible, but peripheral and always problematic• Challenge to hegemonic norms of sexuality

Is this true everywhere, at all times?

Sport and Development• Reiterate

– Not new that sport should be used for social, political, economic goals.

• Concern – Ahistoricism of current articulation reflects an unstated

(unconscious?) assumption that sport is apolitical;– Also reflects uncritical belief that sport is inherently

‘good’.– Or in a more complicated iteration – ‘our sport’ is

good and can be cordoned off from that which is bad.

Sport and Development• Problems in any argument that considers sport a

priori to be a force of good…(R. Giulianotti, 2004)

1. Functionalist – “sport meets crucial social needs”• But sport can also be dysfunctional

2. Sport Evangelists – neo-colonial repositioning, moving impulse from home to overseas

3. Skewed to youth (young men)– what of other populations?

– What of women and elderly? What is addressed here…

4. Cross-cultural politics of sport humanitarianism

Sport and Development• Problems in any argument that considers sport a priori to be a

force of good…(R. Giulianotti, 2004)

4. Cross-cultural politics of sport humanitarianisma. Sufficient dialogue between donors and recipients

when aid is offered?b. Empowerment of recipients?c. Ownership of projects?d. Dynamics of power and meaning behind cross-

cultural ‘cooperation’ between donor and recipients?

Sport and Development• Development Aid and the Gift

– Hattori (2003)• Reciprocity expected?• Unequal power?• Confirms status on giver?• Mechanism of consent• Affirms current logic of development assistance and

unequal relations.– Infuse capitalist conditions with ethical meaning– Moral regulations

Sport and Development• “Gift” versus entertainment expenses

– FIFA’s humanitarian budget• ₤ 907,000 (2003)

– FIFA’s budget for inner circle for six weeks in Paris in 1998 World Cup finals

• ₤ 5,000,000.From Giulianotti (2004)

Sport and Development• Point on Aid in Africa in particular…

– In many global fora the African present represents what Mathers and Hubbard have called “emaciated modernity,” where global capitalism has failed to transform, thus triggering sympathy, a burden of responsibility to care about Africa and contributing to “the ‘just’ notions of humanitarian aid and the regime of the NGO.”

Mathers and Hubbard on Survivor Africa (2004)

Sport and Development• Is this particularly an American problem?

– e.g., Mathers and Hubbard on Survivor Africa• Africa is often dismissed in popular media as out of time and a

failed project. We assert, however, that Survivor Africa places an imagined Africa as central to an emerging discourse of a humanitarian American empire, not a footnote to it, and that the history that makes this neo-liberal utopia possible is located in earlier colonial representations of Africa. Although this empire of the present cites these colonial images, it differs significantly in its mode of operation and ideal subject. The neo-liberal utopia that seeks to mediate America’s relations with much of the rest of the world is just as needful of discourses of humanitarianism as the empires of the 19th century. But while the Europeans sent missionaries and scientists to pave the way for their commercial enterprises, Americans send NGOs and development agencies. [2004 p. 445]

Gender and Sport outside the west• External and Global influences –

(global does not mean external)

– Codes practiced– Discourse, practice and policy affecting gender

• FA Ban on women’s football, 1921-1971, direct effect on British colonies.

• FIFA and IOC mandates on gender inclusion and target expenditures

– Corporate promotions, sponsorships and marketing• image of female athlete, female event (Women’s World Cup)

– Corporate production – commodity chains and labor practices (sweatshops)

Gender, Sport and Development• Different notions of body and mind

– Value of physical activity?• China

– Sport historically not male preserve– For Imperial bureaucracy, elite education emphasized mind over

body– Sport there better suited to women and lower-classes

• Sudan– Women from good Muslim families should not labor

• Senegal – preferred female body types– Drianke – socially powerful urban woman– Disquette – upwardly mobile, young urban woman. – Note: Contemporary increase in preference for polygamy among

this group in Dakar. (Mills, 2006) Another variant of third wave?

Gender, Sport and Development• Valences are just different

– International success in sport trumps any reluctance to honor women

• Thus many accomplished female athletes are heros in their home-countries

– Acceptance and promotion of recent female boxing extravaganza in Nairobi “The Africans versus the Americans”

– Daily Nation featured many more articles on women’s sports than average US paper. Even features on local Mombasa Women’s Football League, in which MTG Super team plays.

Gender, Sport and Development• Gender not always (most) limiting factor

– Education, class, age-group, marriage status• Female elite in Sudan – tennis, equestrian sport

– A few instances of women as referees in male sports• Basketball, football and wrestling in Senegal• Football in Kenya• More then in established male sports in the US.

– Women’s basketball as one of most popular spectator sports in Senegal.

– Likewise with women’s volleyball in Peru (previously)

Gender, Sport and Development• Nevertheless, assuming

– At least some association between sport and masculinity, and

– Gendered expectations that privilege male access to organization and practice of sport

• Then, can postulate that female sport continues to be transgressive and potentially ‘revolutionary,’

• Disrupting received notions about gender roles, and allowing for new possibilities with positive spillovers for women in other social arenas.

Gender, Sport and DevelopmentSample of projects that have explicit gender agenda

(from Sport and Development International Platform project database, sportanddev.org, accessed April 5, 2006)

Project Organizer LocationEducation through Sport LiiKe (Sports Development Aid) TanzaniaFootball, social support and peer-led health education for rural teenage girls

Moving the Goalposts Kilifi Kenya

Go Sisters Education through Sport (EduSport) Foundation

Zambia

Kicking AIDS Out! (International Network) Commonwealth Games Canada (CGC)

various

NOC/ADEL Project of Women’s Cooperatives in Boane

International Labour Organization (ILO)

Mozambique

Olympic Youth Ambassador Program (OYAP) - Lesotho

Lesotho National Olympic Committee

Lesotho

Play Soccer Play Soccer Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia

Synergy and capacity building through sport and culture in Western Kenya

Danish Gymnastics and Sports Associations (DGI)

Kenya

U-Go-Girl Sports Coaches' OutReach (SCORE)

Namibia, South Africa, ZambiaWomen in Paralympic Sport (WIPS)

Development InitiativeUK Sport various countries in

Africa

Gender, Sport and Development• Most projects are not just about sport.• They have explicit goals outside of sport.• Tackling very specific local problems.

– Poverty, un(der)employment, weak/absent infrastructure– Family dislocation/dysfunction– Illiteracy and/or Schooling obstacles– Sexual violence (rape, incest)– Child labor/human trafficking– STIs, HIV-AIDs, other diseases– Drugs – use and trafficking– Limited rights and/or limited knowledge of rights– War, famine, environmental degradation, etc.etc.

Gender, Sport and Development• Mobilizing people and resources through sport –

presumed mechanisms of change:– Awareness via themed tournament and other events– ‘Captive’ audience for add-on events– Capacity building through organizing sport– Life skills through practice of sport– Health benefits through practice of sport– Demonstration effect - Tunaweza!

• Especially valuable in changing essentialist perceptions and assumptions (about gender, able-bodiedness, caste, class, etc.)

Gender, Sport and Development• Case study in progress –

– Moving the Goalposts, Kilifi, Coast Province Kenya

• Kilifi, north of Mombasa– one of the least developed districts in Kenya– Around 8% are infected with HIV/AIDS, higher than national average– 66% of the population live below the poverty line

(MTG 2005 Annual Report)• Population – mostly Mijikenda, also Swahili and other ethnic groups

– Mijikenda – family power lies at intersection of patriarchy and gerontocracy

– Patrilocal, with polygyny possible• Wives move in with husbands extended family on homestead

– Senior male elders control major resources• Land, trees, household property

– Married women under direct control of both patrilineage elders and their wives.

– Women’s usufructory rights to land and some tree crops• increasingly circumscribed by scarcity and adoption of individualizing

principles of national land tenure reform.(Ciekawy, 1999)

Kilifi, Kenya - context

• Economy – Agriculture and Tourism– Agricultural production doesn’t produce enough income

• Women - agricultural labor– Most households reliant on wage income of young and middle-

aged men • Generational struggles between men common

– conflict often deflected onto women, especially younger women who have married into group.

– Women’s cash income options• Rural based women have few opportunities to earn cash income.• Rural-urban, urban women without education: sell vegetables or palm

thatch in market, maids, construction, prostitution(Ciekawy, 1999)

– Holiday destination for foreigners and wealthy Kenyans

Kilifi, Kenya - context

• Current conditions of poverty stress on families– Dislocated, dissolving– Dysfunctional– Pervasive sense of precariousness of survival

• This stress may account for – Extensive (increased?) domestic and sexual

violence (a research question)

– Alcohol related abuse

Kilifi, Kenya - context

• Education – Primary school is free, but

• You must pay for– Books– Uniform– Food– Transportation

– Secondary school is not free• Most are boarding schools• Cost is out of reach for many families, even if girls

do pass exams with sufficiently high scores

Kilifi, Kenya - context

• Women’s power is circumscribed– Early marriages and teenage pregnancies are common for young

women– Teenage girls show the highest rates of new HIV infection in

Kenya– Poor women in Kilifi District have the lowest rates of both literacy

(26.8%) and school enrollment (54.4%) in Kenya. – There are very few women leaders and decision makers in Kilifi

(MTG 2005 Annual Report)

• Although– Women do voice their complaints and can use gossip and

divination among other means to address their concerns.– Historical role model?

• Mektalili, female diviner and leader of 1914 Giriama war against the British colonialists

(Ciekawy, 1999)

Kilifi, Kenya - context

• History– Begun in September 2000 by Sarah Forde Owuor, and

local educational and development officers– From 1 to 5 staff members in 2005, including a project

coordinator with extensive development experience.– Significant volunteer work from advisory board, UK

based supporters and from participants themselves.– Funding from Ford Foundation, Plan International,

Alistair Berkley Trust among others.

Moving the Goalposts

• Focus –– Mobilizing and empowering girls

and women through football– Developing their self-esteem,

confidence teamwork and organization skills

– Peer education on reproductive health and problem solving

– Capacity-building in community through developing skills of individuals

Moving the Goalposts

By MTGK photographer, Salma Ali

• Major problems as identified by girls – Identified in informal conversations

• How to find school fees• Necessity of bringing home income to share with

family• Eating – Where will their food come from? (lack of

cash to eat out or provide for themselves) – Issued raised during MTG visits to schools

• STI’s, wife beating, rape, incest

Gender, Sport and Development

• Program– Football

• Teams, leagues, tournaments and commemorative events– Organized by girls committees

• Training referees and coaches– Peer Education and mobile video shows

• Topics– Reproductive health

» Adolescence» Menstruation

– HIV-AIDS and STIs– Decision making, Assertiveness– Problem-solving

• Girls develop skits, poems and raps to deliver message• Training in public speaking

Moving the Goalposts

• Program - continued– Community involvement

• Volunteering at orphanages– Monitoring and Evaluation

• Participatory, emphasis on process, though outcome is important

• Life Stories project– Organizational, Business, Management Skill

Development• Training (peer education, office and computer skills,

curriculum development)• Volunteer work experience with MTG, in field, in office• Educational support (beginning)

Moving the Goalposts

• Outcomes– Survived 5 years and has grown

• Increased number of players and teams, sustained league play, formation of super team, media exposure, newsletter, web-site (www.mtgk.org) successful fund-raising, developed robust governing structure and volunteer network

– Participatory M & E process currently underway: Impact of specific programs

Moving the Goalposts

• Challenges– Working with current infrastructure

• Transportation (!!!!!)– Difficulties in carrying out daily activities, practices, games, peer

education– Cost, reach, reliability, safety

• Kenyan Football Federation– In disarray– Few options for girls who want to continue with football (and they do!)

– Other NGOs entering field• Collaborators?• Communications?

– Communications by and with girls• Confidence increased locally and among themselves, but not

necessarily in other settings• Their expectations – dependency syndrome

Moving the Goalposts

Gender, Sport and Development• Reiterate what I want to emphasize

– GSAD is hard and serious work – • mundane and banal is important

– Doesn’t take place on blank-slate– Requires several areas of knowledge

• Local – language, culture, history, geography• Sport-specific – love of sport isn’t enough• Organizational, business, managerial & entrepreneurial skills• People skills – it is all about the people involved

– Is inherently political, and thus potentially contentious and risky

• Resources are being mobilized and created for change (a la CLR James), hence this is about Power, and

• Disrupting current distributions of power.

Gender, Sport and DevelopmentAnd it is underway and going to happen

regardless…

New sports project in Kirinyaga, Kenya (Central Province).