4. Women in Sports

Cricket is considered equal to a national religion, while hockey is our national game. However, given a choice, people would rather watch a men's hockey match than a women's cricket match.

Women having bringing India to the forefront in sports for a very long time, but haven’t got the attention they deserve. In a country like India with its regressive mindset especially in the rural areas, it is very difficult for anyone to get proper recognition in sports and being a woman means it’s much harder; especially if she hails from the rural parts of India.

This is due to women being traditionally considered as the weaker or inferior sex. The divide between rural and urban area also decreases the number of sports personality that India produces, be it men or women.  In the Indian society, education is given more importance than sports.

Throughout human history, the role of women in sports has reflected the changing status of women in society. This is because sports has always considered a man’s domain, right from the time of the first Olympics. Nowadays, many Indian sportswomen have been excelling in the national and internationalscience as well.  Saina Nehwal, Sania Mirza, Mary Kom are some of them who are bringing women's sports to the forefront. Even then, the journey has been more tedious for Mary Kom than Saina Mirza or Saina Nehwal who’ve been brought up in more urban areas.

Another issue is that women are under-represented in the leadership of sport. The number of women coaches, directors of sport organizations, physical education teachers, and researchers is very small. Hidden curriculum at school, which covertly imposes womanliness or manliness upon children and fixes gender roles in society, is another problem. It is urgent that we create a society, where every woman and man can play and enjoy sports regardless of gender or sex.