TY - JOUR
TI - GENDER EQUITY IN OLYMPIC SPORTS: ABSENTEEISM AND INVISIBILITY
AU - Nikolaos Patsantaras, 
AU - Irene Kamberidou
JO - International Sports Law Review Pandektis (I.S.L.R. Pandektis)
PY - 2006
VL - 6
TODO - 3-4
SP - 361-375
PB - NOMIKI BIBLIOTHIKI S.A.
SN - 1109-3943
TODO - null
TODO - Gender classification - segregation, gendered Olympic cultures,  gender inclusion, gender integration, democratization, women's underrepresentation, absenteeism, invisibility, the gendered body, identity, gender equity, staging gender, postmodern Olympic social reality, the body as a cultural topos of colonialisation, bio-socio-cultural interpretations, Olympic cultures, genetic personification
TODO - Even in today’s postmodernist society, gender dichotomy in Olympic sports continues to be an ‘unavoidable’, conventional, standard or typical practice which is enforced in the name of gender equity and equality. The purpose of this study is to examine, firstly, to what extent, this structurally secured and enforced gendered categorization, division, demarcation and segregation in Olympic sports, a result of the biological ‘difference’ between men and women, has socio-cultural derivations— originating from cultural practices within the social-historical specificity— that in fact defeat, eliminate or eradicate the advocated and legitimate values of social equity. Secondly, how this gendered demarcation produces social exclusions, gendered inequalities and discrimination, mainly at the expense of women. The interrelation of social theories and theoretical approaches of biologistic knowledge and biological determinism are used to establish the causes that have lead to the under-representation of women, not only in Olympic sports, but also in decision-making positions of power and responsibility in sport-governing bodies, such as the IOC. In this transitional stage of the postmodernist period, practices of gender exclusion, gender classification/categorization, gender dichotomy, gender segregation and gender division are socially problematic, contradictory, deficient and theoretically inconsistent. Consequently, a critical issue which needs to be addressed extensively, among others, is the democratization of the IOC structures.
ER -