After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

• Identify the reasons why there has been a dramatic increase in sport participation rates among women of all ages since the mid-1970s.
• Identify reasons why people should be cautious when predicting future sport participation increases among girls and women.
• Explain the ways that current gender ideology may discourage both men and women with disabilities from participating in sports.
• Provide examples showing that sports and sport organizations today are male-dominated, male-identified, and male-centred.
• Know the extent to which gender inequities continue to exist in sport participation opportunities, support for athletes, and jobs for women in sports.
• Identify effective strategies to promote gender equity in sports and sport organizations.
• Explain why gender equity is an important issue for both women and men, and why many women athletes resist acting as agents of change when it comes to gender relations in sports.
• Describe the two-category sex and gender classification system, and explain how it influences ideas about sport participation as well as the organization of sport programs.
• Explain how sports have served as sites for the celebration of dominant forms of masculinity and why girls and women often have been defined as invaders in the realm of sports.
• Explain the ways in which women’s bodybuilding reproduces or transforms dominant ideas about femininity in society.
• Identify the major challenges faced by gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals in sports today.
• Identify strategies that might be used in changing ideology and culture so that gender equity might be achieved in sports.