"Called the First Ever Gender-Equal Olympics"... But Where Are the Female Directors? [Paris Olympics]

The 2024 Paris Olympics, opening on the 26th, is expected to be recorded as the first gender-equal Olympics in history. This is because the proportion of male and female athletes participating is exactly 50-50. It is the first time in 124 years since women first participated in the Olympics in 1900, leading to evaluations that "a new era of women's sports has begun." However, some point out that there is still a long way to go to achieve complete gender equality, as certain events are only open to one gender and the coaching and management staff are predominantly male.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

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Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), announced last March, four months before the Olympics, that among the 10,500 athletes from 206 countries participating in the Paris Olympics, the ratio of women to men was matched at 50-50 for the first time. He added, "We want to commemorate the most important moment in Olympic and sports history."

Sports have long been regarded as a male domain. During the time of the ancient Olympics, women were not only prohibited from competing but also from entering the stadium. When the first modern Olympics were held in 1896, Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the IOC, banned women from participating, so no female athletes appeared.

Women first participated in the Olympics at the second Games held in Paris in 1900. Twenty-two female athletes competed in five sports, including tennis and golf. At that time, women made up only 2.2% of the total 975 athletes. This figure gradually increased, surpassing 10% for the first time at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics and reaching the 20% range at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. At the 2012 London Olympics, the proportion of women was 44%, and at the previous 2021 Tokyo Olympics, it reached 48%.

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The number of sports in which both men and women can participate regardless of gender is also gradually balancing. Of the 32 sports events held at the Paris Olympics, 28 allow participation by both men and women. To expand sports where both genders can compete, the men's-only 50km race walk event was replaced by a mixed relay race walk. However, four sports remain gender-specific, such as wrestling for men only and rhythmic gymnastics for women only.

The IOC added complete gender equality as one of the goals for hosting the Games in 2014 and started a gender equality review project in 2017 in collaboration with summer and winter international sports federations.

American track and field athlete Shari Hawkins described it as a "giant leap for women's sports" in an interview with the U.S. online media Axios. She added, "For a long time, I felt the spotlight on sports stars was uneven, and it was common to question whether female athletes were suitable. Having an equal number of competitors of both genders in the arena this year completely changes that situation."

Criticism continues that achieving a 50-50 gender ratio among Olympic athletes does not mean complete gender equality has been achieved. While the Olympic athlete gender ratio is balanced, the Paralympics held after the Olympics still have a higher proportion of male athletes.

Lauren Holme, a Dutch golf player, is posing in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

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There are also concerns that expressing gender equality solely based on the number and proportion of athletes of the two genders is inappropriate. Michelle Donnelly, a professor at Brock University in Canada, emphasized in an interview with Euronews that "gender equality means equal opportunities and participation conditions based on a much more complete understanding of men and women," and stressed the need to achieve gender equality in aspects such as game time, equipment size and weight, and the uniforms athletes wear.

At the same time, the overwhelmingly male composition of coaches and management staff, another key group participating in the Olympics, is cited as evidence that gender equality has not yet been achieved. At the Paris Olympics, there are 52 female coaches and managers across 19 sports from 15 countries, accounting for only 25% of the total. Of course, this number has increased over time. The proportion of female coaches and managers was 13% at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and 10% at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

Adam Minter, a Bloomberg columnist who has written about the sports industry, said, "The difficulties women face in becoming coaches and managers at the Olympics are challenging even in countries like the United States, where women's sports are relatively active," adding, "Between 2005 and 2020, women accounted for less than 5% of head coaches in men's sports teams." He noted that although the IOC has taken measures such as recommending quotas for female executives within National Olympic Committees, more proactive efforts are needed to increase the proportion of female coaches and managers.

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