Gender equality in sports is a global priority. From sexism in the media to violence on the field, gender discrimination is a daily reality for many athletes, coaches, trainers, therapists and fans.
Nevertheless, a lot of work remains to be done. The fight for equal opportunities is not easy, but it is worth the effort. We need to re-engage the public with sport as a platform for social change, and celebrate women in sport that defy stereotypes and inspire girls.
The #MeToo and #SeAcabo movements have brought to light the widespread issue of gender-based violence in sports, but this is only the tip of the iceberg. The problem is deeper and more systematic, and it requires all stakeholders in the sports world to take a stand for equality.
At the same time, progress is being made in various areas: the gender pay gap is closing, football’s governing body FIFA has implemented new maternity protocols and more media coverage of women’s sports is available. However, a lingering perception that women’s sports are not as exciting as men’s remains a major barrier to the full realization of gender equality in sports.
The present study aims to contribute to filling the quantitative gap in research on Europeans’ attitudes towards gender equality in sports, by using data from a special Eurobarometer survey (ESB 525, April-May 2022). A Fuzzy-Hybrid TOPSIS approach is used to construct a synthetic indicator of the Europeans’ Attitudes towards Gender Equality in Sport (ATGEQS), and Latent Profile Analysis and Multinomial Logistic Regression are applied to analyse the influences of socio-economic factors on this measure.
