Barriers that women need to overcome to become boxers in Lesotho

Abstract

아프리카에서 권투는 가장 남성적인 스포츠 이고 문화적 관습상 여성이 권투에 참여하는 것을 좋아하지 않는다. 따라서 본 연구는 여성이 Lesotho 권투 선수가 되기 위해 극복해야 될 장애요인, 여성이 권투에 참여하고 싶게 하는 동기 부여 요인, 그리고 남성 권투선수, 코치, 주요 스포츠 관계자, 관련 스포츠 단체로부터의 자료를 통해 여성이 장애요인을 극복하고 권투를 계속 하게 하는 동기 부여 요인을 찾으려 한다. 자료 수집은 국가대표팀(3명의 여성 선수, 2명의 남성 선수, 코치, Lesotho의 모든 스포츠 단체의 모체인 Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sport and Recreation의 대표진)과의 심층 인터뷰를 통해 하였다. 남성활동을 즐긴 여성들이 권투선수가 될 인격을 가지게 되고, 권투와 공격으로부터의 고통을 즐기는 것을 찾아 내었다. 여성 권투선수들은 코치와 남성권투선수들의 도움으로 환영의 느낌을 받으면서 동기부여를 얻었다. 또한 그녀들의 가족들의 도움으로 가능하였다. 코치들은 여성 권투선수들에게 남성 권투선수들보다 더 많은 관심을 가졌고, 그녀들에게 맞는 프로그램설계에도 마다하지 않았다. 또 다른 발견 점은, 권투 팬들이 남성 권투시합에 더 많은 관심을 가지나 여성이 남성 스포츠인 권투에서 얼마나 할 수 있는 호기심을 보인다는 것이다. 스포츠 협회에는 Lesotho 여성 스포츠를 지원하는 정책이 있으나, 여성들이 스포츠에 참여하고 유치하기 위한 프로그램 구현이 없음을 발견하였다. 그러나 놀랍게도 스포츠 협회에 대다수가 남성이고 여성은 매우 적으나, Lesotho의 3 주요 기구를 여성에 의해 주도되고 있는 것을 발견하였다. 그리고 여성을 포함하는 국제적 스포츠 행사가 있을 때 마다 스포츠 협회는 여성 운동선수들을 행사에 참가시켰다. 이것이 여성 운동선수들이 동기부여를 받는 요인이다. 그러나 남성 운동선수는 여성운동선수들에 비해 항상 더 많은 특권을 받게 된다.

Boxing has been known and categorized amongst the most masculine sport and the cultural practices in Africa do not favor women to engage in sport. Therefore, the focus of this study was to examine the barriers women overcome to become boxers in Lesotho and it also looked at the factors that motivate women to join and stay in boxing and from the perspectives of male boxers, coaches, officials from the main sporting organizations, even supporting documents from relevant sporting organizations to further find out the factors that motivates women to overcome barriers and stay in boxing. Collection of data was done via observation and in-depth interviews for national team, both women and male team (three women boxers and two male boxers) together with their coach and official from the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sport and Recreation which is the mother body of all sporting organizations in Lesotho. It was found that women who grew up playing and enjoying boys activities tend to develop personalities that contribute in sustaining and overcoming challenges to become boxers

they enjoy the pain that comes with boxing and aggression. Moreover, they like to be associated with boxing. The support from the coaches, male boxers contributed in making the environment conducive and adaptable for women boxers, they also got motivation and felt welcomed in a new family. The other support came from their families though it was not fully granted due to cultural practices their parents still expect them to execute households chores and to be within their homes when the sunset. Similarly, the coaches were found to have more interest on coaching male boxers over female and there is no interest of taking initiatives to develop programs for women boxing. The other issue discovered was that when it comes to fans, they also preferred and enjoyed male boxers bouts more than female boxers ones, there was no support from fans rather there was an interest that was brought by curiosity to see what and how much women can do in a male sport. In terms of sporting organizations, it was found that there are policies in place that support and promote women sport in Lesotho, but there are no effective implementation programs that attract women to join sport or that motivates them to stay. On the other hand, There were very few women representation at both administrative and technical level, the majority of people within the organizations wen men but surprisingly, the three main sport organizations in Lesotho being the Ministry of Gender and Youth, Sport and Recreation, the Lesotho National Olympic Committee and the Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission were being led by women. Just like in a situation of coaches, whenever there are international events that include women participation these sporting organizations always request national federations to prepare women team and sent it to such events. This was found to be one of the motivational factors for women as at least they are recognized, but even though women athletes are engaged in national and international events, there were no selection criteria of quota for both male and female teams and male athletes were always privileged and enjoyed a bigger share, again the same issue was found when it comes to team officials, there number of male officials leading the team was always huge as compared to women officials.